18/11/2025
Dog senses: Eyesight
'Is it true that dogs see in black and white?'
I recently had a one to one where the owner asked me this question.
I find the dog’s senses SOOOO fascinating as they are so different to ours!
The quick answer the question ‘do dogs see in black and white’ is - no.
Dog’s DO see colour, but the spectrum of colours is very different to ours.
Take a look at this picture which was taken from an article written by Beth Finke in 2012 (the full article can be found here https://www.thewildest.com/dog.../what-colors-do-dogs-see )
As you can see, compared to the human spectrum, dogs are limited to only seeing shades of blue, yellow and grey.
Have you ever wondered why your dog can’t find the green tennis ball in the green grass? This is likely the reason!
How do we know that dogs only see these colours compared to humans?
The answer to this lies in the photo receptors in our eyes.
There are two main photo receptors in the retina – the rods and the cones.
Rods are responsible for seeing in low light, and cones are responsible for seeing different colours.
There are three main types of cones which humans interpret colour – these cones filter blue, red and green light.
Your dog will only have two of these three cones, making up the spectrum above.
Dogs however have evolved to be able to see much better in the dark than humans, thanks to their higher number of rods in the retina than humans.
Fascinating stuff!
