BC Museum: Eye Color

Detail from "The Morning Greeting" by Arthur Elsley (1860-1952)

EYE COLOR IN BORDER COLLIES

Note on the Color Pages: --PLEASE READ--

Up till now, I have accepted photos of people's dogs and have put them up on the appropriate pages when I have had the time. However, these pages are getting enormously large, for which there is a cost associated in both time and money (space costs). Furthermore, I have accumulated an enormous backlog of photos that I have not had time to put up, and given the size of the website in general, and the fact that I would like to expand it in other areas, I have not had the time to update the color pages.

So, sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I must cut back the existing pages by removing some photos and leaving only those that best represent particular colors or patterns. I will no longer be accepting photos of other people's dogs for publication on this website except from time to time if a perfect example and a great photo comes along. To those of you who have sent photos that have not yet gone up, I apologize for never having gotten to them.

Still, I have to say that I enjoy getting photos of your dogs and seeing for myself the huge variety there is in the breed. So, if you would like to continue sending me photos, and continue to correspond with me, I would like that very much, and am still available to answer any color questions you may have to the best of my ability.

Thank you for your support on the subject of color genetics in the Border Collie.

-- Carole Presberg, editor and curator, Border Collie Museum

We were originally going to make this a page for blue eyes, but have decided that it should cover all eye colors in the breed. In the Border Collie, brown eyes are most common, particularly in black-and-white and tricolored dogs. These can be anywhere from light brown to dark, dark, almost black. There was a time when shepherd's believed that "nice, dark eyes" was preferable over lighter eyes of any color. But dogs of all colors can have eyes of any color. Red-and-white and red-tri dogs often have amber or yellow eyes, and sometimes have green eyes. Blue dogs often have green or amber eyes as well. But the most interesting eye color is blue, and dogs of any color can have one eye or both eyes blue. Some people believe that the blue eyes in a Border Collie come from a Husky ancester, but this is patently untrue. Blue has always appeared in the breed. Eyes of two different colors was once considered an asset for a working collie, as it was thought that one of the eyes controlled the sheep inbye or close up, and one controlled the sheep ootbye (outbye) or at a distance. Blue eyes are often called "glass" eyes or "watch" eyes. We will present as many examples of different color eyes here as possible.

This boy with the startling blue eyes is Murphy ("Bytchek Endeavour") belonging to Ann McGarry from Andover, Hampshire, England. Murphy is registered with the Kennel Club in the UK, but Ann says that he can't be shown because of his blue eyes, which is considered a "fault". We agree with Ann that it is more of an asset than a fault.

Josie, a gorgeous black and white puppy who belongs to Mary Henry, has one blue eye. The other eye is dark brown.

Three of the editor's dogs are left to right, Willy (at 9 weeks old), Sage (at 10 weeks old) and Kate (at 6 years old). Willy had very dark brown eyes, almost black. Sage has one blue eye and one very light brown eye, actually tan, with beautiful black "eyeliner" outlining them in her white face. Her coloring, including the "schizophrenic eyes," fits her personality. Kate is a classically marked Border Collie with light amber eyes.

The photos of these blue-eyed dogs were sent by Sharon Webley from England. The dog on the left is named "Fly", a beautiful black-and-white dog with loads of ticking on her face. The other two are blue merle, the dog on the right being named "Merlin". Blue eyes are fairly common in merles.

This is Skye CDX FM, belonging to Don and Terry Gwynne of Arlington, Texas. He is a black-and-white dog with dark amber eyes.

These two handsome dogs are Oliver and Luna, belonging to Darcy Zimmerman of Valecito, California. They are not quite mirror images of each other. Darcy adopted them from shelters 150 miles apart from each other. She was surprised to find two half-white faced dogs both with one blue eye in the black side, and wondered if this was unusual. But, while common sense tells us that the blue eye should be in the white side, this is often not the case. Our page on split-faced dogs attests to the blue eye being more commonly found in the dark side. If anyone has an explanation for this phenomenon, we'd appreciate hearing from them.

Patterned-white with prick ears, Molly, who belongs to Summer MacMillan and Bryan Jenkins, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, has one blue and one brown eye.

Durango, a brindled dog, has very pale amber or yellow eyes.

Red and white Murphy Brown, who beloned to Diane Conroy of Florida, had green eyes. We have been looking for some examples of green eyes, and hoped we might find it among the blue dogs, but this is the only one of two we have been able to find, possibly because it's often difficult to distinguish between green eyes and yellow or pale amber ones.