can dogs see colors?

Answer 1

Dogs are red-green color blind. They see a brighter and less detailed world when compared to humans. Peripheral vision is better than humans (dogs see more of the world), but distance is not judged quite as well. Dogs excel at night vision and the detection of moving objects. Figure 1 is a rough guesstimate of what a dog and human might see when viewing a color band (the electromagnetic spectrum).

Answer 2

I had a class in vision in college, and the teacher said that generally most animals see the colors of their own kind. So that would mean dogs see black and white and brown and grey and red and whatever other colors dogs come in.

Answer 3

The current thinking is that dogs see in color but not in the way that humans do. I will try to find some information on this for you (I know that there was an article in one of the veterinary journals, but I can't remember which one) and forward it on.

The latest article on this discussion that I can find a reference to is the December 1995 issue of the Journal of Veterinary Medicine. I haven't been able to find this journal in my collection, though. Maybe your vet would have it. I'll keep looking.

If memory serves me right, the thinking is that dogs only see blue and yellow or red and yellow (couldn't remember for sure) because they have many less of the cones (color vision cells) than people. On the other hand, they have many more rods (low light and motion detecting cells) so they see much better in the dark and they can detect much smaller motions than humans.

Answer 4

Dogs are color blind!! The see in black and white some shades of gray. Now some think the can see red but that is still being debated.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

Dogs can see in color but have less colors in there world because there eyes are not developed to see all these colors. They usually see in yellows and very dull colors. No reds or pinks. very dull blues.

Answer 7

dogs can see a very limited range of color..unlike the human eyes. Check out this article.

Answer 8

dogs see color, but not the way humans do. they can't see like we do, but they do know how to tell colors from other colors. they can't tell the difference between red and green. I used to think they were colorblind, but then i learned this.

Answer 9

How in the world would anyone know that unless they have actually looked through the eyes of a dog?

Answer 10

This is a debatable question. But I have heard they only see in black, white and gray.
I heard they said that dogs can also see in blue