07/12/2022
Truth About Dog Eyesight
What Eye Colors Can a Dog Have?
The iris, or colored part of a dog’s eye, can be brown, blue, golden, or hazel. Brown is the dominant color for most dogs. Dogs can have two different-colored eyes, which most often occurs in dogs with a merle coat pattern, or in certain breeds such as Huskies or Australian Shepherds.
If a dog has light-colored (blue) eyes, it does not mean that they will have vision problems, blindness, or any other health concerns. The iris pigmentation can vary depending on breed, color of the face, and genetics.
How Good Is Dog Vision?
How does a dog’s vision compare to ours? There’s no simple answer, since dogs have worse eyesight in some respects, but better eyesight in other areas. Here’s how a dog’s eyesight stacks up when it comes to visual acuity, peripheral vision, detecting movement, seeing colors, and seeing in the dark.
Do Dogs Have 20/20 Eyesight?
Dogs cannot see objects as well as humans. Normal human vision is 20/20. Most dogs have a visual acuity of 20/75, meaning a dog has to be 20 feet away to see an object as well as a person can see at 75 feet away. Labrador Retrievers, which are a breed commonly used as seeing-eye dogs for humans, have better eyesight that is closer to 20/20.
Are Dogs Near-Sighted or Far-Sighted?
A dog’s vision is blurry. If a dog were a human, they would be considered near-sighted and would need glasses to see objects farther away, like the board in the front of the classroom or a road sign.
How Well Can Dogs See Moving Objects?
Dogs have more rods in the retina than humans do. Rods are sensitive to shape, movement, and dim light. Dogs can see moving objects much better than stationary objects, and they have 10-20 times greater motion sensitivity than humans.
Dogs can pick up on small changes in body posture and movement as a result. This is one reason why dogs can be trained with silent cues using hand gestures.
Can Dogs See in the Dark?
Dogs have several anatomical advantages that allow them to see better in the dark than we can:
More rods in their retina, which function better in dim light
Larger pupils that allow more light into the eye
A lens that is closer to the retina, making the image brighter
The tapetum lucidum, which reflects light, allowing for better night vision
Can Dogs See Color?
Dogs can see color, but only in shades of blue and yellow. Because dogs can only see two colors, they have dichromatic vision. They can also see shades of gray. Colors such as red, orange, and green are out of a dog’s color spectrum, so these colors are not visible to dogs. This is why hunters can wear orange to be visible to other hunters but not to animals. People have what’s called trichromatic vision, which means we can see a lot more colors than dogs.