Blue Eyed Dogs, Breed by Breed

Written by

Kosar Koohi

Editor at Pretty Fluffy

Updated 20 October 202611 min read

Editor · Dog Lover · Pet Expert

About Kosar

Kosar is the editor of Pretty Fluffy, a lifelong dog lover, and the proud mom of Yuki, a Maltese who has very high standards. So does Kosar. She researches everything obsessively before it ever makes it onto the page.

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Every puppy opens its eyes blue, so the real question with blue eyed dogs is which ones keep that color into adulthood, and whether the icy stare comes with anything an owner should plan for. The answer depends far less on the breed name on the paperwork than on which gene put the blue there in the first place.

Some of the dogs below carry a husky gene that changes the eyes and nothing else. Others get their blue from merle or white coat patterns, which can also touch hearing and sight. Two of the most familiar examples, the Australian Shepherd and the Border Collie, sit among Australia's most popular dog breeds, which is part of why blue eyes turn up so often at the local park.

Why Some Dogs Have Blue Eyes

A dog has blue eyes when the iris holds little or no melanin, the pigment that makes eyes brown. Blue eyes contain no blue pigment at all: light scatters inside the pale iris and bounces back as blue, the same way a clear sky looks blue. In adult dogs, three genetic routes cause it: a duplication near the ALX4 gene that is common in huskies, the merle coat pattern, and extensive white spotting known as piebald.

The Husky Gene and Heterochromia

Huskies have their own explanation. A large DNA study of more than 6,000 dogs traced their blue eyes to a duplicated stretch of chromosome 18 next to ALX4, a gene involved in eye development. It turned up mostly in Siberian Huskies, plus Alaskan Klee Kai, some solid-colored Australian Shepherds and the odd Australian Cattle Dog. One copy is usually enough for two blue eyes, or one blue and one brown, a pattern called heterochromia, though a few carriers stay brown-eyed. Importantly, this variant has not been linked to deafness or poor vision.

Merle and Dapple Coat Patterns

Merle is the marbled coat seen in blue merle herding breeds, and in Dachshunds, where it is called dapple. The same gene dilutes pigment in the iris, so merle dogs often have two blue eyes, one of each, or a brown eye with a wedge of blue. It is also the reason so many border collie mixes arrive at shelters with one striking blue eye.

White Spotting and Piebald Coats

Piebald and extreme white patterns leave patches of skin without pigment cells. When that white reaches the face, the iris can come out blue, and the inner ear can lose the same pigment cells it needs for hearing. That is why blue eyes in heavily white breeds such as the Dalmatian deserve a closer look. True albinism is rare in dogs and gives very pale blue or greenish eyes.

When Puppy Eye Color Settles

Puppies are born with blue-gray eyes because melanin has not built up in the iris yet. Adult color usually shows between 9 and 12 weeks and can take until about 16 weeks to finish. A puppy whose eyes are still clear blue at four months is likely to keep them.

12 Dog Breeds With Blue Eyes

No breed has blue eyes every time. These twelve are the ones where blue turns up often enough to plan around, with the gene behind it noted for each.

Siberian Husky

The classic blue-eyed breed, and the one whose blue comes with no hearing strings attached. Huskies can have two blue eyes, two brown, one of each, or a single eye split between both colors. They are friendly, talkative and famous escape artists, built for cold rather than heat, so anyone in a warm climate should read up on the best dogs for hot weather first.

• Lifespan: 12 to 14 years
• Best for: runners, cool climates and securely fenced yards
• Notable trait: blows its undercoat heavily twice a year

Alaskan Klee Kai

A smaller dog with a husky face and the same blue-eye duplication, so blue and odd eyes are common. Klee Kai are bright, alert and surprisingly vocal, and they need real exercise despite their size.

• Lifespan: 13 to 16 years
• Best for: active owners who want the husky look in a smaller dog
• Notable trait: wary of strangers, so early socialization matters

Australian Shepherd

Aussies get blue eyes two ways: through the merle gene in blue merle and red merle dogs, and through the husky-type duplication in some solid-colored dogs. That is why a black tricolor Aussie can still have bright blue eyes. Despite the name, the breed was developed on American ranches.

• Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
• Best for: agility, herding and very active households
• Notable trait: needs a job every day, not just a walk

Border Collie

Most Border Collies have brown eyes, and blue usually arrives with a merle coat. The famous herding stare is no less intense in blue. The breed tops most rankings of the smartest dog breeds, and a bored one will invent its own work.

• Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
• Best for: dog sports and owners who train daily
• Notable trait: strong herding instinct around children and bikes

Shetland Sheepdog

Blue eyes in Shelties appear in blue merles, sometimes as a single blue eye or a blue fleck in a brown iris. Shelties are sensitive, quick learners that read their people closely, in a much smaller package than a collie.

• Lifespan: 12 to 14 years
• Best for: obedience, agility and smaller homes
• Notable trait: a keen barker with a coat that needs regular brushing

Cardigan Welsh Corgi

Of the two corgi breeds, only the Cardigan comes in blue merle, and those dogs often have blue or partly blue eyes. A merle "Pembroke" almost always has another breed somewhere in the family tree, one of several differences covered in this Pembroke vs Cardigan corgi comparison.

• Lifespan: 12 to 15 years
• Best for: families with older children
• Notable trait: a long back that needs ramps and a lean waistline

Dapple Dachshund

Dapple Dachshunds can have one or two blue eyes. A double dapple, bred from two dapple parents, carries the same serious risks as a double merle. Anyone wondering how smart Dachshunds are will find them clever and stubborn in equal measure.

• Lifespan: 12 to 16 years
• Best for: apartments and homes without many stairs
• Notable trait: prone to back problems, so keep them lean

Catahoula Leopard Dog

Louisiana's state dog comes in merle "leopard" coats with blue, brown, amber or cracked glass eyes in every combination. It is a tough, independent dog bred to hunt and herd, and one of the breeds where deafness is known to run higher, particularly in dogs with a lot of white on the head.

• Lifespan: 10 to 14 years
• Best for: experienced owners with land or a job to offer
• Notable trait: territorial, so early training is essential

Koolie

An Australian working dog bred to muster sheep and cattle, the Koolie often comes in red or blue merle with blue, brown or mixed eyes. It is little known outside Australia but common on farms there, with the stamina and focus of any herding breed and a reputation for being keen to please.

• Lifespan: around 15 years
• Best for: farm work, running partners and dog sports
• Notable trait: herds anything that moves, so it struggles in a small backyard

Great Dane

Merle and harlequin Danes can have blue eyes or one of each, while most other colors have dark eyes. Like most big dog breeds, they need room and joint care, though they are calmer indoors than their size suggests.

• Lifespan: 7 to 10 years
• Best for: calm households with space
• Notable trait: high risk of bloat, so ask a vet about safe feeding routines

Weimaraner

Every Weimaraner puppy has striking blue eyes, but in most dogs they fade to amber, gray or blue-gray as the dog matures. An adult with true blue eyes is uncommon, so a puppy's eye color is no promise of an adult's.

• Lifespan: 10 to 13 years
• Best for: very active owners, hikers and runners
• Notable trait: prone to separation anxiety when left alone for long days

Dalmatian

Most Dalmatians have brown or amber eyes, and blue comes from the same extreme white gene that produces their famous coat. They are athletic dogs bred to run beside carriages for miles. Blue-eyed Dalmatians are statistically more likely to be deaf, so a hearing test matters more here than for any other breed on this list.

• Lifespan: 11 to 13 years
• Best for: runners, cyclists and energetic families
• Notable trait: close to a third of American Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears

Blue Eyes in Mixed Breeds and Rescue Dogs

The husky duplication usually shows with a single copy, so husky crosses and Pomskies often inherit blue eyes even when the other parent has brown. Aussie and collie crosses get them through merle. Plenty of mixed breed dogs also carry blue eyes from ancestry nobody ever recorded.

If a blue-eyed rescue has a mostly white head or a merle coat, ask the shelter whether hearing has been checked. Many deaf dogs live full, happy lives with the right owner, and this honest look at adopting a rescue dog covers what to weigh before committing.

Hearing, Vision and Other Blue-Eye Health Questions

Blue eyes are not a health problem in themselves. What matters is the gene that caused them, and how much white or merle sits around the face.

Deafness Risk in Merle and White Dogs

The inner ear needs pigment cells to hear, and merle and piebald genes can leave it without them. In one veterinary study of merle dogs, about 3% of single merles were deaf in one ear and under 1% in both. Among double merles, 10% were deaf in one ear and 15% in both. Louisiana State University's veterinary school notes that in several breeds, the Dalmatian among them, blue-eyed dogs are statistically more likely to be deaf, and its overview of the genetics of deafness in dogs is clear reading for anyone raising a merle or white breed.

Do Blue Eyes Affect a Dog's Vision?

A single merle or a blue-eyed husky normally sees as well as a brown-eyed dog. The real vision risk is the double merle: two merle parents produce, on average, one double merle in every four puppies. These dogs are usually mostly white, and many are born deaf, blind, or with small or malformed eyes. No responsible breeder pairs two merles, or two dapples.

Sun, Glare and Pink Eye Rims

Pale irises have less pigment to filter bright light, and some vets suggest shade for blue-eyed dogs on harsh summer days. The bigger sun risk is usually the pink skin around the eyes and nose, which burns easily. Keeping midday walks short and shaded protects both.

Cloudy Blue Eyes in Older Dogs

A brown-eyed dog whose eyes turn bluish or cloudy later in life is a different matter. A soft haze can be nuclear sclerosis, a normal age change, but it can also signal cataracts, glaucoma, corneal disease or inflammation inside the eye. Any new cloudiness, squinting, redness or sudden change in one eye calls for a prompt vet visit, the same day if the eye looks painful.

Temperament and the Aggression Myth

Eye color has no link to aggression or personality. Where problems do appear, deafness is usually the real cause, because a deaf dog woken suddenly can startle and snap. Waking a deaf dog with a gentle touch on the shoulder, and teaching hand signals early, prevents most of it.

Names Inspired by Blue Eyes

A pair of blue eyes practically names the dog. For hundreds more ideas sorted by coat, size and theme, browse this big list of dog names.

Female Names for a Blue-Eyed Pup

• Skye
• Sapphire
• Azure
• Bluebell
• Iris
• Marina
• Celeste
• Lapis
• Indigo
• Aurora

Male Names for a Blue-Eyed Pup

• Blue
• Cobalt
• Denim
• Glacier
• Frost
• Neptune
• Sinatra
• Storm
• Navy
• Jay

Still undecided? The dog name generator ranks names against a dog's looks and personality.

Choosing a Blue-Eyed Puppy Responsibly

Blue eyes make a puppy easy to sell, which is exactly why they deserve a few extra questions before any deposit changes hands:

• Ask for the merle test results of both parents, since a cryptic merle can look solid and still produce double merles.
• Ask whether the litter had BAER hearing tests, the only reliable way to catch a puppy deaf in one ear.
• Walk away from any litter bred merle to merle or dapple to dapple, or sold mainly on a "rare color".
• For huskies and Klee Kai, eye color is purely cosmetic, so focus on hip and eye screening instead.

Whatever the breed, a blue-eyed dog needs what every dog needs, plus one thing more: an owner who knows which gene put the blue there. Get that right, and those pale eyes are simply the loveliest part of a well-loved dog.