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Are dogs able to see in color ?


Saru

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New research is dispelling the myth that dogs are only able to see the world in black and white.

A Russian research team has found, in a study of eight previously untrained dogs, that the animals overwhelmingly preferred using color as a cue rather than brightness.

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To make the test truly accurate they should select colors that appear the same tone and brightness when photographed with a black and white camera, but that may be difficult. Yellow is so much more of a bright and vibrant color when compared to blue that the dogs could be keying in on the shading rather than the color.

I love color and am very envious of animals which apparently can see many more wavelengths of color than we as humans can. Many insects see into the ultra violet range, birds have four different color receptors compared to our three. But I believe the highest number of receptors in the animal world goes to the mantis shrimp which has an amazing 16 different color receptors and one of the most complex visual systems as well. We will never know what it sees when it peeks out of its burrow on the reef, but it must be amazing!

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They might not be able to see in 'color' but it is quite possible that they can see in 'colour'! :yes:

Edited by Technocrat
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I used to work for an ophthalmologist and he explained that we get our color vision from the "fovea" which is part of the macula. He explained this to us because we had a patient come in that was seeing waves of color. The doctor diagnosed a tear in the fovea. I would think if there are these kinds of cells in an animals eye it would mean they have color vision. I did find out that the lion fish has color vision!

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About 20 years ago a study was done. The results showed dogs can see red and blue. At least the two studies agree on one color.

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I used to work for an ophthalmologist and he explained that we get our color vision from the "fovea" which is part of the macula. He explained this to us because we had a patient come in that was seeing waves of color. The doctor diagnosed a tear in the fovea. I would think if there are these kinds of cells in an animals eye it would mean they have color vision. I did find out that the lion fish has color vision!

Our color vision comes from the cones in the eyes. We have a cone to detect Red light, one for Green light and one for Blue light. There is a minimum number of these cones required to have "normal" color vision. Even so, no two people see color the same way. I have a presentation I use in our "Color Schools" where I work. I'll try to upload a pdf copy of it as the Powerpoint version is huge.

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I wonder what colors a prey animal would see. Dogs ancestors were predators so color would serve a purpose in their hunting especially in wooded areas.

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Our dog always prefers food with bright colouring, such as beef curry or barbequed chicken, to her normal diet of beige biscuits.

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Our dog always prefers food with bright colouring, such as beef curry or barbequed chicken, to her normal diet of beige biscuits.

Are you serious? Is it not more likely that your dog is attracted to the smell of the beef curry or barbecued chicken rather than the practically non smell of the biscuits?

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it took them this long to come up with such a simplistic experiment? One would think basic stuff like this should've been figured out hundreds of years ago. Feedboxes and different colours... 2013 technology indeed.

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I had always heard it was yellow and blue. It'd be a strange experience to see things that way from our perspective. It'd be like a constant scene out of 'Sin city'.

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They used to say that cats couldn't see what was on tv. Today we have apps for them to play.

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I think it would be great if they see in color.

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Are you serious? Is it not more likely that your dog is attracted to the smell of the beef curry or barbecued chicken rather than the practically non smell of the biscuits?

Ya know?

Nah, it's the colors.

Edited by F3SS
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Are you serious? Is it not more likely that your dog is attracted to the smell of the beef curry or barbecued chicken rather than the practically non smell of the biscuits?

But that does not explain why she also likes sweet'n'sour chicken, which is also beige, apart from the red peppers. Sweet'n'sour does not smell like curry or bbq.It must be the red colouration that attracts her.

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But that does not explain why she also likes sweet'n'sour chicken, which is also beige, apart from the red peppers. Sweet'n'sour does not smell like curry or bbq.It must be the red colouration that attracts her.

C'mon man. Your dog prefers meat over biscuits or vegetables. It isn't the color and as far as dogs go you have no idea what smells like what to them. They can smell all the ingredients in any food and they can smell them better and separately.

Edited by F3SS
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Our color vision comes from the cones in the eyes. We have a cone to detect Red light, one for Green light and one for Blue light. There is a minimum number of these cones required to have "normal" color vision. Even so, no two people see color the same way. I have a presentation I use in our "Color Schools" where I work. I'll try to upload a pdf copy of it as the Powerpoint version is huge.

I was told "cones" are for day vision and "rods" are for night visions.

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I was told "cones" are for day vision and "rods" are for night visions.

You don't have colored vision at night, unless you in a lighted area, then you don't have nightvision.

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While humans have three types of photoreceptors in their eyes that transmit signals about color to the brain, dogs have two types of photoreceptors. We know that these photoreceptors work to transmit information allowing dogs to perceive differences in color because dogs have told us so. Well, sort of.

vision2.JPG

How Have Dogs Told Us That They Perceive Color?

To determine whether dogs can see color, researchers taught dogs to pick the odd-colored circle out of a choice of three circles. So if they showed colors that the dogs could not distinguish, they would fail at the task, but if they chose colors that the dogs could tell apart, the dogs would perform consistently well. Of course. the researchers did also consider that the hue or brightness might be a distinguishing cue, so they systematically tried patches of different brightness too.

Dr. Gerold Jacobs, Professor of Psychology at the University of Santa Barbara, who lead much of this color vision research in dogs, is careful to point out that while we cannot determine exactly what the dog perceives the color to be, we think what we see as red, orange, yellow or green appears as different saturations of yellow to a dog, while blue-green, blue and violet appear as different saturations of bluish gray.

vision.JPG

What Colors Do Dogs Distinguish Best?

Back to the dilemma of the tennis ball in the tall grass. Yes, if the balls were two-tone blue and yellow, Jonesy might be able to find them a little better. Overall, if we want dogs to distinguish between colors, the best colors to use are blue and yellow. On the other hand, maybe if the ball was just blue or violet or bigger, that would be good enough. I’m too lazy to actually test it out. I’ll just bring extra tennis balls.

vision3.JPG

Source : http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/can-dogs-see-color-and-how-do-we-know

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While humans have three types of photoreceptors in their eyes that transmit signals about color to the brain, dogs have two types of photoreceptors. We know that these photoreceptors work to transmit information allowing dogs to perceive differences in color because dogs have told us so. Well, sort of.

vision2.JPG

How Have Dogs Told Us That They Perceive Color?

To determine whether dogs can see color, researchers taught dogs to pick the odd-colored circle out of a choice of three circles. So if they showed colors that the dogs could not distinguish, they would fail at the task, but if they chose colors that the dogs could tell apart, the dogs would perform consistently well. Of course. the researchers did also consider that the hue or brightness might be a distinguishing cue, so they systematically tried patches of different brightness too.

Dr. Gerold Jacobs, Professor of Psychology at the University of Santa Barbara, who lead much of this color vision research in dogs, is careful to point out that while we cannot determine exactly what the dog perceives the color to be, we think what we see as red, orange, yellow or green appears as different saturations of yellow to a dog, while blue-green, blue and violet appear as different saturations of bluish gray.

vision.JPG

What Colors Do Dogs Distinguish Best?

Back to the dilemma of the tennis ball in the tall grass. Yes, if the balls were two-tone blue and yellow, Jonesy might be able to find them a little better. Overall, if we want dogs to distinguish between colors, the best colors to use are blue and yellow. On the other hand, maybe if the ball was just blue or violet or bigger, that would be good enough. I’m too lazy to actually test it out. I’ll just bring extra tennis balls.

vision3.JPG

Source : http://drsophiayin.c...-how-do-we-know

Thanks for the examples :)

I believe most dogs probably see things that way compared to us the same way birds see colors of ultraviolet light that very few people are able to see. I think some dogs do see more colors vividly but are rare. It's all genetics and usage and there are always some anonomalies in every species whether it's human or dog etc. As for a dog never seeing color like it was portrayed in the past, I never did believe that since I had one dog who obviously knew colors that would be impossible for a color blind animal, all the other dogs I ever had were never as perceptive as him though.

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C'mon man. Your dog prefers meat over biscuits or vegetables. It isn't the color and as far as dogs go you have no idea what smells like what to them. They can smell all the ingredients in any food and they can smell them better and separately.

Okay, explain this. I found an uneaten doner kebab in the back of my car, in a beige pitta bread (inside the plastic carton).My dog went mad for it, even though the plastic carton was beige as well! Do dogs see colours we cannot?

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Smell.

But we are not talking about smell, we are talking about sight.Do'h. Does nobody understand the OP?

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Your question was how your dog could tell where the bowl was on a seat the same color as the bowl. The answer is your dog could smell the food in the bowl.

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But that does not explain why she also likes sweet'n'sour chicken, which is also beige, apart from the red peppers. Sweet'n'sour does not smell like curry or bbq.It must be the red colouration that attracts her.

Oh course she likes sween'n'sour chicken. It smells, tastes and looks an awful lot better than biscuits - would you not as well?. Colour has nothing to do with it. Even if your dog was blind she would still make the same choice. Use your common sense!

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