Have you ever met a Rottweiler with blue eyes? If your answer is big yes, then trust me, you should consider yourself lucky and fortunate. You are among the luckiest few elites who have chance to see a blue-eyed Rottweiler.
It is rare to see a purebred Rottweiler with blue eyes. However, just because it is rare it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
Rottweilers are generally seen with black to brown eyes and very rarely with eyes of any other color. Rottweilers have blue eyes due to genetic variations, but it is extremely rare.
According to the American Kennel Club, blue-eyed Rottweilers are not considered to be AKC standard, but they are still purebred dogs. The American Kennel Club (AKC), as well as the Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler Klub (ADRK) – the German Rottweiler Club) don’t recognize blue eyes as the standard in a Rottweiler puppy.
There are some other theories as well regarding a blue-eyed Rottweiler dog. Rottweilers with blue eyes may be prone to blindness or other eye problems. This is because the pigmentation in their eyes is not as dark as it should be. This can cause light to enter the eye and damage the retina.
In this article we will know more about this rare dog breed –
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Rottweilers With Blue Eyes
In a simple word, Rottweilers with blue eyes is one of the rarest purebred dogs. Normally we can find purebred Rottweiler dogs with black to brown eyes. However, the question is how do these breeds get the rarest blue color?
Many believe that this rarest color comes from the fact that these puppies are not purebreds but a cross or mix breed. However, some experts also explain that this rare color is because of stray Merle gene in the Rottweiler puppy.
If you see a Rottweiler with blue eyes then there might be some other possibilities as well like, the dog might still be a young puppy since most puppies are born with blue eyes.
The Rottweiler with blue eyes is quite uncommon, despite being one of the most popular colors for the breed. According to a study, only approximately 7- 8% of all Rottweilers have blue eyes.
The Rottweiler dog has two different breed standards: the American Kennel Club (AKC) breed standard and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Rottweiler-Klub e.V. German breed standard. Both have their standard.
According to both American Rottweiler breed standard and German Rottweiler breed standard, the color of the eye should be almond in shape and dark brown.
American breed standard says that yellow eyes are considered a serious breed fault however, German Rottweiler breed standard says that light eye color is considered a fault.
How Do Rottweilers Get Blue Eyes?
First, we need to understand how do Rottweilers get blue eyes, who are supposed to have dark brown or black eyes. It is necessary to have a basic grasp of breed genetics.
One of the most remarkable features of the Rottweiler is their eyes. Most of them have brown eyes but some rare Rottweilers may have blue eyes as well. This unusual coloring occurs when one of the parents carries the gene for blue eyes. It has no relation to health or temperament, so there is no difference between blue-eyed Rotties and brown-eyed Rottweilers.
There are two main genes which control all the color in dogs- the eyes, nose, gums, coat, skin coat, etc.
Eumelanin: the gene that codes for black
The first gene is called Eumelanin. This pigment gene codes for eyes, skin, nose, and coat, which produces black or various shades of black. This Eumelanin can only produce other shades in the black spectrum, when working well together with other genes. These other shades can include anything from light gray or blue to dark or black shades.
Phaeomelanin: the gene that codes for red.
The second gene is Phaeomelanin. This pigment gene codes just for coat color and produces red or various shades of red.
Like with Eumelanin, when Phaeomelanin works with other genes then it can only produce colors other than primary red.
Besides Pigment, How Else Do Rottweilers Get Blue Eyes?
Besides pigments, how else do rottweilers get blue eyes? We also need to think about this as well.
Because technically, a purebred Rottweiler is not known to have the Eumelanin gene. However, this breed can also have a blue eye, if the rottweiler is not purebred and its parents have passed on the gene.
Beyond the Pigment gene mechanism, there are four other ways Rottweilers get blue eyes.
Albinism
Albinism is very rare in Rottweiler dogs; they generally do not typically have complete albinism. However, partial Albinism is possible, and they can produce red, pink, or blue eyes.
Albinism is a disease which extremely reduces the body’s melanin production. Melanin is a pigment gene; lack of this gene can affect the color of a dog’s eye and eyesight. If a Rottweiler dog is not able to produce enough melanin in its body, then it may impact the color of its eye and make it look blue.
Merle Gene
The Merle gene is very controversial because it is directly linked to hereditary health issues and is often related to blue eyes. This gene generally affects the pigmentation of the coat color, and it affects the eye color too.
The Merle gene can cause heterochromia, a disorder which causes a dog to have two different color eyes like a Rottweiler may have one brown and other blue eye. This gene can also produce split or bi-color eyes where each eye has two or sometime three colors.
If a Rottweiler does inherit the Merle gene, then he could have both blue eyes, once dog approaches adulthood.
There should be no major issue if Rottweiler inherited the gene from one of their dog parents. However, if the gene has been inherited from both dog parents, which is called “double Merle,” it can prove extremely dangerous and even fatal.
Merle dogs generally don’t qualify among the healthiest dog breed in the world, especially those that have been inherited because of two Merle dogs.
Therefore, it is very important that you must visit the Rottweiler breeder in person and check all the breed lineage records and complete the verification and ask for a complete medical check-up of puppy before purchasing the Rottweiler puppy.
The dog has a separate gene that codes for blue eyes
Traditionally, these genes are not found in Rottweiler. However, the Siberian Husky does have this gene. If somehow, we mix breed the Rottweiler with Siberian Husky, then we could get the blue eyes Rottweiler in the mix breed.
The Rottweiler dog has a wide range of white around the eyes
This is like Albinism, also linked to the lack of pigment due to which wide white ring appear. This in turn also produces red, pink, and blue.
How To Take Care Of Blue- Eyed Rottweilers?
If you have a blue-eyed Rottweiler, then it is also important to understand how to take care of blue-eyed Rottweiler?
Caring for Rottweiler required knowledge about their training, grooming, and feeding. We can take care of them by proper training, grooming, and feeding.
Training
Rottweilers are powerful, strong and have quite a punch in their barking that is why many people are afraid of Rotties. But we also know that these lovely blue-eyed Rottweiler are also loyal and can be quite a friend with your family and children.
All it just required the right kind of training of your puppy Rottie by their family members. Once we raise them with the right kind of training then we all know how protective these big blue-eyed dogs can be for you and your family.
Rottweilers are smart and eager to please their humans, they learn new commands very quickly. That is why the Rottweiler are mostly trained as guard dogs. They will never let their guard down and they will not allow strangers to come past the sidewalk as well.
Grooming
Rottweilers are not furry animals and have a smooth and glossy coat which is easy to take care of. We don’t need to spend much time to groom these blue-eyed Rottweiler.
These breeds require routine bathing and grooming. This loyal dog can be bathed every two to eight weeks depending on his activity level and lifestyle. As these dogs have dense coats, routine bathing is required to minimize shedding and to maintain healthy skin and coat.
Feeding
Your Blue-eyed Rottweiler is a muscular dog, and they need a proper diet including lots of proteins and carbohydrates.
One of the big mistakes usually made by the owners is that they only gave lots of protein to feed. However, carbohydrates are also required for a proper diet.
Rottweiler puppies should be fed three to four times a day to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). However, a adult Rottweiler can be fed 2 times a day.
Appropriate caloric intake is important to keeping your Rottweiler at a healthy weight. It is also important to stick with scheduled feeding to avoid obesity.
Conclusion
Rottweilers with blue eyes is one of the rarest purebred dogs which still exist. This rarest blue eye color of Rottweilers basically comes from one of their blue-eyed parents and some pigmentation gene.
As these blue-eyed Rottweilers are very rare and if you want to get this awesome breed, first you need to be very lucky, and you also need to meet the Rottweiler breeder personally and complete all the verification with medical checkup so you could get the purebred blue-eyed Rottie.
We should raise these awesome and charming breeds with all love and take care of them with proper training, grooming and balanced diet.