The Not So Colorful World Of A Dog
31 Aug 2010
The world as seen in the eyes of a dog will be in white and in different shades of grey. This is due to the fact that dogs are believed to have no ability to see colors. Dogs have ultrasensitive senses. Dogs are renowned for being outstanding guard dogs because of their very sensitive scenting and hearing abilities. Sighthounds are breeds highly valued for their excellent vision. It is generally believed that human's best friend has the knack of seeing better in the dark . Humans therefore can sleep soundly at night, unmindful of intruders as long as there is a dog is in the house.
With these ultrasensitive senses, it is surprising to note that dogs are believed incapable of seeing colors. Dogs can see color but the colors they can distinguish are fewer than what humans can see. The fact that dogs can see colors was proven by a study on canine vision conducted in the University of California. Due to the dog's less detailed vision, a new red chew toy may not be appreciated as in the dog's eye the color of the toy will either be black or grey.
Humans and dogs are very similar in genetics. The cone photoreceptors that catch light and control color sensitivity in human eyes are found in dog's eyes too. A dog's eye only has two cone photoreceptors while humans have three. 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 a dog's vision about six times inferior than what we humans have.
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. This means that in the eyes of a dog, the world is basically colored in blue, grey and yellow. In spite of the limited colors seen, a dog has the surprising ability to differentiate the subtle change in colors that creates various shades of violets and blues.
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. The absence of the yellow pigmentation in the dogs eyes enables our four legged friend's eyes to be more sensitive in identifying the different shades of violets and blues.
Find out more about how dogs see color and dog first aid at Sarah's Dogs.