Blue eyes in solid coloured Border Collies

[PSmitty]

Oh, please. Anything with blue eyes is a husky mix! Including my friend's purebred b/w smooth border collies. LOL

[GentleLake]

^^ LOL Yes!

 

Merles definitely aren't the only border collies that can have blue eyes.

 

Regarding sun sensitivity, there was someone years ago who had a red working dog with one blue eye and one brown. The gentleman's name escapes me at the moment, but he trialed in VA. He said he'd observed the dog closing or squinting only the blue eye when working in the bright sun because that eye was so sun sensitive. I can relate. I have blue eyes and on sunny days definitely wish they were brown.

[Katilea]

lol! tbh I've never seen a nearly all black collie with blue eyes myself! My collie was one of 7.. 2 of the litter were merle with blue eyes the others were black and white's with brown eyes from a black and white female (brown eyes) and a red merle male (blue eyed).. the merles weren't red merles though they were 'slate grey and white'...funny how genetics works!

 

I'd love to find a mostly black collie now (bit of white on chest and paws) but with blue eyes as a companion for my collie after my old girl passed away recently. I guess its pot luck though whether a breeder gets a black one with blue eyes in a litter?

 

I'm blue eyed and very sensitive to light have to have blinds closed if sun is streaming in and wear sun glasses even in winter going out if the sun is bright, never thought of blue eyed dogs having the same issue!

[PSmitty]

Well, I think one of the parents must carry the gene for blue eyes, and some puppies could end up with blue eyes, and some not. Or one of each. Cutie on the left is my friend's, cutie on the right is mine.

[Katilea]

Lenajo, on Oct 19 2009, 03:46 PM, said:

A long, long time ago I got to help with CERF exams at an event. The opthamologist was from Auburn University and he took the time to show me with the dual view equipment how many blue eyes lacked fundal pigment. He said thse dogs were night blind, or at least signficantly limited in low light conditions.

Now the relevence of this may be not to most stockwork, but I can say that I've not had a blue eyed dog that a good night dog. I've also noticed that the very light blue eye dogs are very light sensitive in the summer - often squinting and seeking shade when the darker eyed dogs were unbothered. Since this is commen problem for blue eyed humans I didn't think it was anything unexpected...

Currently I have a light blue eyed Aussie Shep. I'm quite positive by behavior that she has poor night vision, and she hates direct sunlight in the summer. Frankly she has the same pained expression my blue eyed sister does before she finds her sunglasses. Coincidentally, my sister says she has poor night vision as well LOL. It's fortunate neither are needed for summer stockwork night or day

 

As Dr. Greg Ackland is the world's foremost expert on Border Collies and those eye tests that are done on them, I think I will stick to what he has personally told me about blue eyes. As far as "night vision" is concerned, I have a real problem myself seeing in the dark and I have brown eyes. I have experienced this discussion on "night vision" for many years, more than I wish to remember, and still haven't been able to find that very special dog that sees better than others at night. Just gathered my flock off the neighbour's field last night with my one blue eyed dog and he didn't have any problem finding and gathering them and it was pitch black with no moon or stars. I'll stick to what I've seen over the last 50 some years and what the experts have shown and told me. Bob

 

That's interesting, do they mean only dogs with light blue eyes or light coloured eyes in general? JJ's are like a light amber rather than a dark brown. He is from a blue eyed merle and I did have his eyes checked when he was younger as he seemed to run into stuff when in very bright sun (as he ran ahead like bikejoring but alongside on pavement) and had run into parked cars on pavement before. He'd also go and lie near back door with his head out of curtain where security light was on back porch when I turned all lights off at night and bedroom was pitch black. But when it was sunny he'd always go lie in shade where my older dog who had really dark brown eyes, loved to go lie in the sun and soak up the rays! (she was nearly all black with bit of white but a crossbreed).

[juliepoudrier]

Red is recessive, so a red dog bred to a black dog won't produce any red dogs unless the black dog also happens to carry recessive red (Bb vs BB). Merle is dominant, so the red merle could pass on his merle gene to produce merle puppies, but if the dam didn't carry red there would have been no way for red merle pups to have been produced.

 

J.

lol! tbh I've never seen a nearly all black collie with blue eyes myself! My collie was one of 7.. 2 of the litter were merle with blue eyes the others were black and white's with brown eyes from a black and white female (brown eyes) and a red merle male (blue eyed).. the merles weren't red merles though they were 'slate grey and white'...funny how genetics works!

[Katilea]

Red is recessive, so a red dog bred to a black dog won't produce any red dogs unless the black dog also happens to carry recessive red (Bb vs BB). Merle is dominant, so the red merle could pass on his merle gene to produce merle puppies, but if the dam didn't carry red there would have been no way for red merle pups to have been produced.

 

J.

 

That's interesting thanks. I wondered why the merle puppies were grey and white rather than red and white like their daddy! They also had really blue eyes like him but the other black and white pups eyes were shades of amber to brown, not same on each pup.

 

Can't seem to upload any pics I keep getting message files are too big but don't know how to make them smaller and when I try via URL no pic shows up just an empty box??

[GentleLake]

Slate grey is actually a different color as well. It's a dilute black, normally called blue in border collies. Totally different genetics than what causes the different kind of dilution of the merle

 

However, since "black" merles are already called blue merles, a dilute "blue" merle is called a slate merle to differentiate it. But a slate merle is lighter than a blue merle, especially in the darker spots, which reveal the dog's genetic base color. Those spots in a blue merle will be black. In a slate merle they'll be grey.

 

Then there are the brownish spots that often show up in merles (not tan points of a tri) that are unrelated to the base color at all.

 

It can get pretty confusing if you're not familiar with it.

 

So it's possible that there were slate merles in the litter, but it's still a pretty rare color (except among irresponsible breeders who are deliberately breeding for the rare candy colors, where it may show up a bit more often), so it's most likely these pups are blue merles rather than slate merles.

[Katilea]

Slate grey is actually a different color as well. It's a dilute black, normally called blue in border collies. Totally different genetics than what causes the different kind of dilution of the merle

 

However, since "black" merles are already called blue merles, a dilute "blue" merle is called a slate merle to differentiate it. But a slate merle is lighter than a blue merle, especially in the darker spots, which reveal the dog's genetic base color. Those spots in a blue merle will be black. In a slate merle they'll be grey.

 

Then there are the brownish spots that often show up in merles (not tan points of a tri) that are unrelated to the base color at all.

 

It can get pretty confusing if you're not familiar with it.

 

So it's possible that there were slate merles in the litter, but it's still a pretty rare color (except among irresponsible breeders who are deliberately breeding for the rare candy colors, where it may show up a bit more often), so it's most likely these pups are blue merles rather than slate merles.

They were described as 'slate merle' and were mostly white with patches of light grey, of course they could have gone darker as they got older? but I only saw the puppy pics on the site when they were photographed at 6 weeks old. 2 were described as 'slate merle' the rest were b&w's.

 

I don't know who adopted them so never seen them as grown ups to know what colours they are now. JJ has got more mottling on him as he grew (than was shown on his 6week photo's) and they'll all be 4yr old this year so I imagine they will look quite different by now.

[Lawgirl]

These are two of my boys, full litter mates. Genetics is a wonderful thing, with both boys looking so different. Oscar is a white face b&w with one blue eye, one dark brown eye and some minor ticking. George is the tri colour with brown eyes. Oscar is not white factored. George has something going on with the agouti gene, where the tops of his legs and the top of his head have patches which are darker at the roots and lighter at the ends. You can just see a bit of this at the bottom of the picture.

 

I have never noticed any difficulties with Oscar in sunlight, and he has much better night vision than I do.

[highway61]

Adding my entry to the Museum of Heterochromia. When we meet strangers and they comment on Sam's eye set I tell them he's as crazy as he looks