When I wrestle around with my dog (black lab/blue healer mix) her eyes turn from brown to dark blue. Is this normal?

The color of eye tissue does not change. It is either present due to the distribution of cells as the fetus forms, or it isn't. What you may be seeing, is a change in the amount of light that enters and is refracted by the tissues, thereby making it appear to change shade, when it is actually that to begin with. Excitement causes an opening of blood vessels and heightened flow to the tissues, which could also impact how the human eye perceives the light passing through the dog's eye tissue.


Most people don't realize that with color pointed cats, which are always blue-eyed, there is no color at all. The color blue is the only color in the light spectrum which is able to penetrate the tissue of a cat with the albino gene, and thus reflects off the tissue, creating a false color, much in the same way that a snowball for a snowman in breaking apart, will show blue in the cracks, until you open it up and it falls apart, showing that it is actually white.