Question from my 7 yr old son, can dogs see colour?

Answer 1

Yes, dog see color quite well. They perceive red and green as shades of brown/tan, just as in people who are designated color-blind. However, they do see blue, yellow and some purples quite well, as well as shades of brown to beige.

Here is a great illustrated site your son will enjoy:
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).http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/DrP4.htm

Answer 2

It is not true that dogs are completely colour blind. 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 colour blindness, they are unable to tell the difference between red and green.

The reason for this limited range, in both the colour blind 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 3

I think that in mammals other than primates, colour vision with red/green colour blindness is the norm. So like my colour blind friend, dogs and most other mammals mainly see blue and yellow.

Answer 4

I guess science says dogs can only see in black & white. But how can they possibly know that unless they have dog eyes themselves lol! I believe they can see some colors, my little dog Abby reacts scared of anything that is red, it can be anything a ball, pail, sign, toy, rug etc.. Not sure why she is scared of the color red though but is kind of funny poor thing lol!

Answer 5

They do not have cones, which is the way humans see color. Their eyesight is poor, but other senses make up for it.
Your boy is ready to know about rods and cones. Sounds like an inquisitive youngster. Good for him. He can learn about structures. the optical math is above him now, but if you let him know it exists, he will stay interested.

Answer 6

I was watching something on TV about dogs not being color blind, they just see DIFFERENT colors. They can't make out some colors that we can. They look different because there eyes are different. But then again. There are lots of colors that WE cannot make out either. Even if you have 20/20 there is just something in our eyes that won't let us see some colors that other animals can. And vise versa.

Answer 7

I am amazed at how many people think that dogs are only able to see black and white.
YES, they can see colors! Not all colors, but it's not a case of black and white.

Answer 8

According to the vet http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dogsee.html on this link they can only see in two of the three basic colors that people can see. So what they see looks different than our view of the same thing.

Answer 9

it depends.most dogs are but some special cases do exist which the dog was supposed to have been able to tell the difference between color and black and white.

Answer 10

Dogs are color blind. This does not mean they see in black and white, but they there are certain colors. It is like if a human is color blind.