# Poodle eyes- what is acceptable and not considered ideal



## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Hi! I am posting here to ask about the eyes of my two **GOLDENDOODLES. I know they are a mix but they are 75 percent poodle and I wish to compare them to the poodle breed. I have had my beautiful girl stella for about a year and have always thought although she has pretty eyes, they’re too close together. Of course I don’t fault her and love her so much regardless of her appearance, but I still wanted to get your opinion. What really prompted this post is I now have gotten another puppy and his eyes are yet again too close together and he is from a complete different place. His eyes actually are much less beautiful and kinda droopy with his third eyelids showing, but again I love him anyway. Basically I’m asking if this is an unacceptable trait for poodles. These are not show dogs and just family pets so I don’t have a problem with it, I’m just curious. I actually have a third goldendoodle as well who’s eyes are not close together but they have lots of white showing and his third eyelid goes almost to his pupil sometimes.







this photo above is the new puppy. His eyes don’t always looks this droopy but this just shows how loose they are.







this is Stella, my girl as a baby. Her eyes are beautiful in my opinion, just too close together.














These are the new puppy again. Showing they’re not always super droopy, but still close together and not the best shape.







this is my oldest boy Henry as a baby. His eyes were more farther set but there is more white showing.















These are both Henry and Stella- Henry is a giant and also has low set floppy ears.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

just to add, I would definitely say my middle girl stella is the closest to breed standard/most acceptable. She is my prettiest of the three but they are all loved the same haha!


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

The standard of the breed states: Eyes: very dark, oval in shape and set far enough apart and positioned to create an alert intelligent expression. Major fault: eyes round, protruding, large or very light. The illustrated standard has this picture:


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## Dogs4Life (May 27, 2018)

In my opinion, I prefer clean faces on dogs because then it's easier to see their eyes and read their expressions. Have you considered this? My girl looks very different with a lot of fur on her face as compared to when she has a clean face.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Johanna said:


> The standard of the breed states: Eyes: very dark, oval in shape and set far enough apart and positioned to create an alert intelligent expression. Major fault: eyes round, protruding, large or very light. The illustrated standard has this picture:
> 
> View attachment 471427


I have read the standard but I don’t know what is exactly too close. I don’t find stellas eyes to be too big or round. They are almond and small and very dark. They are not protruding. The only thing is they may be too close together. The puppies are almond, not round but they’re a little bit droopy and close together. my biggest male Henry has a good distance between them, but his eyes are more round and big. I am really just wondering how much of a fault these are in my dogs. Is it minor in their case or are they very far from standard. Again I don’t mind even if they’re worst case, I’m just curious where they fall.


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## Pytheis (Sep 17, 2019)

You posted elsewhere that these dogs are all goldendoodles. That will change the answers you’re given. Are they purebred or not? Because golden retrievers sometimes have loose, droopy eyes like that, so if they’re mixes, that’s likely where they got the eyes. Mixes rarely get the best of both breeds.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Dogs4Life said:


> In my opinion, I prefer clean faces on dogs because then it's easier to see their eyes and read their expressions. Have you considered this? My girl looks very different with a lot of fur on her face as compared to when she has a clean face.


Yes, both my older dogs have been shaved but not as tight as the usual poodle cut. I prefer the fluffy goldendoodle look personally on my puppies








This is Stella







this is Henry







this is Stella







This last photo is stellas dad. I don’t have many photos of her when she was short but her eyes look a lot like his.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Pytheis said:


> You posted elsewhere that these dogs are all goldendoodles. That will change the answers you’re given. Are they purebred or not? Because golden retrievers sometimes have loose, droopy eyes like that, so if they’re mixes, that’s likely where they got the eyes. Mixes rarely get the best of both breeds.


Yes they are goldendoodles! I can't believe I didn’t mention that in the post I completely meant to! They are 75 percent poodle. 25 percent golden retriever. Both Stellas parents looked exactly like poodles which is probably why she has more of the poodle features.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Here are two new photos of Benji the puppy since I gave his face a trim. He previously had his snout shaved similar to the poodle cut and it was growing back funny so I trimmed it to make eveything more even and show his eyes better.


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## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

They're cute, and there's nothing you can do about it. I would continue to enjoy for who and how they are.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I wonder if there's some parti poodle in there. Peggy's parti dad has very prominent third eyelids and Peggy inherited this (though not to the same degree). It's definitely a "fault," but your dogs are very cute and I wouldn't let it bother me unless it bothers them. 

Peggy's certainly more prone to eye issues than she should be. So aesthetics aside, there's a reason not to breed poodles with this particular trait.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Vita said:


> They're cute, and there's nothing you can do about it. I would continue to enjoy for who and how they are.


I completely agree. It doesn’t bother me one bit I think they’re all adorable. The older two are also fantastic dogs. They are so well behaved and sweet. The puppy is amazing as well but he is like I said, a puppy so behavior isn’t quite there yet, but it’s coming along! I truly was just curious as I always thought their eyes were interesting and I’ve only really seen it on my dogs and no other poodle/doodle I’ve come across or even pictures. Both the close togetherness and the third eyelids so prominent.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

PeggyTheParti said:


> I wonder if there's some parti poodle in there. Peggy's parti dad has very prominent third eyelids and Peggy inherited this (though not to the same degree). It's definitely a "fault," but your dogs are very cute and I wouldn't let it bother me unless it bothers them.
> 
> Peggy's certainly more prone to eye issues than she should be. So aesthetics aside, there's a reason not to breed poodles with this particular trait.


Thanks for the reply! My Henry who has very prominent third eyelids has never had an eye problem in his life. Actually he hasn’t had a single health issue and he is 7 years old and 110 pounds! So perhaps it’s just your Peggy who happens to have eye issues, or perhaps Henry is the exception. I guess I will know based on if my new puppy Benji has any eye problems with his prominent third eyelids.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Laynej said:


> Thanks for the reply! My Henry who has very prominent third eyelids has never had an eye problem in his life. Actually he hasn’t had a single health issue and he is 7 years old and 110 pounds! So perhaps it’s just your Peggy who happens to have eye issues, or perhaps Henry is the exception. I guess I will know based on if my new puppy Benji has any eye problems with his prominent third eyelids.


Also, regarding the Parti, I don’t really know how genetics work with the poodles but Henry the big boy does have two colors. They are so close in color that I don’t consider him anything but cream, but he has darker cream to apricot spots on his back and ears. He also has lots of dark dots on his tummy which I always thought were cute.


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## Newport (Jul 16, 2014)

There is of course no sense in comparing a goldendoodle to the poodle breed standard. Perhaps you can talk to your goldendoodle breeder and ask her or him what they are aiming for in regards to the eyes when they plan their breeding program. What are their breeding goals?

It’s good for all dog owners to pay attention to the health of their dogs eyes. I know there are veterinary ophthalmologists who could do in-depth testing of your dog’s eyes if you have health concerns.

As far as beauty goes, the eyes are the windows of the soul so I’m pretty sure your dog’s eyes are beautiful.


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## Laynej (Nov 21, 2020)

Newport said:


> There is of course no sense in comparing a goldendoodle to the poodle breed standard. Perhaps you can talk to your goldendoodle breeder and ask her or him what they are aiming for in regards to the eyes when they plan their breeding program. What are their breeding goals?
> 
> It’s good for all dog owners to pay attention to the health of their dogs eyes. I know there are veterinary ophthalmologists who could do in-depth testing of your dog’s eyes if you have health concerns.
> 
> As far as beauty goes, the eyes are the windows of the soul so I’m pretty sure your dog’s eyes are beautiful.


I do agree. I truly was just wondering how they compared to the poodle breed standard for fun. I was mainly asking because I don’t understand where they got their features from and I wondered if it was normal. I also think they resemble poodles more than golden retrievers, especially Stella. They are definitely all adorable. I did not get Stella or Benji from a breeder. Benji was a rehome and Stella was an accidental litter from someone’s two family pets. Henry was the only one I got from a breeder and it was before we had any knowledge about breeds or dogs in general. They couldn’t have been too reputable becusee they said he would be 35-40 pounds and he is 110 pounds.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

Your dogs are all adorable. As far as their eyes are concerned, to me they don’t look like poodles eyes. They are too round. This is to be expected as they are mixed, but they do have beautiful eyes.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Just keep on loving them.


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

I don't think your dogs look like poodles, their hair yes but build and appearance is all golden, so I think it would be difficult to compare the eyes. The two breeds have totally different head shapes so I think that makes the set of the eyes off. In any case your doodles are quite cute.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

To me Henry especially looks very much like a Golden, other than his coat texture of course. I've definitely seen quite a few Goldens with the droopy eyes, although I believe that is a fault in that breed as well.
Henry and the puppy both seem to have rounder eyes than poodles typically do, hard to tell on Stella but her dad has rounder eyes too. I suspect that the shape is adding to the effect of being close together. Also poodles have a very narrow skull, so the combination of the narrow poodle nose with a wider Golden skull could be throwing the eye set off.


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## AprilMarieB (Sep 2, 2021)

I’m here because I have a four-month-old Yorky Poo named coffee and he’s adorable to me but people keep telling me his eyes are close together I don’t understand. He looks like a dog to me but I have and learning as I go this is my first dog. What is the standard I space for a dog


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## katmcg86 (Apr 23, 2019)

Hi AprilMarieB! Welcome! Can you post some pictures of Coffee? It’s hard to have an opinion without photos. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

AprilMarieB said:


> What is the standard I space for a dog


Hi and Welcome!

A picture would help but there is a complicating factor and that is the different breeds involved. There really isn't a "standard" spacing or shape for a _dog_. That depends on the breed and the standard set for that pure breed by their official breed club. When you mix the genes of different breeds, there is no longer a breed standard to apply. 

For poodles it is
Head and Expression: (a) Eyes - very dark, oval in shape and set far enough apart and positioned to create an alert intelligent expression. Major fault: eyes round, protruding, large or very light.










For a Yorkshire Terrier it is 
Official Standard of the Yorkshire Terrier General Appearance: 
Head: Eyes are medium in size and not too prominent; dark in color and sparkling with a sharp, intelligent expression. Eye rims are dark.

I'm not finding a comparable illustrated breed standard but this image is what The Yorkshire Terrier Club of America chooses to feature on the front page of the club website. I expect it will be to breed standard.


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## Tulsi (Jun 8, 2021)

Your golden doodles are lovely! I saw a red golden doodle puppy the other day. She was all playful and fuzzy with a very pretty face.


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