Do dogs see in color?

Question

It seems that I have always heard that dogs only see in black and white. Is this so?

Answer 1

interesting website that other guy posted. It was my understanding that dogs could not see color but their sense's are way better than ours. Like when a dog or cat hears a sound, they hear it on a higher frequency, which is why a dog can hear a dog whistle and most adults can not. same concept differnet sense

Answer 2

OK, to settle the color blind stuff before more feelings get hurt.

BOTH answers are correct, depending on context.

When a man is tested in the military, or for a commercial driving license, the chart tests for color blindness. If he is deemed color blind, it means he can't see red and green, but only sees them as shades of brown..that is the human condition known as color blind.
However, dogs do not differentiate between red and green, so by human standards, yes, they ARE color blind.

But, some people think that the term means that color blindness is seeing only in black and white...dogs DO see other than black and white and shades of gray..so, they do see color.
They see yellow, blue, and tans/browns very well, and some shades of purple..but they don't distinguish red from green.

So, do they see color? YES
Are they color blind by human terms? YES
Do they only see black and white? NO

Here is a great chart, to show you haw dogs see compared to humans, and it tell s how they know this> http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/DrP4.htm

Answer 3

No dogs may not see in all the colors but they can see in some colors other than black and white. Good Question! Most people think they only see in black and white.

Answer 4

Dogs see colour, but not as many as we do. Their world is more like what a VERY colour blind person sees. For the life of me I can't remember what colours they see and what they don't. It's mostly mostly reds and greens they see but not really blues and purples or vice versa.

There was a very interesting Mad Labs episode (National Geographic Channel) about this. Also, the difference between the sight of different breeds, some dogs can watch TV and understand the visual message as we can, some breeds can't. Cool, huh?

There is also science about this of the cones and rods with type and concentration, bla bla bla.

If I take my dog out to play ball in the park at night where I am relying on a sodium street light to light the place up, he sees certain colour balls but not others. Standard colour tennis ball, forget it, as soon as it stops moving, its lost. Yellow or red, nope, they're gone too. Dark blue, bright purple and neon pink, he'll find it before I do if it goes in the shadow.

Answer 5

NO that is not completley true. They cannot see clearly but can see shades of gray and a little of blue. The colors red, orange, and yellow all look the same to dogs. There might be some other answers to that question and I might not be completely right but that is what I got out of the library books.

Answer 6

Dogs do see in color, but their perception of color is not the same as it is for people. They cannot distinguish between red, orange, yellow or green. They can see various shades of blue and can differentiate between closely related shades of gray that are not distinguishable to people.


more info for you....

When comparing dog and human vision, people are better at depth perception, color perception and seeing minute details of an object. Dogs are better at seeing in dim light, responding to an image rapidly and detecting the slightest motion. They also have better peripheral vision.

In a 1995 study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, researchers dissected canine retinas and found many color-sensitive cones that indicated that there was at least an anatomical potential for color vision in dogs. The researchers also used behavioral discrimination testing and electrical photo tests to determine the light wavelengths that stimulated these cones. The dogs in the study could not differentiate between middle-to-long wavelengths of light, which to people appear as green, yellow, orange or red.

Dogs are able to differentiate between various shades of blue and violet, shades that people cannot tell apart. It is theorized that people have a yellow pigment in the lens of their eye that blocks short wavelengths (blue) light and significantly reduces sensitivity to violet and blue light. Dogs do not have this yellow pigment and therefore can see very subtle color changes.

If you are feeling curious, you can try testing your own dog to see if he can tell one shade of color from another. First, try to teach your dog that a blue towel always elicits a positive response. Then put out a green, a red and a blue towel and see if they pick the right color. This is a very crude test but it may work.

Answer 7

Dogs do see in color, but their perception of color is not the same as it is for people. They cannot distinguish between red, orange, yellow or green. They can see various shades of blue and can differentiate between closely related shades of gray that are not distinguishable to people.
When comparing dog and human vision, people are better at depth perception, color perception and seeing minute details of an object. Dogs are better at seeing in dim light, responding to an image rapidly and detecting the slightest motion. They also have better peripheral vision.

I copied this directly from this webpage:
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/can-dogs-see-in-color/page1.aspx

Answer 8

It is not true that dogs are completely colourblind. While dogs do not have the same color vision as humans, they are able to tell yellow from blue. Like a human with red-green colourblindness, they are unable to tell the difference between red and green.

The reason for this limited range, in both the colourblind human and the dog, is that there are only two kinds of colour receptors in the retinas of their eyes. While most humans have three kinds of colour cells, with three different receptor molecules sensitive to blue, greenish-yellow, and red, dogs only have receptors for yellow and greenish-blue.

Canine eyes also lack another human trait: the fovea, an area especially dense with detail-sensing cells. As a result, their detail vision is not as good as ours. But they make up for this by having much better night vision and greater sensitivity to movement

Answer 9

No dogs don't see all colors because we have special eyes and their eyes only allow them to see some colors colors. it is not black and white. dogs can see in yellow, white, blue, purple, black and brown. And even though most of the colors are lighter than humans are they don't see in only black and white. Many people say dogs see in black and white but they do see some colors. So They aren't color blind, but they don't completely see all colors. So you could call them a little color blind.

Answer 10

Dear Yahoo!:
Why can't dogs see color?
Canis Major
Dear Major:
Popular wisdom has it that dogs are color-blind, but recent research suggests that a dog's world is not all black and white. To understand what dogs can and can't see, it helps to have some basic knowledge of vision in humans and other mammals.

We began by searching on "dog vision color," which took us to a page from the National Hunting Retriever Association site. Summarizing a 1995 article originally published in the Journal of the Veterinary Medical Association, the page describes the fundamental design differences between canine and human vision. Our vision is optimized for seeing in bright light, while dogs, like many other predators, see best in dimmer light.

How Vision Works describes the anatomy of seeing and the role of the retina, a structure at the innermost layer of the eye that senses light and sends visual information to the brain. Two types of photoreceptor cells in the retina -- rods and cones -- respond to light and transmit electric impulses to the optic nerve through a series of chemical reactions. Rods process visual information in dim light and are sensitive motion detectors, while cones handle color and detail. The human retina contains approximately 100 million rods and 7 million cones.

Cone cells contain pigments that perceive specific wavelengths of color. Human vision is trichromatic -- we have three types of cones that recognize different portions of the color spectrum. These cones allow us to see a range of colors that are a mix of red, blue, and green pigments. Dogs have only two types of cones -- their dichromatic color vision is similar to that of a human with red-green color-blindness. In addition, a dog's retina contains a much smaller ratio of cones to rods than ours does. An article about Canine Vision, written for a college psychology course, includes a graphic that contrasts the yellow, blue, and gray spectrum of the dog's world with the familiar rainbow of colors we perceive.

Before you start feeling sorry for Fido, keep in mind that although he may not have the color range and visual acuity (focus) that you depend on, his night vision is far superior. Thanks to a reflective structure behind their retina called the tapetum lucidum, dogs see objects in the dark as if lit by an eerie glow.

If you want to learn more about the mechanics and evolution of color vision, an illustrated account titled Color Vision: Almost Reason Enough for Having Eyes will increase your understanding.