Question about eye colour in pups

[silhouettestable]

I know that a brown eyed dog will be born with blue-gray eyes which later change colour, but I was wondering, what about a dog that has one or both blue eyes? Will the blue eye(s) be noticeably different right away when the pup's eyes open, or will it be the same blue-gray as a brown eye and then change later? At what age do you know if you'll have a blue-eyed dog?

[flrpwr52]

 

Kya is now 9 weeks old and she had 2 blue eyes when she was born. Her right eye still has a bit of blue in it but is mostly grey now. The left eye stayed mostly blue but has a touch of grey.

[silhouettestable]

What a cutie she is! I just had a chance to visit with a 6 day old litter on Saturday, and while I was there I also met another BC with one blue eye and one brown (he's not related to the pups). Later on it got me thinking about what the eye colour of the pups might be, and if you can tell for sure what it will be as soon as their eyes open, or if you have to wait and see. Here's a picture of the pups that was sent to me, it's from when they were only a day old.

 

[MirageMerle]

When Mir was born (or a pup at least, I got her at 8 wks), she had really bright blue eyes. The color of the skin on this board is about right. Now, she's got much lighter eyes and her right eye has some brown in it that I don't think was there when she was a pup.

 

- Brooke -

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

I know that a brown eyed dog will be born with blue-gray eyes which later change colour, but I was wondering, what about a dog that has one or both blue eyes? Will the blue eye(s) be noticeably different right away when the pup's eyes open, or will it be the same blue-gray as a brown eye and then change later? At what age do you know if you'll have a blue-eyed dog?

 

My friend had a litter which had at least three pups with blue eyes, maybe even four pups--I don't remember. What I do remember is that we had an idea within about a week or two after the eyes opened that some of them were probably going to be blue...I don't remember exactly how soon. I guess about three or four weeks of age. It becomes obvious soon though, because the blue eyes are light compared to the muddy blue-gray that becomes brown.

[silhouettestable]

Thanks for educating me, I had no idea if it would be immediately apparent. It seems that blue eyes are fairly common in BC's, is there anything that predisposes the pups to have one eye colour or another? (heredity, certain coat colours etc.) The pups I posted the picture of have a red & white mom with brown eyes, and the dad is a black & white, but I don't know his eye colour.

 

Megan - that was probably half the litter (or close to I'm guessing) with blue eyes. Seems like a high percentage, did one or both parents have blue eyes?

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

Thanks for educating me, I had no idea if it would be immediately apparent. It seems that blue eyes are fairly common in BC's, is there anything that predisposes the pups to have one eye colour or another? (heredity, certain coat colours etc.) The pups I posted the picture of have a red & white mom with brown eyes, and the dad is a black & white, but I don't know his eye colour.

 

Megan - that was probably half the litter (or close to I'm guessing) with blue eyes. Seems like a high percentage, did one or both parents have blue eyes?

 

Yep, eye color is genetic, and is sometimes related to color. You're right; blue eyes are not unusual in the breed.

 

There were 10 pups in the litter I mentioned. The tri-color sire has one blue eye.

 

 

 

The black and white dam has brown eyes, and her sire also has brown eyes but is known to have produced blue eyes. In the litter, one of the pups had two blue eyes; at least two had one blue eye each...I can't recall if there were two pups with one blue eye, or three pups.

 

Blue or partial blue eyes is very common in merles. I have to wonder if it is also linked to markings, as in horses, but I suppose I can think of plenty of white faced or split-faced dogs with dark eyes, so I'm not sure. The facts are probably out there (actually, they're prolly somewhere on my 'puter, but I can't think of where they are, lol).

 

The eye color of red/liver dogs is somewhat different, with a sort of greenish hue, but I don't know any red dogs well, so that is better described by somone who has one. It seems to be inherited as part of the "not-black" genetics, along with the liver color nose leather. I think the eye color of dilute blue dogs (not blue merle) is also different, as their nose leather is a grayish color, but again, I don't have personal experience with any blue dogs.

 

If you'd like to know more about color genetics, here's a site to get you started. I know a bit because it's one of my personal passions and I consider it fun, but I am an enthusiast, not an expert. There's a page for coat color genetics in dogs, among other interesting pages. I don't think there's anything about eye color. I don't know if all the info is still considered current because researchers are still learning and making new discoveries, but the basic principles are the same.

 

Enjoy!

[silhouettestable]

Thanks for the link, I'll check that out. I also wondered if the eye colour would correspond to facial markings as in horses, but after looking at a bunch of pictures I'm not sure that it does (not that I know anything about it, but that's just the feeling I get). A horse with a bald face will quite often have a blue eye/eyes, and yet as you mentioned, there are split faced dogs with brown eyes. Very interestingly, of the pictures I looked at, many split faced dogs have a brown eye on the white side, and a blue eye on the dark side of the face, which goes against what you would expect.

[Dalesred]

My blue merle ( on the left) has one brown eye with a fleck of blue and one eye half blue, half brown. I could tell from fairly soon after I got him ( he was 8 wks old then - so say by 10 weeks) that one eye was darker than the other. I was a bit concerned that there was something wrong with the eye, not having had a merle before, but the vet assured me that the vision was fine in both eyes. So yes, you can tell quite soon - but obviously it's easier if you have one eye of a different colour to compare the two.

[ClickMeBC]

I'm bringing home a puppy in a couple days, at 8 weeks. He has the muddy gray eyes right now, which will become brown. Several of his siblings had GORGEOUS blue eyes, though(a fact that gave me a very hard time when it came to choosing a pup.... ). The breeder assured me that all the puppies with the electric blue eyes would keep them. The muddy gray color was that which would turn brown as the pup aged.

Their sire was a stunning merle with equally stunning blue eyes, and it got me thinking - I've yet to meet a merle BC with eye color other than blue.

 

Eye color in dogs fascinates me. I came to know a litter of BC pups(there were 6), four of whom had split faces. All the pups with split faces had a blue eye on the white half of their face, brown on the other(with the exception of one female, she had blue on the white half, green on the other half...she was a red and white dog). I'd heard it was more common that the light colored eye be on on the dark side of the face when it came to split-faced, bi-eyed border collies, which leads me to think perhaps it was lack of pigment(an albino would be an example - albino horses usually, if not always, have blue eyes, if I'm not mistaken). Though genetics plays the biggest part, perhaps lack of pigment can cause the blue eyes in a white-faced or split faced dog, as well?

[Kelliwic Border Collies]

ClickMe, there are no albino horses. One condition that causes the phenotype you are probably thinking of is a homozygous- or double-dilute. The creme gene in horses is an incomplete dominant, and in the heterozygous state (one gene received) it lightens hair other-than-black to something in the gold/yellow family. A horse homozygous for creme has received a creme gene from each parent, and will be a nearly white (but not quite) color. This homozygous state is accompanied by blue eyes. There are other horse colors that are white or albino mimics, but I suspect this is probably the one you're referring to.

 

I am curious whether anyone has seen a non-merle Border Collie with parti-color eyes? I can't think of any, but I am far from having seen every Border Collie on earth. If Border Collies with parti-color eyes are all merle, then I would also wonder whether the blue eyes of merles (solid blue or parti-) are a separate gene than the blue eyes inherited by solid color dogs. ...just thinkin' aloud here, and probably not really making any sense... LOL Oh yes and while I'm at it, I want to know why two different color eyes is not uncommon in dogs and cats, but unusual in humans.

[silhouettestable]

I was just sent some new pics of the puppies last night and so now I can see their eyes. In the group shot they all look dark-eyed, though in their close-ups the eyes look to be very dark blue. It's not really the muddy gray-blue that I would have expected, but it's also not that bright electric blue of the blue-eyed dogs. It could be just the lightning in the picture, or the settings on my computer, but I'm guessing that they're going to go dark and be brown-eyed dogs. Either way, they're really cute! I'm going to have a chance to go see them on the weekend, by which time they'll be 4 weeks old and lots of fun I'm sure.

 

 

 

[Vickkers]

When Clover was 6 weeks old she had very beautiful blue grey eyes... now her eyes are almost champagne/gold colored at 1 year old; Absolutely gorgeous.