Revodana Ridgebacks

Yes. Many, if not most, Ridgebacks have lighter shading behind their shoulders, as well as on their necks and on their "britches" (the area you see from the "rear view"). Many new owners are taken aback at what they think is "weird" coloring, but it is entirely normal and visible on most every Ridgeback you will meet. You just never noticed.

No need to call Rome. While arguably grosser than light-shaded shoulders, this too is normal for our fascinating breed.

What you are seeing is the "third eyelid" -- formally called the nictitating membrane. If you look in the mirror, you can see the human version of this membrane, which is non-functional: It's that pink lump in the corner of your eye nearest your nose.

In a normal, healthy dog, this membrane is never visible when he is alert and active. However, during particularly restless, twitchy periods of sleep, the dog may open his eyes partially, and this membrane may be visible covering a portion of the eye.

My family comes from a part of northernmost Italy called Trentino Alto-Adige -- specifically, from the town of Revo in the Dolomites. A "revodana" is a local term for a woman from that town, which is located in the Val di Non.

While Italian is the official language in Revo and throughout this part of Europe, the native tongue is a pre-Romance language called Nones in my particular valley, and Ladin in general. The result of a collision between Latin and Celtic around the time of the birth of Christ, this earthy peasant language is a kissing cousin to the Romansch spoken in Switzerland.

The Non valley and peculiar cultural flavor was documented in the scholarly work "Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley" by American anthropologists John W. Cole and Eric R. Wolf.