Yeah - the mouth 'color' test is bunk.

Chows, I think, are SUPPOSED to have dark tongues and mouths - that is their breed standard, if i'm not mistaken....

Anyway, the blonde chow next door, and my friends two chows (one black, one blonde) ALL have dark tongues. I don't think I've ever seen one that WASN'T dark.

In rescue, for some reason, there are alot of chow/golden mixes that show up, and they often have black/blue tongues from the chow side.

there is absoulutely no doubt that my Fizz is a registered pure-bred golden - her registered name is "Pawnee Bonacres Ridin' Shotgun" and she has a longer family tree than I do! and loads of conformation champions in it - and she has a black spot on her tongue and a few on her gums.

Toby and Tara were also purebred, though not as good a line as Fizz, and they had black on their gums - it's a very common trait in goldens and many other breeds.

have you ever checked out the MSN board "Golden Retreiver"? There are TONS of "pure' golden photos on there - check out the HUGE variety in the phot albums there sometime!

http://groups.msn.com/GoldenRetriever

laura