When Do Puggles Open Their Eyes?

Although a tiny Yorkshire terrier and an enormous English mastiff may not appear to have much in common other than four legs and a tail, all dog breeds share many developmental milestones. From conception to weaning, all dogs -- including mixed breeds like the puggle -- develop on a specific time line.

  1. Puggle History

    • Puggles are a designer breed, first created in the 1980s by mating a beagle with a pug. As opposed to decades or centuries of fine-tuning by a group of dedicated breeders, designer breeds are simply combinations of already established breeds. Breeders and owners enjoy designer breeds like the puggle because these cross-breedings combine traits from the two breeds in a consistent manner, offering alternatives to more common pure breeds without adding the genetics and health mysteries that accompany a true mutt.

    Puggle Puppy Development

    • Puggles, like all other dogs, are born after 60 to 63 days of gestation. The puppies are born without sight, hearing or teeth. The puggle puppies spend their first week of life sleeping, nursing and slowly gaining mobility. Between 10 to13 days after they are born, the puppies' eyes will start to crack open. Some puppies may take up to four days for the eye to fully open, but because the retina will not be fully developed until 21 days, the puppies can see only shadows and movement. All puppy eyes appear cloudy blue when they first open. This cloudiness should fade as the eye develops and be completely gone by the end of the puppy's first month.

    Other Milestones

    • Puggle puppies will cut their first teeth between two and four weeks of age, and shortly thereafter, they will begin eating soft, solid foods. The puppies ears are closed at birth just as their eyes were. The ears will open between 14 and 17 days of age and the puppies may suddenly become much more vocal themselves as they respond to sounds and sights around them.