What colors can dogs see?

By Monica Weymouth. In some ways, humans and dogs see the world very differently. What you perceive as a fire hydrant, your dog sees as a can't-miss communication center. It may look like an ordinary vacuum cleaner to you, but your pooch obviously detects something more sinister lurking in the closet. read more

Dogs have just one-tenth the concentration of color-capturing cones in the back of their eyes that humans have. So while we enjoy a smorgasbord of tinges and tones, dogs only see two colors: blue-violet and yellow, as well as any blends of these colors. read more

“Dog color vision is quite similar to a person who has red-green color blindness,” explains Reinstein. “Dogs see shades of blue, yellow and green, which when combined, can be perceived as grayish brown, dark yellow, light yellow, grayish yellow, light blue and dark blue. read more

With only two cones, the individual can still see colors, but many fewer than someone with normal color vision. This is the situation with dogs who also have only two kinds of cones. Jay Neitz at the University of California, Santa Barbara, tested the color vision of dogs. read more