Marbled Eyes On Non-Merle Australian Shepherds?

by Elizabeth
(New York)

Hi! I couldn't upload a photo of my Aussie, but she is a red tri, with a marbled eye, and a blue eye. And I was wondering, does she have a hidden merle gene? Or is that something that you see occasionally on tris?

I've done some research and they kept saying that the ONLY way an Aussie can have marbled eyes is if they carry the merle gene. (She's a red tri, so she obviously doesn't carry the merle gene). Not to mention, every time I would lookup "red tris with marbled eyes" they would show me pictures of red merle Aussies with marbled eyes, which I know is not uncommon.

The interesting thing is, she came from a litter of six, none of them were merles, and two of her siblings also displayed marbled eyes! Her other siblings had solid colored eyes, (although her one brother I thought had a small streak of green in his blue eyes).

I got to meet the sire and he was a handsome dog, very friendly. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet the dam, but she was on the property and available to meet, the breeder just said that she was shy, and I guess she passed that characteristic to her daughter! I did however get to see a picture of her and she was a beautiful black tri with arctic blue peepers! (I heard that solid blue eyes without the M gene is a recessive trait.) I guess her parents had very rare genes!

Anyway, I would like to hear others opinions, and please, if I'm wrong, I would like you to tell me so and bring facts so that I may continue my research! :)

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