# Eye color



## Amaruq

I know that GSD are supposed to have dark eyes. But could someone explain in laymen terms how the eye color genetics work? I have seen a wide range of eyes from almost black to an amber/gold color. Do GSD ever have blue eyes like the Huskies, Border Collies, Aussies and Corgis?


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## Minnieski

Someone once told me that they had a "blue shepherd" that had blue eyes - didn't see it for myself and not sure if I believe it though. I know the fur color dilution can be blueish, but I thought the eyes were still brown. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this too.


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## AbbyK9

I believe there was a member some time back who had a black/tan pup that had one blue eye and one brown eye, who posted some photos of the dog. The general consensus at the time seems to have been that a blue eye is not possible in b/t German Shepherds?


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## mjbgsd

I think i remember that dog, I remember seeing half of it's eye blue/brown but I also think they said it was GSD/husky.


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## Fodder

> Originally Posted By: AmaruqHuskies, Border Collies, Aussies and Corgis?


...adding Collies, Sheltie, Dalmation, Heelers, Great Danes, Catahoula, English Bulldogs & Daschund to that list. (wow, more than i thought when i started typing it).

Personally, i believe it can happen to any breed on a fluke, especially after seeing it with my own two eyes on a Cocker, a Lhasa, a Boston Terrier, and on this guy:



















although i'd probably expect a Panda Shepherd to come out with funky eyes before any of the more traditional color gsd.


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## Amaruq

> Originally Posted By: Camerafodder
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> Originally Posted By: AmaruqHuskies, Border Collies, Aussies and Corgis?
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> ...adding Collies, Sheltie, Dalmation, Heelers, Great Danes, Catahoula, English Bulldogs & Daschund to that list. (wow, more than i thought when i started typing it).
Click to expand...

But is it an ACCEPTABLE eye color for any of the breeds that you listed? I have not studied all of the standards but I know in the 4 breeds I listed that blue eyes are acceptable in the show ring.


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## Chris Wild

I believe spontaneous mutation causing a blue eye can happen with any dog of any breed. Some breeds do carry genetics for blue eyes, others (GSD and the Rottie pictured) do not.... but the occasional mutation can occur.


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## AbbyK9

Could you, or someone reading this thread, explain the genetics behind eye color and what would cause a mutation to bring up blue eyes in a dog like the Rottie or a GSD?


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## Fodder

> Originally Posted By: Amaruq
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> Originally Posted By: Camerafodder
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> Originally Posted By: AmaruqHuskies, Border Collies, Aussies and Corgis?
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> ...adding Collies, Sheltie, Dalmation, Heelers, Great Danes, Catahoula, English Bulldogs & Daschund to that list. (wow, more than i thought when i started typing it).
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> But is it an ACCEPTABLE eye color for any of the breeds that you listed? I have not studied all of the standards but I know in the 4 breeds I listed that blue eyes are acceptable in the show ring.
Click to expand...

i didn't look up each of those breeds individually. but where blue eyes are recessive in huskies or dalmations - i read that it is dominant in merle or dapple dogs. so i'd assume, if its a breed that merle or dapple is allowed in the ring, then the eyes are allowed as well. (acceptable but not desired including one blue eye, both, or partials) i looked up great dane, blue eyes are found in merles... but merles are not allowed to be shown.


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## pupresq

I think the blue eyes of blue dogs are different genetically than the blue eyes that show up in other breeds. Having a dilute pigment gene does change eye color - liver dogs have amber eyes, for example, but I suspect that genetically their eye color is a perfectly normal color, it's the dilution gene that prevents the pigment from being there and makes them look the way they do. In contrast to the blue eyes on a black and white Husky or Border Collie etc which seem to be actual eye genetics at work rather than a side effect of something else.

I'm interested in this too - we see such a diversity of dogs and mixes of dogs come through our shelters, it makes your curious. There's a Puggle sort of thing at one of the shelters I work with right now with ice blue eyes - very weird looking dog! Also interested to learn the genetics of the multi colored eyes - I believe that's called "cracked ice" ices, at least in Catahoulas.


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## Barb E

I have no clue but I had a TB/Appaloosa that had a 1/2 blue eye.


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## Fodder

ironically, i just came across this fellow


















link with more pics: http://www.sheprescue.org/Tyre%20von%20Goldberg.html looks PB to me


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## AbbyK9

Wow ... that is kind of creepy looking.


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## Fodder

i know right... even creepier than the Rott since the shepherd has such an alert expression. in some of the other pictures it doesnt freak me out as much... but it is still extremely odd.


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## Amaruq

I found this atricle on color genes in Siberian Huskies. I did not have time to read the entire article but the last paragraph:



> Quote: Genes affecting eye color have not been studied accurately for presentation with this guide. There appears many interacting genes with complicating actions. Generally accepted is the brown dominance over blue and bi-colored and parti over clear blue eye coloring. It has been recorded that a dog cannot produce progeny with eye color darker than his own; blue excepted. Copper specimens possess either amber or blue eye but never brown eyes.


Color Genetics©

by Ginny Emrich Rice
(originally published in 1977)

All rights reserved. Brief excerpts quoted and credited appropriately may appear elsewhere. Contact the ISHC at N7002 Peck Station Rd., Elkhorn, WI 53121-9417, USA for written permission to use any part or the whole of this article in any public forum (newsletter, magazine, book, web site, etc. - electronic or hard copy).


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## Fodder

> Originally Posted By: AmaruqIt has been recorded that a dog cannot produce progeny with eye color darker than his own; blue excepted.


thats interesting!


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## pupresq

I assume that means across both parents though - like if a light eyed dog was bred to a dark eyed dog, then I'd assume the puppies could be (and probably would be) dark eyed, just like with people? But then it does seem in other ways like the genetics are different from people's - especially the tendency to have different colored eyes, which I know happens in people occasionally, but seems to be quite common in some breeds of dogs. So I don't know.

That Rottie is COOL looking!


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## WiscTiger

I have been told that eye color is one of the hardest things to darken up in your breeding. I don't think it is as clear cut as coat color. 

Jenn that is one freaky looking gsd.


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## VomBlack

That GSD is beyond creepy, very startling picture.


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## APBTLove

Rottie/mix
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/2753210389_9abdf4b331.jpg

That shepherd is stunning, but looks a little crazy..


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## Catu

> Originally Posted By: Camerafodderironically, i just came across this fellow
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> link with more pics: http://www.sheprescue.org/Tyre%20von%20Goldberg.html looks PB to me


For some reason the first thing that shocks me are not the eyes, but the front rear.


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## AbbyK9

For some reason, the dog with the blue eyes strikes me as having a perpetually surprised expression. It reminds me of this picture... :lol:


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## Fodder

what is a front rear?


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## Axelvonkota

Axel has honey colored eyes...very stunning on him. My other Shepherds had very dark brown/black eyes.


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## JThomas23

> Originally Posted By: Camerafodderwhat is a front rear?


Ditto! lol


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## Melina

I found this thread after seeing a post on Craigslist about a Shepherd with one blue eye and one brown eye, so I Googled, and what do you know...I ended up here  My question is, the GSD with the blue eyes has white on his chest and paws. Despite the fact that he looks pretty darn close to Purebred, do those things indicate a small mix somewhere?

Also, is it even possible for one light eye, one dark? Is it the same possibility (However small the anomaly) as having light eyes in general?


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## AbbyK9

> the GSD with the blue eyes has white on his chest and paws. Despite the fact that he looks pretty darn close to Purebred, do those things indicate a small mix somewhere?


Having a little bit of white on the chest or paws is actually fairly common in German Shepherds, and I wouldn't automatically assume that a dog with some white on its paws or chest is a mix or has a different breed in its recent history.

Now if I saw a dog with blue eyes and white on its paws and chest, I would be more likely to say it's a mix.


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## Melina

He looks so much like a Purebred GSD..It's just the white paws and chest that tell me there's something off. I'm nowhere near an expert though...


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## onyx'girl

There was one posted on CL or PF about 6 mos ago in my area. He was gorgeous, just had a "watcheye" and other than that looked purebred. 
Can't believe how these old threads ressurrect due to google search. Where is the dog you saw, Melina? Do you have a link?


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## blueshepherd

When I got Shay (my blue shpherd) she had bluish gray eyes very eery I might add! Now she has very light brown eyes. I studied the dilutes and they say that in the blues and fawns they are to diluted to have the dark eyes. Shay is 2 and her eyes are still light but she is all blue from her nose to her tail so I think that would be the dilute gene.

On another note... that picture is very scary!


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## Melina

onyx'girl said:


> There was one posted on CL or PF about 6 mos ago in my area. He was gorgeous, just had a "watcheye" and other than that looked purebred.
> Can't believe how these old threads ressurrect due to google search. Where is the dog you saw, Melina? Do you have a link?


Yeah, strange they resurface, huh. The dog on Craigslist doesn't look anywhere near purebred to me, but here you go:










Found German Shepherd & small dog

You can hardly see his ears, they're soft. I know that doesn't have much to do with other genes, and Purebred Shepherds get soft ears, but it makes him look less like he could be Purebred.

It just got me thinking, is it even possible for a GSD to have one blue, one brown, so I started researching and found this thread...


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## Bellini

Hi there. My clearly-not-pure-breed white GSD has strange blue eyes.








Both parents have dark brown eyes, and he was the only blue eyed puppy in the litter. No health issues, though. 
But i'm pretty sure it can occur in PB dogs, in case of pigment dilution.


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