We love to admire the vast colour ranges of spring landscapes and walks in the park at sunset and sunrise with our beloved dog, but does our much loved canine companion enjoy all these diverse colours the same way we do?
Your Dog's eyesight explained...
Unfortunately, your dog has only a small percentage of your total vision, therefore they don't see the same colours as we do. So, what do they experience when you are lost in beautiful colourful moments like sunsets?
The eye's retina contains nerve cells, split into two categories. Ocular Rods and Ocular Cones. The Rods perceive movement and brightness, whilst the Cones perceive colour. Your dog’s eyes only contain about 1/10th of these Ocular Cones , which makes their colour spectrum very limited. Whilst humans see in full colour, your dog only sees 3 colours: blue, blue-violet, and yellow. For them, any other color appears as gray and featureless. Although dogs have much fewer cones than us, they contain almost triple the number of rods. Which means they can see better in low light conditions and having a keen eye for motion.
So, your dog may not have the same vision as you, but what he falls short in vision, he certainly make up for in smell. Your dog’s smell is their the main way of understanding the world around them :)
Did you know Dogs are more prone to seizures than humans?
Dogs are more susceptible to epileptic episodes than humans. Certain types of lights or colour displays like Fireworks, can cause seizures in some dog breeds. There is also such a thing as sun blindness in your dog, which is when a dog is severely affected by the lack of cone growth, which makes your dog uncomfortable to move around. This is usually treated with doggy shades that are mounted on your dog's head.
So there you have it! Being colour blind to us may seem like a boring way to view the world, however for your dog their keen sense of smell and other strong senses makes up for any colour loss! Let's admit their delightful reactions when taking them to the dog park or beach is priceless no matter how colour blind they may be!
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