What Colors Can Dogs See?

Many pet owners have been misled to believe that their furry friends are completely colorblind or can only see in black and white. But, the fact is, they can see colors, however they have a different color vision than ours. Dogs have a limited color range and can only see some certain colors. A dog’s visual acuity is less developed than ours. That means a color that a human can see clearly may appear blurry to a dog.

What Colors Can A Dog See?

Humans have three types of photo-receptors in their eyes that transmit color signals to the brain. But, dogs have only two types of photo-receptors – cones and rods, and are only able to see in shades of yellow and blue. Like humans, they cannot see the full spectrum of colors. In brief, dogs see the colors of the world in yellow, blue and gray.

A dog has an excellent night vision that is far superior to humans because their motion detectors are much sharper than that of humans. If you throw an orange ball on the green grass, your dog will see it as yellow ball on the yellow surface, but they can easily catch the ball because of the great motion detectors that they have. If you want your dog to see the exact color, you need to buy them blue or yellow toys.

Are Dogs Colorblind?

Colorblindness is a condition when the dog sees no color, which is not true. A person who is completely colorblind sees the images in gray, similar to watching a movie in black and white, but a dog can surely see some colors. They have a unique way of seeing the world. We, being in the realm of pet sitters in New Jersey, know that dogs have a limited color sense. Our cage free dog boarding in NJ also takes into consideration the way dogs see the world and accept the changes.

Earth tones appear more in a gray fashion to the dogs, so if your dog’s bed is brown, it will see it brown-gray. Green color appears yellow to the dogs. On the other hand, red colored toys do not appear red, rather looks dark gray to your dog. Dogs can only distinguish blue and yellow, but not red and green.

If you want your dog to see similar shades as like you see, then you should choose blue, gray or yellow colors. These are the colors that dogs can see better than any other color. It is good to learn about what colors your dog can see and identify when you are providing some sort of training to your dogs. Knowing that your dog can see some certain colors will be very comforting for those who have believed that their dogs are colorblind.

So the next time, if your dog fails to find the red ball that you just threw onto a green lawn, remember their world and color vision. But don’t feel sorry for dogs because of this. They have a far superior smell senses and motion detectors that help them to overcome this inability. They can see in much dimmer light and their motion detectors allow them to identify the object.