discover
Your dogs eyesight
Do dogs see in colour?
Dogs don’t just see the world in black and white. Humans have three types of different colour sensitive cone cells in their retina; red, green and blue but dogs have only got two; yellow and blue. So red objects appear grey whilst they can see a range of blue and yellow colours
Night Vision
Dogs can see movement and light much better than us humans. Dogs have more of a specific type of cell in their eyes called a rod. This is good at collecting information in dim light, so they have got better night vision than we have. Like us they are unable to see in complete darkness.
Movement
Dogs can see movement better than us humans as their retina is predominantly made up of rods. Your dog’s ability to recognise motion patterns is considered much greater than that of humans. He is a predator and can see movement at a distance and in low light. So if your dog doesn’t come back to you; dance and move around and he is more likely to see you.
Colour quality
Dogs can’t differentiate colours as well as we do because they have fewer of the cells in the retina called cones, responsible for colour vision. Only 3 % of retinal cells in dogs are cone photoreceptor cells (the ones primarily responsible for colour) in comparison to a human, who has up to 5%.
Detail
Dogs do not have as much visual acuity as people, meaning that they can’t distinguish fine details in stationary objects as well as we can. Humans with good eyesight have 20/20 vision. Research suggests that dogs have 20/75 vision which means that when you can see something 75 feet away your dog can see it at 20 feet away.
Field of vision
It is believed that dogs have a total visual field of up to 250 degrees in comparison to a human who has only got 180 degrees. Remember this if you are looking out for something that might trigger a reactive response from your dog.
Remember this dependent on the breed of your dog; Sighthounds’ eye placement is much wider than those of brachycephalic breeds whose eyes are much more centrally located
THIS IS WHAT YOU SEE
THIS IS ROUGHLY WHAT YOUR DOG SEES
Toys
This is the reason nearly all the toys I buy for my dogs are either blue, blue/violet or yellow! so they see them better! Except scent items so they depend on their nose more.
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UNDERSTANDING YOUR DOG
Understanding how your dog sees the world is important. It means that you can take it into account when training and walking your dog. For reactive dogs knowing that his field of vision is bigger than yours is important in managing triggers.
Dogs use their sense of smell much more to learn about the world rather than depending on eyesight like we do.
Summing up, your dog sees the world in muted shades of blue and yellow, he cant see as sharply as you but can see things behind him and can be very aware of movement.
If you wondered why your dog reacts to people wearing hi-viz clothing … now you know why.
CHECK OUT THE
Useful Dog Facts
Hearing
Just how good is your dog's hearing?
scent
That amazing bit of kit
touch
Does your dog feel things differently to you?
taste
What can your dog taste and why?
Eyesight
Black & white or colour vision?
OTHER
Something else