If you observe the world in the eyes of a dog you will see that it is colored in white and in different shades of grey. You see, dogs were once believed to have no ability to distinguish colors. Dogs are acclaimed for their heightened senses. Dogs have protected humans using their excellent scenting and hearing abilities. Excellent vision is what makes sighthounds outstanding hunters. One of the advantages of dogs over humans is the ability to see well in the dark . As long as a dog is on guarding duty, people can sleep soundly at night.
Nature has endowed our furry friends with very sensitive senses but the ability to see colors in the same way humans can was left out. Dogs can actually see colors but in a different way than what we humans can do. The fact that dogs can see colors was proven by a study on canine vision conducted in the University of California. Of course due to the less detailed vision, a dog may not be able to appreciate a bright red ball given that in the eyes of the dog the color of the ball would either be black or brownish gray.
Humans and dogs are very similar in genetics. Dogs like humans have cone photoreceptors cells that catch the light and manage color perception. However, while humans have three cone photoreceptors, dogs only have two. The three cones in our eyes delivers 100% full range vision while dogs have approximately 20% range of color vision as they lack on cone. This makes the dog’s vision about six times less inferior than human vision.
In the eyes of Fido the rainbow colors would be blue, light blue, grey, light yellow, brownish yellow and dark grey instead of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The world therefore in the eyes of the dog is colored in yellow, grey and blue. Given the dog’s limited vision for color, it is quite surprising that our loyal companions can distinguish the subtle alterations of colors that creates different shades of blue and violets.
Humans do not have this ability because the human eyes have a yellow pigmentation that reduces the sensitivity of the eye to blue and violet lights by blocking the short wavelengths. Dogs have an enhanced ability to see various shades of light and blue as the eyes of dogs do not have this yellow pigmentation.
Find out more about how dogs see color and dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.
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