The color of the eyes is given by the Genetic heritage, when the eyes are completely healthy they have the same color each one. Young children's eyes are usually gray or pale blue in color and it is around 6 and 10 years of age that true color formation occurs.
Mostly, people and animals have brown eyes, while only a small number have blue or green eyes. The part of the eye that shows the color is called the iris and cases may occur in which the eyes have a different color each, this phenomenon is known as heterochromia. This small defect is quite common in animals, dogs, cats and even horses can have different colored eyes each.
Types of heterochromia
There are two types of heterochromia that can occur depending on the causes that may be to blame for this defect.
Partial heterochromia: a single eye has different color tones.
Complete heterochromia: the eyes are completely different colors.
Congenital heterochromia: this occurs when it is genetically inherited.
Acquired heterochromia: is caused or can occur by some disease or trauma.
This defect is not a condition that affects vision and it is not very common for a complete heterochromia to occur in a person. So in this article we mention some breeds of dogs that have two-colored eyes different, as many people find it striking and are drawn to this beautiful flaw.
In dogs there are several breeds that can have complete heterochromia. We can mention among them at Siberian husky (In other countries it is also known as the Siberian wolf because of its resemblance to this wild relative), the Catahoula and the Australian Shepherd.
Dog breeds that have this phenomenon in their eyes, usually have a blue eye and another is brown and it is that when the iris of the eye is blue, it occurs through the Merle geneThis gene is the one that gives that tonality and is also responsible for the coloration in the nose of dogs, which is called butterfly.
In turn, it can be the cause of a partial heterochromia, for example, a slight brown color can be observed within the blue eye color. We can notice the Merle gene present in breeds such as the Australian Shepherd, the Border Collie and the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and this does not mean that these canine friends are no longer attractive to people, rather it turns them into animals with traits than to many may be unique.
Regarding partial heterochromia, there are breeds of dogs that can have this type of defect, in which one of the eyes has two colors together, that is, it can be multicolored. Among them we can mention the Border Collie, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi, the Australian Sheepdog and the Great Dane.
When this color variation is observed in the iris of dogs produced by the Merle gene, it is due to the fact that this decreases pigmentation, that is, a loss of color occurs.
Other dog breeds that we can say that spontaneously have Heterochromia are the English Cocker Spaniel, the Pit Bull Terrier, the French Bulldog, the Boston Terrier and the Dalmatian.
In addition to talking about dogs that have eyes of two different colors and why does this happen? We can also mention the legends that exist about this beautiful phenomenon, since it was believed that these dogs provided protection to humanity, according to stories. dogs with different colored eyes (heterochromia) they protected people, while those with brown eyes provided protection to the spirits.
On the other hand, Eskimos believed that sled dogs with this defect were capable of running faster.