Dog question for you dog people:

[franks]

Hey guys, my wife and I are looking into adopting a 9 week old Australian shepherd that unfortunately is the product of a merle x merle pairing. She is healthy, but deaf and has the "starburst" issue with her eyes. I wanted to know if anyone on here had any experience or info with this eye condition. I have a male ausie now who will be 3 years old soon. Best dogs ever.

[Nataku]

Aussies are a fun breed. I just recently fostered a deaf one for a few weeks, although she had normal vision. The only aussie I can remember ever meeting with starburst pupils was at a show some years ago (not being shown, just one of the other dogs the breeder had brought along with them in her RV). She told me the dog was light sensitive, and I was inclined to believe her because for all the energy the dog had, it would not leave the RV willingly during daylight. If forcibly picked up and taken outside with the sun out, the dog would squint its eyes shut and navigate by sound as best it could. She told me the dog had developed the interesting habit of never going to the bathroom during daylight hours, because it didn't want to go outside during the day, but being house-broken, it just waited inside until night, at which point in time it would go outside and be a normal dog for all other intents and purposes.

Now, I don't know if all dogs suffering from starburst pupils have this light sensitivity problem. I've only met the one and that's hardly enough of a sample group to draw any conclusions from. Were I you, I'd simply observe the dog closely the first few weeks and see if there is any tendencies for the dog to prefer certain areas and avoid others, or certain times of the day when they are or are not more active.

[ErikBush97]

Unfortunately, I can't help :( I'm all Pit Bulls!

[franks]

Aussies are a fun breed. I just recently fostered a deaf one for a few weeks, although she had normal vision. The only aussie I can remember ever meeting with starburst pupils was at a show some years ago (not being shown, just one of the other dogs the breeder had brought along with them in her RV). She told me the dog was light sensitive, and I was inclined to believe her because for all the energy the dog had, it would not leave the RV willingly during daylight. If forcibly picked up and taken outside with the sun out, the dog would squint its eyes shut and navigate by sound as best it could. She told me the dog had developed the interesting habit of never going to the bathroom during daylight hours, because it didn't want to go outside during the day, but being house-broken, it just waited inside until night, at which point in time it would go outside and be a normal dog for all other intents and purposes.

Now, I don't know if all dogs suffering from starburst pupils have this light sensitivity problem. I've only met the one and that's hardly enough of a sample group to draw any conclusions from. Were I you, I'd simply observe the dog closely the first few weeks and see if there is any tendencies for the dog to prefer certain areas and avoid others, or certain times of the day when they are or are not more active.

Good idea, thanks alot. I love aussies.

[sweatshirt]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I have a question. What are starburst eyes? I have an almost 5 year old (got her at 5 weeks old) blue merle Sheltie/American Eskimo mix that seems to have slight seeing issues. Her brother was blind. Here's a pic of her eyes.

http://i.imgur.com/BDYbW0P.jpg

[sws]

i only met horses with the starburst thing and they from what i could see wore ine sep maybe alittle light sensitive. but then thats horses.

[treacle]

No that is pigment giving a look like starbust. The centre of the iris is a round brown circle round the pupil which it would not be if it was real starburst.

[Kera]

I know nothing...but just saying and Australian Shepherd is my dream dog. <3