How does your dog see you? Do they see the color of your car, your clothes, your couch, their favorite bed, and their harness the same way you do? Why do they sometimes miss a bright-colored ball right in front of their nose? And is it true that their whole world is black and white?
At the end of this article, we’ll show you where you can upload any photo and see it through your dog’s eyes.
First things first: dogs can see colors! The myth that they see the world in black and white was debunked long ago. They just see the world a little differently than we do.
Every day, you and your dog look at the same things: each other, toys, trees, cars, and everything around your home. But it’s almost as if you’re seeing two different versions of the same world.
So let’s take a look at the world through your dog’s eyes.
JUST THINK ABOUT IT:
You throw your dog a bright red ball. It lands in the grass just a few feet away.
Your dog runs after it, stops… and starts searching.
To the right. To the left. Back to the right. And sometimes it takes quite a while to find it.
But why can’t your dog see the ball when it’s right there?
Research shows that dogs see colors in the blue and yellow spectra best. Reds, greens, and oranges, on the other hand, can look very similar to them.
In other words, dogs see color differently than we do.
This is supported by a classic study of canine color vision published in Visual Neuroscience, in which researchers concluded that dogs have dichromatic vision.
Let’s go back to the ball lying right in front of your dog.
While the ball is flying, it’s easy to spot because it’s moving. But once it stops, it can practically “disappear” into the grass.
That’s why your dog can:
- easily track the ball while it’s flying;
- run to roughly the right spot;
- and then spend forever sniffing around for the toy, even though it’s right nearby.
So if you keep these quirks of dog vision in mind, try choosing a blue ball for games on the grass - it may be much easier for your dog to spot than a red one. And save your pup a little frustration along the way 😄
Color really does matter to dogs
Dogs can use color information when making decisions. And yes, they can have favorite colors too.
Next time you visit a pet store, bring your dog along and let them choose between a few toys in different colors. See which one they go to first: will they notice the blue ball, show interest in the yellow toy, or pick something you wouldn’t have even considered yourself?
Either way, letting your dog be part of the decision is fun - and chances are, you’ll come home not only with a new toy, but also with a funny little observation about your pup.
But how does your dog see you?
By now, you’re probably wondering about something more important than the ball.
How does your dog see your face?
The image your dog sees is probably not the same as what you see…
See for yourself: upload your own photo
There’s a simple way to get an approximate idea of how a familiar scene might look to your dog.
Open the Dog Vision online simulator, upload a photo, and compare the two images: the human version and the “dog vision” version.
Instead of using a random photo, try something from your everyday life together:
- a favorite toy on the floor;
- a ball on the grass;
- food and water bowls;
- your dog’s bed in the room;
- your usual walking route;
- yourself wearing clothes your dog sees often;
- your dog wearing their harness;
- a few different harness colors against your dog’s coat.
Some of the changes may be exactly what you expect. Others might surprise you.
One important note
No simulator can literally show you your dog’s subjective experience of the world.
It creates a visual model based on what we know about canine color perception and visual acuity. Vision can also vary between individual dogs and breeds.
Which harness would your dog choose?
Science doesn’t currently give us a reason to believe that dogs judge clothes, gear, or toys based on aesthetics. But we can see how noticeable different colors are within the range of colors they can see.
Choose a few PETFORTA harnesses you like, save the images, and upload them to the simulator.
Compare how each color looks:
- against your dog’s coat;
- on grass;
- on a light-colored floor;
- inside a dark car;
- against snow, sand, or the colors of a fall park.
Which one do you think your pup would like best? :)
This article is simply an attempt to see familiar things from their perspective - even if their world looks very different from ours.
We’ll never be able to experience the world exactly the way a dog does. After all, smells and sounds play a role in their lives that’s difficult for us to even imagine.
But simply trying to see things from their perspective can change a lot. We love our little pups so much, and it’s fascinating to learn even a little more about the world they live in.
Scientific Sources
- Neitz, J., Geist, T., & Jacobs, G. H. (1989). Color Vision in the Dog. Visual Neuroscience, 3(2), 119–125.
- Kasparson, A. A., Badridze, J., & Maximov, V. V. (2013). Colour Cues Proved to Be More Informative for Dogs Than Brightness. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280(1766), 20131356.
- Lind, O., Milton, I., Andersson, E., Jensen, P., & Roth, L. S. V. (2017). High Visual Acuity Revealed in Dogs. PLOS ONE, 12(12), e0188557.
- Byosiere, S. E., Chouinard, P. A., Howell, T. J., & Bennett, P. C. (2018). What Do Dogs (Canis familiaris) See? A Review of Vision in Dogs and Implications for Cognition Research. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 1798–1813.
- American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. Vision in Pets.