What breeds typically have pigmented gums?

I had to think about this a bit, I must have looked at hundreds of dog's gums yet never cared to connect the pigments to breeds.  Before and after surgeries I have to check the Capillary Reflex Time or CRT which is just how long it takes for the blood to return to the gums when press on, the color doesn't effect this but it really is nice when the gums are pink and easier to read.  I would assume it's just like the spotted tong theory, just because you see spots doesn't mean it's part chow.  I've even seen a Tzu with a spotted tong but doubt it had any chow in it.
 

Shar Pei's should have an entirely pigmented mouth I believe.

Butter is pit/hound and he has a pink tongue, but everything else in his mouth is pigmented. He has really dark skin, too. We're pretty sure the "hound" part of him is Blackmouth Cur.

The black tongue thing is a bit of a myth.  A Chow Chow must have a solid black/purple tongue (and I believe the gums and lips are also dark), but spotting does NOT indicate part Chow.  Spotting is just a birth mark.  Kenya's a purebred GSD (and I've checked her lines back to like 1910) and she has a large black spot at the back of her tongue.

Coke, however, has a tongue that's totally purple-ish, so I wonder if he is part Chow b/c it's solid and it's more of that purple-ish color than a dark black spot.

I thought chow mixes often had spotted tongues, but I knew they weren't the only breed. But spotty tongues really have nothing to do with breed? What about pigmented gums?

It seems that rotties have pigmented gums... So chows, shar peis, and rotties.. My sisters pit has a teeny bit of pigment on his gums, and while I seriously doubt he's got rottweiler, shar pei, or chow in him, he could certainly have something besides APBT or AmStaf (I just can't decide which he is..maybe he's neither..or a mix of both).

Huum... maybe it's not so breed-related, or maybe pits are one of the breeds..sheesh, I don't know. Guess I'm not any closer to figuring out what Cherokee might be.

I think whoever said it's pigment related is probably right.

tongue spots yes those can be nothing to do with chowness. BUT Akitas often have them and they do have similar ancestors to chows...Karafuto dogs etc. IMO it's the amount/depth of the color that can possibly point to breed. Chows are so ancient their mark is usually easy to see given less than say 3-4 breeds in the mix.

I've noticed that the "black" Chow Chow tongues (saw a few up close b/c we had several purebreds in the shelter) seem more purplish in color than the black black spots on other dogs' tongues.  

Well your not the only idiot, because I thought all dogs had pink gums.  Mine do, I don't know if I've ever seen any with black ones, but now I'll be looking.  :)

My blue merle sheltie has spotted gums and a spotted nose. I assumed it had something to do with the merle gene in his case. His tongue is all pink though.

      Did you mean pigmentation on the outside?  because most gums are pink--but outside lip color and other membrane pigmentation can be different.  The Chow-Chow, for instance should have a blue/black tongue.

      Poodles are supposed to have black pigment on the outside of their lips, and around the rims of their eyes.  This is for all colors of poodles except brown/chocolates.  A brown or chocolate poodle will have liver pigmentation on the nose, lips, eye rims, and eye color.  All other colors have to have dark brown eyes, black noses, and black or very dark pigmentation on thier lips.  Their skin should have dark pigmentation.  A poodle with pink skin, or wrong pigmentation is considered as having a fault.  For instance, if a white or cream poodle has pink skin or brown pigmentation, it is a fault, and they sould not be bred.  My Standard has great pigmentation--his skin darkened to a nice dark-silver color after his adult cut.  He has nice dark black lips, dark eye rims, and dark brown eyes, and a nice black nose.

In AKC parti poodles are not allowed, but I have seen some nice ones in UKC. 

 Karen

kkearney

Did you mean pigmentation on the outside?  because most gums are pink--

No. She's got mostly black gums. I tried to take a picture, but she wouldn't let me. Flash freaks her out even if I cover her eyes. I'll try tomorrow when it's bright enough to not need the flash.

But up around her incisors and canines, in the very front of her mouth, her gums are solid black (well, purple-ish black, I guess...they're not really BLACK, but I don't know what other color to call them). Farther back, around her premolars and molars, they're spotty black and pink, but still mostly black.

Yeah, dogs definitely can have black gums, not just pigmentation on the outside. Since Chelsea_b is having trouble getting a picture, I took one of Butter's- dunno how similar Cherokee's are to Butter's, but I'll post it anyway:

Not the greatest picture, he wouldn't stop squirming, but you can definitely see the color of his gums. The roof of his mouth is black, too, and the back of his throat.

I think Xerxes is a lucky dog.  His lips, gums and paw pads are all naturally pink.