Is my labrador retriever albino?
ByQuestion by Amber: Is my labrador retriever albino?
I have a 6 week old full blooded labrador retriever. She is from the litter of my AKC registered male and female labs. The female is black, the male is chocolate. My puppy, “Cabela”, is a female and appears to be a yellow lab. She is a gorgeous dog! However, I started wondering about her whenever the other puppy I have from the litter eyes finlly turned from blue to brown. I know that labs are supposed to have brown or hazel eyes, which the mother and father do… But Cabela’s eyes have not changed! They are still a crystal clear blue color! Her nose is also flesh-colored, along with the rims of her eyes. I know the flesh-colored nose and around the eyes is known as being a “Dudley” lab. But I was wondering if maybe she is albino since her eyes are also blue and she has no pigment in her nose and skin around her eyes! I am tired of people asking me if she is a PIT/LAB mix!!!!! She is FULL BLOODED… but I can’t answer the question people ask about her eyes being blue after I tell them she is full blooded!!! If anyone has any kind of input it would be greatly appreciated!! THANK YOU!
THANKS FOR ALL THE HELPFUL INPUT! I find the sarcastic inputs humorous too!
Which by the way, she DOESN’T look like a pit, she LOOKS like a LAB with BLUE eyes. Which is why I’m tired of people wondering her breed only by the color of her eyes!!! Ha, but as I said… Thanks for the input! Greatly appreciated!
I’m new to Yahoo answers and I would like to put a picture of Cabela up so it would help! However, I don’t know how! Haha. Do I just put it in my profile pictures? Ahhh, I’m hopeless!
Best answer:
Answer by Jessy
She would be considered albino if she was completely white and had pink hued eyes. She is just lucky and got the genes with blue eyes.
What do you think? Answer below!
6 Comments
May 29th, 2010 at 2:49 am
It can take a couple more weeks for her eyes to turn. In many breeds (huskies, heelers, etc) blue eyes are dominant and that may be the case for dogs in general. If she keeps her blue eyes ask another breeder or call the kennel club to inquire about blue eyes in labs and whether they are dominant or recessive. If they are dominant she is not pure bred and a whole new mystery opens up. If they are recessive then the gene may have been carried for generations without expressing and both mom and dad just happened to pass it onto your pup.
Albinism can affect both hair and eyes or just the hair, leaving a typical or only slightly depigmented eye color. Blue eyes instead of pink, for instance, doesn’t necessarily mean the creature is not albino.
Note that albinism is a lack of pigmentation. If your puppy turns out albino that is a MAJOR DEFECT and she should not be bred. Albino dogs are prone to skin conditions and sunburn.
May 29th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Okay ALBINOS CAN have red or blue eyes. (animal science and zoology class teaches you that right off the bat)
its possible she can be leucistic if her nails are black she is if they are clear and her coat is white NOT cream then she is albino.
leucistic is just where the pigments misfired like the white lion (they arent albino they are leucistic) but then her eyes shouldnt be blue unless that was another misfire
albino is where the pigment fails to act at all
ADD:
Dragon: way to go copying someone elses answer and looking up the words on wiki.
May 29th, 2010 at 4:08 am
“I am tired of people asking me if she is a PIT/LAB mix!!!!!” Then maybe you should stop breeding pet quality labs and getting pups who look more like a mix than an actual lab.
No she’s not freaking albino. *rolls eyes*
Do you mean liver/chocolate colored or actual PINK colored? If Liver/Chocolate she’s a liver pigment lab what most call dudley. If you mean PINK then she is a true dudley lab not ALBINO.
May 29th, 2010 at 4:47 am
No she is not an albino. The pink nose only means that she is what is called a “dudley” . Color genetics are “bbee” (only recessive black genes) This also means that your black is “BbEe”, and your chocolate is “bbEe”
She will probably end up with light orange eyes.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:27 am
If she was albino then she would be white, with pink flesh areas (nose, eyelids, lips, and feet.) And she may well have bluish eyes as most larger animals do not have pink eyes when they are albinos. She may also be leutistic, meaning missing the black pigments from her genetic makeup.
I’m not a fan of chocolates because they are a dilute of black and have been shown to harbor some interesting health problems. Chocolate to yellow would give you Dudley pups and maybe leutistic and albino. But without a photo it’s hard to guess. Try posting one please.
May 29th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Albinos have red eyes- not blue.