[Lola Blossom]

We met a year old red and white basset at the dog park over the weekend. He had been rescued from the Utah Humane Society so his new owner doesn't know anything about hime except that he was turned in to the society because his former owners tried to keep him as an outdoor dog (this in the middle of the Rocky Mountains) by himself and the neighbors complained of the noise.

At any rate... he has one blue and one brown eye. Is this common in bassets? Does it have to do with his coloring? I assumed the eye color would be a fault, but wasn't certain. Since he is a Humane Society rescue their neutering requirement makes these questions no more than academic.

 

[biscuit]

okay, I know NOTHING about animal genetics, particularly basset genetics.

in humans, however, eye color is hereditary. brown eyes are dominant over blue, etc. should light eyes (ie blue) show up, it means someone in the family tree has blue eyes.

take, for example my immediate family. we all have dark brown eyes. But, I have one grandmother and one aunt with green eyes, altho both my parents have dark brown eyes.

I have one sister and one brother (both with dark brown eyes) who married light eyed people. and all their children came out dark eyed.

now, say my nieces and nephews marry people who also have dark brown eyes BUT who also have blood-relations (mother-grandmother-whatever) with blue-green-hazel-whatever eyes. It is very likely they will have light-eyed kids. And, I THINK they can have light eyed kids, even if the person they marry doesn't have light-eyes in the family tree.

Does that make sense? I forgot the exact ratio for how it works, but it has to do with Mendel and peas and all kinds of strange things. Eye color, from what I understand, is pretty complicated, tho, and I'm not sure they've figured out exactly how it's passed on. or at least that's what I was told about 5-6 years ago (last time I had to take a class on things like this)

In short ... my guess is the pup has some ancestors who were not bassets.

[This message has been edited by biscuit (edited 04-04-2000).]

 

[RKL]

Or he has blues in his pedigree, which are usually wall-eyed or blue.
But yeah, I go along with the odds of something besides bassets in that genetic woodpile.

 

[Odin's Mom]

Was one side of this basset's face white (the side with the blue eye)?

In horses, a paint or pinto (chestnut, brown, or black and white spotted) will often have one dark eye and one blue, the blue being called a walleye. The wall eye normally occurs where the side of the horse's face surrounding the eye is white. They can have two walleyes if both sides of their face are white. But a solid grey (or white) horse normally has dark eyes, unless it's an albino. In a paint, the walleye is not a conformation fault, but in other breeds it can be.

I don't know if bassets are supposed to carry the gene that produces a walleye if their face is white. I think they are always supposed to have dark eyes...

Maybe someone else will know for sure.

 

[biscuit]

okay, now I always thought "wall-eyed" meant one eye was a wanderer or crossed. is that what you all mean by wall-eyed? and is it directly linked to blue eyes in dogs? or is something else going on here?

 

[Lola Blossom]

To Odin's Mom:

I can't really remember. He may not have had any color on his face at all. He had some on both ears and a few medium sized spots on his rump and tail, but I've never seen a basset with less color overall. There may be something else in his ancestry, but his form was VERY basset, wrinkles, ears, occipital point, height and all (I did not measure, however). Close to albino though--from across the park he looked like a ghost basset.

 

[biscuit]

hmm, pretty interesting ...

it's impt. to remember that "looks" only tell part of the story, for pups and humans alike. traits skip generations, etc etc etc, on and on, and sometimes require a mating between two individuals carrying the same trait to appear.

for sure, certain things, like ear size, lack of other features, can tell you if a basset is mixed. I bet, however, that it works like it does for humans.

I know, for example, of an instance of a "white" person coming down with sickle cell anemia. This person had no knowledge of anyone of African American heritage in his ancestry on either his mother's or father's side.

Yet, sickle cell originated in Africa (altho there are some people of South Pacific descent who carry something identical or quite similar to it) and, in America, occurs only in people of African American descent. In short, it was a part of his genetic heritage, altho nobody had any memory of it, and it was no recorded, etc. etc.

the notion that the pup was albino is even more interesting, tho. wow!

I've seen other dogs with one brown-one blue eye. I want to say Australian Shepherds, but I think I'm remembering wrong. I'm pretty sure tho that it is a common trait in a few breeds, but I just can't remember which.

 

[Lola Blossom]

Huskies often have one brown and one blue eye as do border collies. But you're right. Recessive characteristics can crop up and be the only clue to a border collie great great grandfather. (Oggie Collie has just pointed out that no border collie would stoop so low as to become involved with a basset) (And Lola says QUIT IT with the low jokes)

 

[biscuit]

!!!!!

so perhaps ... a basset/huskie mix??

wow!! sled dog supreme!

 

[Lola Blossom]

Bred to ride on rather than pull the sleds--this is a dog race I could get into.

 

[biscuit]

you know, I watched a show on the Iditerod dogs (apologies to people who actually know how to spell that!), and I remember they said the best sled dogs are mixes, and tend to be husky, etc etc etc AND HOUND!!! I was extremely excited about this, but it certainly makes sense. Biscuit could pull a ford truck around, should he take a notion to it.

on the other hand, I didn't hear them mention retrievers as one of the breeds they mix around with to get those sled dogs. I think I know why -- if they saw a twig drop in the woods, they'd have to go pick it up. imagine the havoc that would create!

 

[Odin's Mom]

Biscuit - a wall-eye is the blue or colorless iris (the part that's normally dark). I think they look blue, but actually don't have any pigmentation, but not 100% sure. I've seen it a lot in horses but never saw a dog with one.

If the one-blue-eyed basset had any spots at all, and had a brown eye, then he wasn't albino. I'd go with the mystery-nonbasset-ancestor theory. Sounds the most plausible.

There was a rescue basset on one of the web pages that was all white with one red ear and that side of her face red. I don't know if anyone else saw the picture - I think it was Georgia basset rescue but not certain. I never saw anything like it! She sure looked all basset too. Seems to me she might have one blue eye too, but I'll have to see if I can find the page again to be sure.

Don't know a lot for sure, do I?

[This message has been edited by Odin's Mom (edited 04-06-2000).]

 

[biscuit]

myself, I know a little about everything, but next to nothing about anything

 

[RKL]

For those of you who want to see what a wall-eye looks like, take a look at a silver dapple (ugh) or pie-bald (UGH) dachshund or a blue merle sheltie. Wall-eyes are common in these colors and breeds.

I like 'em as dark as they come, which is what our breed standard calls for.

 

[Lola Blossom]

I would agree with the darker the better. Blue was a charming pup, but there was something off putting about the eyes.

 

[Deacon2010]

Not sure what 1 of each would mean, as we are still trying to find out how rare it is for a basset to have 2 green eyes. We've been told we should begin to show our basset because of its unique feature. Any help would be greatful.

 

[Mikey T]

Nrare it is for a basset to have 2 green eyes. We've been told we should begin to show our basset because of its unique feature. Any help would be greatful.

Not sure who you have been talking too but green/blue eyes are a serious fault in basset hound as such it would do poorly in the conformation ring That would be say my basset has short ears I not sure how common it is for basset to have short ears but I have been told I should show our baset because of this unique feature. Uniqueness is the bane of the show ring.

asset Hound Breed Standard

The eyes are soft, sad, and slightly sunken, showing a prominent haw, and in color are brown, dark brown preferred. A somewhat lighter-colored eye conforming to the general coloring of the dog is acceptable but not desirable. Very light or protruding eyes are faults.

 

[sadeyes2]

Remember a few years ago someone wanted to breed their basset because it had one blue eye. Betsy answered that this was not a hereditory condition but an abnormality caused by some problem (can't remember what) as the pup was being formed in the womb.