Dogs with amber eyes are the second commonest after dogs with brown eyes. Their eyes have a solid copper or yellow-gold hue with a very little shade of green.
Canine breeds known to have amber eyes include the Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Australian Shepherd, American Brittany, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Cirneco dell’Etna, Clumber Spaniel, Ibizan Hound, Irish Water Spaniel, Pharaoh Hound, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sloughi, and the Weimaraner.
Other breeds that may have the acceptable standard of amber eyes depending on their coat include the Poodle, Neapolitan Mastiff, Bedlington Terrier, Pitbull Terrier, Curly-Coated Retriever, and the American Hairless Terrier. Keep reading to find out more about these incredible dog breeds.
Anatolian Shepherd Dog
First up is the Anatolian Shepherd Dog native to Turkey where they were bred as Shepherd companion dogs and livestock guardians. They are bold and well-muscled with a strong head and built torso.
They have intelligent and expressive medium-sized almond-shaped eyes that are dark brown to light amber in hue. The eye rims are black or brown with no sagging or looseness of the haw.
Weighing between 80 to 150 pounds, they’re built and physical attributes were created to resemble livestock to protect them from predators. They are large, powerful, and have great strength, endurance, and agility. Even as a guard dog, the Kangal is loyal, protective, and kind to its owners
Australian Shepherd
The Australian Shepherd is a medium-sized dog breed originally from the United States. It weighs between 30 to 70 pounds and has a height of 18 to 23 inches, depending on gender; males are taller and heavier than females.
The Aussie is known to have golden, lemon green, or amber eyes with possibilities of even more colors. It’s one of the few dog breeds that can have two different colored eyes, a condition called Heterochromia. In this case, the Aussie can have a combination of brown, blue, hazel, amber, or green eyes with others even having more than one color within the same eye.
Besides its fascinating physical attributes, the dig is a very intelligent working dog bred for herding and guarding. They’re very loyal, strong-willed, and confident in their abilities to work.
Bluetick Coonhound
One outstanding feature of the Bluetick Coonhound has to be its amber eyes paired with bushy eyebrows and long, pendulous ears that frame the face. They’re a loving and affectionate breed that enjoy their time outside mainly hunting and spending time with their owners.
The all American dog originating from Louisiana is a sucker for hunting regardless of the weather or time. Their hunting instincts are phenomenal as they can catch and detect cold trails during tracking. They’re simply one of the best scent hounds.
These Coonhounds need plenty of exercises to keep them on track with their sporting activities. They’re very easy to train and have an impressionable personality.
Brittany
The American Brittany is well known for its sleek appearance, intelligence, and joyfully personality. They’re medium-sized weighing approximately 40 pounds and 19 inches tall. They have a feathery coat, hazel to amber eyes, and a rounded skull with short ears.
Their bold amber eyes blend well with their coats either black and white, liver and white, black tricolor, or the liver tricolor. They’re very resilient and strong-willed. They can easily adapt to any environment be it damp, cold, or the summer.
These hunting animals are very easy to train, obedient, and gentle. Always eager to please, active and enthusiastic about work and play. They, however, need proper and early socialization or they would be hyperactive, unstable, insecure, and timid. Nonetheless, they are a calm pack of animals with a happy and joyous personality.
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Next, we have the Chesapeake Bay Retriever known to have yellow to amber eyes. This however is seen in adults as most puppies have blue eyes. Their eyes turn every six to eight weeks from blue to green then finally, yellow/ amber.
From their eyes, you can tell how kind and affectionate the breed is. They’re loyal to their owners and very easy to handle even for new pet owners. They’re athletic and require a great deal of exercise and other outdoor activities to keep them in shape.
The retriever works as a hunting dog as well as watchdogs, so watch out for them especially with starters. Besides how complementary its brown coat is to their amber eyes, the coat is also waterproof making them perfect for fowl hunting.
Cirneco dell’Etna
Pronounced as “cheer-NEK-o”, the dog originated from Italy. It greatly resembles the Pharaoh Hound with its long and slender head. It has an appealing rugged short hypoallergenic coat that’s light brown to a dark tan or chestnut.
You can see their large upright ears, alert amber eyes with a slight ochre hue resembling its coat. They’re small built with a weight of just 26 pounds and 18 inches tall.
The Cirneco dell’Etna is bred to hunt and catch rabbits but over the years, the dog has become more of a companion dog. They’re highly intelligent, attentive, easy to train with a bit of positivity and praise. They have an independent spirit that’s very playful and active. To keep their high energy levels at bay, an hour-long walk a day would be good enough.
Clumber Spaniel
The Clumber Spaniel is a medium-sized dog viewed as the heaviest of the spaniel breed with a long body best suited to move through the underbrush. They were originally bred to find and retrieve game birds for hunters, soon after they became field gun dogs and even sporting dogs.
The spaniel is characterized by its medium built body, massive head, amber eyes with dark eye rims, and a medium-length whitish coat with lemon-orange markings.
The clumber is also a great companion or family dog that’s very obedient, intelligent, adaptable, and gentle around people. They enjoy bonding with the family hence an excellent choice for first-time owners. Their easy-going character and sporting character will get you bidding with the dog in no time.
Ibizan Hound
From the Balearic island of Ibiza, the Ibizan hound dog is a well-known hunting dog bred to hunt rabbits and small game. These purebred dogs are loving, obedient, and loyal dogs that would be the perfect addition to the family.
The hound has oval amber eyes set obliquely on the face with a horizontal gaze that could startle just about anyone. Its eyelids fit snugly without lag or tightness to give off the perfect almond-shaped. Round eyeballs with a caramel touch to match the red hue on its coat.
With plenty of affection to show humans, they’re a joyful bunch of dogs. Very energetic and athletic, agile, and easy to train and handle. What’s more, they’re fair well for apartment living.
Irish Water Spaniel
As the name suggests, the Irish Water Spaniel is very well known for its excellent swimming skills and fowl hunting, as well as hunting of quails, pheasants, and grouse. The spaniel is the tallest in the group with a natural water repellent coat.
But that’s not the only exciting thing about the dog…
The Irish Water Spaniel is also known to be the clown of the spaniel family as it has peak curly hair in between the eyes. Speaking of the eyes, they have alert, very expressive amber eyes that are small, almond-shaped, and have a dark brown to a golden shade. One look into its eyes and you can tell how intelligent the dog is.
This Spaniel can very well be mistaken for a poodle because of its curly hair but in terms of its temperature, they have an endearing character. Very loving, loyal, playful, and strong-willed. The Irish Spaniel plays well with the family.
Pharaoh Hound
Yet another hound is the Pharaoh Hound which is also very good at tracking and scent following. From the Maltese Islands, this hinting dog is called the Kelb tal-Fenek, which means “rabbit dog”. It was traditionally bred to hunt rabbits in the rocky terrain of the island.
As a powerful sighthound from Egypt, they have a long, finely chiseled and wedge-shaped head with small amber-hued eyes, and erect ears. Its eyes are dark enough to match the coat and the nose
The Pharaoh Hound is one of the oldest dog breeds in existence. It has a sweet temperament with a sweet, noble, friendly, and affectionate personality.
Rhodesian Ridgeback
The Rhodesian Ridgeback was originally bred in South Africa to hunt lions. As you can tell, they are very confident, strong, and strong-willed. Their name was inspired by the hair that runs along its spine and grows in the opposite direction from the rest of its coat.
They have beautifully round amber eyes that match their brindle and sable coat almost perfectly. Other physical attributes include a dark-colored muzzle, pendant ears, and a wiggly tail.
The breed is very intelligent and devoted to their owners. They’re fast and athletic, hence the need for moderate daily exercise. They enjoy a great deal of family outdoor activities as well as socializing even with other dogs. They’re great for families but ideal for those who have a handle on such firm dogs.
Sloughi
Another dog breed originally from Africa, precisely, north Africa is the Sloughi. It was a companion dog to the nomadic Berber people. A great ancestor of the hound family, this sighthound is known for its loving personality.
The Sloughi has large dark amber eyes that are oval to almond in shape and set rather obliquely on its face. The eyes have pigmented eye rims and an overall approach of gentle yet sad.
The breed is very fast and clever. It very much resembles the Saluki and Azawakh but the latter originate from different geographic areas. With its bony body and strong lean muscles, the Sloughi is also known for its hunting tactics used to hunt jackals, gazelles, desert hares, rabbits, and coyotes.
Weimaraner
Last, but not least, the Weimaraner. Because of its unique purely grey coating in most of the dogs, you won’t miss its amber eyes covered with long velvety ears. The puppies are born with impressive blue eyes, but by six months of age their eye color usually changes to amber and other colors
They are a perfect addition to the family with their gentle, patient, and loving personality. Not to mention their intelligence. They are said to have a human brain because of how intelligent they can be.
They relate very well with children and the family at large. As energetic as they are, they require plenty of exercise to keep them healthy and happy. This includes runs and daily walks among other training exercises. Unfortunately, they enjoy being independent and this would be ideal for apartment living.
Why Amber/Yellow Eyes?
Amber eyes are a diluted version of brown eyes. Their eyes have less melamine, which is the dark brown pigment seen in the iris.
The eumelanin produced by such dogs has been modified by two recessive genes, namely, the B and D series. This means all liver dogs with series bb, and blue and isabella dogs with series dd will have amber eyes with a slight variation to yellow and yellow-green eyes.
This change in eye color is purely determined by genetics with mainly liver and merle dogs as the bearers of the trait.
