30/03/2024
“Important information “
Blue eyed Dalmatians are very popular. The blue eyes are indeed an eye-catcher and stand out.
Puppies with one or both blue eyes are always found in litters, even though both parents have brown eyes.
Due to popularity, there are people who breed with blue-eyed dogs to increase the likelihood of blue-eyed offspring as well.
However, this is not in the sense of dogs and can be at the expense of health.
In Dalmatians, blue eyes arise when the white check is particularly strong and thus extends to the iris. Therefore, pigments do not store in the iris and the eye appears blue.
Vision is not disturbed by this, but an even stronger whiteness check means a higher risk of deafness.
A few years ago I reviewed the breed books of the German breeding associations over a period of 5 years regarding blue eyes and deafness. It has been shown that blue-eyed puppies are 3 times more likely to be affected by both unilateral and bilateral deafness.
So it is undoubtedly sensible to exclude blue-eyed dogs from the breeding, because keeping the incidence of deafness as low as possible is in the sense of the dogs and the owners.
