They're the result of the saline in tears (or saliva if paws or mouth) drying on the fur and reacting by changing the color of the fur, essentially dyeing it unless wiped dry first. It can happen to all colors, just harder to see in the darker colors. Not all poodles have this, and of those that do, it varies in intensity.

"Tear stains are usually caused by dye molecules called porphyrins. Porphyrins are iron-containing molecules, produced when the body breaks down red blood cells. Porphyrins are excreted primarily through bile and the intestinal tract, but in dogs a significant amount of porphyrin is excreted through tears, saliva and also urine.

When porphyrin containing tears or saliva sits on light fur for any length of time, stains result. These iron-related stains intensify/darken in the presence of sunlight.

All dogs produce porphyrin, but of course porphyrin staining is most noticeable on light colored dogs. If you have ever noticed a light dog who has been licking or chewing on his leg, the hair in that area will turn iron-brown in color as well.

Primarily, then, most tear stains in most dogs can be simply prevented by keeping the face free of porphyrin-containing tears. That means keeping the face hair trimmed, and wiping the face at least twice daily with a slightly damp wash cloth, to dilute out and wash away the tears."

Why some have the staining and some don't, or at least less, is something of a guessing game. It could be genetic, it could be food or water sourced, possibly a medical condition of the tear ducts, just really hard to say why.

If Pearl is clear of them now she'll probably remain clear of them.

 

They're the result of the saline in tears (or saliva if paws or mouth) drying on the fur and reacting by changing the color of the fur, essentially dyeing it unless wiped dry first. It can happen to all colors, just harder to see in the darker colors. Not all poodles have this, and of those that do, it varies in intensity.

"Tear stains are usually caused by dye molecules called porphyrins. Porphyrins are iron-containing molecules, produced when the body breaks down red blood cells. Porphyrins are excreted primarily through bile and the intestinal tract, but in dogs a significant amount of porphyrin is excreted through tears, saliva and also urine.

When porphyrin containing tears or saliva sits on light fur for any length of time, stains result. These iron-related stains intensify/darken in the presence of sunlight.

All dogs produce porphyrin, but of course porphyrin staining is most noticeable on light colored dogs. If you have ever noticed a light dog who has been licking or chewing on his leg, the hair in that area will turn iron-brown in color as well.

Primarily, then, most tear stains in most dogs can be simply prevented by keeping the face free of porphyrin-containing tears. That means keeping the face hair trimmed, and wiping the face at least twice daily with a slightly damp wash cloth, to dilute out and wash away the tears."

Why some have the staining and some don't, or at least less, is something of a guessing game. It could be genetic, it could be food or water sourced, possibly a medical condition of the tear ducts, just really hard to say why.

If Pearl is clear of them now she'll probably remain clear of them.

Thank you yes hers are just gooey but easy to remove

 

This is an interesting subject. My Bobby, who is a parti with a silver face had pretty bad tear staining his whole first year. It was a job to keep his eye area clean. I was surprised as I thought it was just a light colored dog thing as I didn’t know anything about tear stains. He basically just gets the eye goobers now which are easy to keep clean.

We now have Joey, a white/cream mini and I thought for sure we were going to have tear staining issues as I always thought it was a white dog issue. Nope. Joey, who is 9 months old, has had no issues whatsoever.

 

We now have Joey, a white/cream mini and I thought for sure we were going to have tear staining issues as I always thought it was a white dog issue. Nope. Joey, who is 9 months old, has had no issues whatsoever.

I asked Olga about tear staining in Joey and Tyler's line and she said there were no "wet eyes" in that line. Not entirely sure what that means but I assume excessive tearing is what she was referring to. Like Joey, Tyler has never had an issue with staining.

 

As Rose said, the red discoloration is from iron deposits. I found this explanation of why some dogs are affected but not others interesting.

 

I fought tear stains on my white poodle for over a year, with no real improvement after trying so many different things. I decided that we would just live with them I tried bottled water, dye-free food, different shampoo/conditioner, various wipes etc. along with thrice daily cleaning. I did not want to keep subjecting him to different things for a cosmetic reason.

A month ago, he had to take a course of antibiotics for an anal gland abscess. After a week, the stains were much improved and the goopie eye boogers are still clear and easily removed (they used to be dark rust colored and crusty).

I can only guess he is allergic to something in his environment. It did seem worse when we spent more time outdoors.