Do Dogs See in Black and White?



Posted: Thursday, January 07, 2010

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Many people wonder if dogs see in black and white. This is a very common question, and the answer might surprise you. It is common to want to humanize pets, so we hope that they see and feel the same things we do, but this is rarely the case.

How Dogs See

Dogs tend to be nearsighted due to week eye muscles, but they actually do have some color vision, but it is much worse then ours.

The dog's retina actually has a smaller number of cone cells, which are cells needed to see colors, then human retinas.  They do have cone cells that can distinguish color between blue, yellow, and gray. But the dog's retina actually lacks cone cells that can distinguish red and green, so this is very similar to people who are red-green colorblind.

Since dogs have trouble seeing red, you have to wonder why most of the popular dog toys are red?  A better color for these toys might be blue or yellow.

Dog Sight Advantages

Dogs do perceive some colors, but are probably best at distinguishing more subtle shades of gray and darker colors.  Some advantages that dogs have over us when it comes to vision, is that they do have large pupils and a wide field of vision which makes it very easy for them to following moving objects.

Their eyes also have a large number of rods cells, these are the cells that detect light, so they can see pretty well in the dark, much better then us.

So even though dogs have much poorer color vision then humans do, any lack in this area is more than made up by their great sense of hearing and smell.

So dogs see in black and white?  Yes they do, but they also see some colors, but not as bright or as vivid as we do.

For more pet information please visit our Ask a Vet feature, and also be sure to check out our Veterinary Blog.

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