The pug dog breed has seen exponential growth over the last two decades with it currently being the 29th most popular dog breed in the USA according to the American Kennel Club with many people expecting it to end up being a top ten dog breed within the next decade.
Due to a number of photographs on social media of a blue eyed pug, we have noticed a ton of interest about if pugs can have blue eyes or not.
With so many people reaching out about blue eyed pugs and the demand for them sky rocketing right now, we have decided to publish this dedicated article going over the various things out readers need to know about pugs with blue eyes.
Our hope is that we will be able to help our readers avoid being ripped off and falling for some of the popular scams out there.
In addition to this, purchasing a dog just because of its looks is never a good idea. Some dogs can have eyes that looks like they are blue as a young puppy due to a lack of melanin developing early.
Within a few months, the puppies eyes can turn to brown or a number of other colors depending on the breed as its pigment comes in.
Can You Get A Blue Eyed Pug?
All pure bred pugs have brown eyes with there being an acceptable range of brown in their eyes from light brown to a dark brown that so dark it looks almost black.
The “pugs” with blue eyes on social media that go viral are usually mixed with border collies to get the blue eye gene with the gene sometimes coming from a husky.
Due to the gene that causes blue eyes coming from a different dog breed, most official kennel clubs will not recognize a “blue eye pug” as a pure bred pug and it will not be able to compete in dog shows or receive official papers listing it as a pug.
In addition to this, due to being a mix breed dog, it can get additional features from its other parent with the dogs that look more like pugs yet still have the blue eyes tending to be very rare.
As with most rare things, especially in designer dogs, this pumps the price through the room with the price for a dog that looks like a pug with blue eyes being around $5000 last year and increasing to $7000 this year.
With more and more photographs of these dogs that look like pugs with blue eyes going viral on social media and it being so hard to actually get the correct genetic combination for a small dog that looks like a pug but still has blue eyes being so hard to duplicate, we expect their prices to increase rather than decrease.
Can Pugs Have Blue Eyes?
Pure bred pugs can’t have blue eyes with the officially listed eye colors of the breed being a shade of brown from light brown all the way through to a brown that is so dark it looks almost black.
The blue eye gene is usually due to crossbreeding a pug with a border collie with a husky sometimes being the other parent with the blue eye gene.
With the popularity of these dogs that look like pugs spiking and demanding such a high price tag, a number of breeders have decided to try to improve their bloodlines of their dogs to increase the chances of getting a dog with blue eyes that looks like a pug.
To do this, they usually try to breed two dogs that already look like pugs with blue eyes in the hope that their puppies will also look similar.
Another way that these dog breeders are trying to increase the number of puppies with blue eyes that look like pups is to breed one that already has blue eyes with a pure bred pug.
If this pairing does produce any blue eyes puppies then it will be 75% pug, 25% border collie or husky and can have more pug like features.
With breeders trying to get as many blue eyes pug puppies as quickly as possible to cash in, this could cause the prices to fall drastically in the coming years as supply rapidly increases.
How Do Pugs Get Blue Eyes?
Pugs get blue eyes by pairing a pure bred pug with a border collie or husky that has blue eyes.
Some people will then take puppies from this initial pairing that have blue eyes and pair them with another pure bred pug to try and keep the blue eyes in this second litter of puppies but make them look more like pugs.
Some of the original breeders that started to supply the initial batches of blue-eyed pugs in California have managed to sculpt their breeding pair so well that they are able to get at least one puppy per litter with blue eyes.
Due to these puppies being able to demand such a high price tag with there seemingly being no end to people willing to pay it, other breeders are quickly developing their own lines to produce pug puppies with blue eyes too.
Due to a number of lines being so well developed, a small number of breeders are now able to pair two blue eyed pugs together too maximize the chances of more puppies with blue eyes.
Although some people are advertising these as pure bred pugs, they are not and will have either border collie or husky blood in them to give them the blue eye gene.
How Much Do Blue Eyed Pugs Cost?
Blue-eyed pugs can cost upwards of $5000 right now with a number of blue eyes pug puppies quickly selling for $7000 each this year.
We do expect this price to start decreasing in the next few years though due to so many other dog breeders trying to develop their own lines to produce blue eyed pugs.
Keep in mind that as these are not purebred pugs, they are not able to receive paperwork to certify them as a pug from any registered kennel club.
Although we do expect the demand for blue eye pugs to grow in the coming years, we do expect the price tag for their puppies to fall drastically and expect it to normalise at around $500 per puppy.
If your plan is to pay over the odds right now to try and recoup your investment in the coming years by pairing your own blue eye pug to sell its blue-eyed offspring then you will probably be disappointed.
As soon as a unique looking popular breed goes viral on social media, a large number of people want their own puppy that looks similar creating enough demand for breeders to work on producing those puppies and match the supply to the demand causing prices to drop off.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the blue eyed pug to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you understand more about the blue-eyed pug and why you should not be paying over the odds for one right now. On top of this, you are not able to get registration papers for a pug with blue eyes due to it being mix breed and potentially causing you problems later down the line with selling puppies from your blue eye pug if its litter all have brown eyes but still can’t be registered with a kennel club due to its lineage.
