How Do Dog’s See the World?

Ever wonder how much and what your dog sees? Have you heard that dogs are color blind? There have been studies and tests to prove that, although not as completely detailed as ours, they have their own set of color skews they can see through. Dogs do see in color but unlike our sight, they have a limited color palette they see. While our eyes have three color-sensing cone cells, dogs only have two leaving out the red in their sight.

Adding onto the different color scheme they also have blurred vision. Although dogs can see pretty well, compared to the human eye, they do not have the 20/20 vision set we are born with. The dog’s average vision is approximately 20/75.

Regardless the differences dogs have with color and sharp vision, they have fine-tuned motion detection. A stationary bird may blend well into the dog’s sight, but a sudden movement could alert that dog at over a half mile away. Their retinas are developed with light-sensitive “rod” cells, aiding them to detect slight movement in daylight or darkness.

Ever wonder if your dog is watching the television with you? Most screens refresh 60 times per second to match our flicker resolution of about 55 Hz. Since a dog’s is about 75 Hz they will see the rapid flickering while we only see moving images.

Taking a look into the future with your dog’s vision, you need to think about the possibility of blindness. This happens in many dogs as they age and heredity kicks in or diseases and injuries. Blindness in a dog can sometimes be a main symptom to something a lot bigger. When this happens your dog begins to see the world differently. Your dog needs to rely on other senses and learn how to work around the blurred or even blind sight. Keeping up to date visits with your vet can help catch issues and keep you aware of how your dog is doing.

While we have a visual of 120 degrees, most dogs have a visual of 250 degrees. The actual degree of vision within their view will depend on the placement of the dog’s eyes and shape of the dogs head. There are some breeds of dogs that take away some of the peripheral vision and is reduced to a limited sight view.

Keep your up to date visits with your vet to better understand your dog as time goes by and how you may help your dog if any issues arise.

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