Do You Think Dogs Are Color Blind

[Aussie]

Great thread, loved reading.

Never forget when I saw my first US field trial quad....my first thought "gawd damm those birds are thrown fast".

And the gallery were behind the handler..how the dogs distinguish one tiny person in white!!

etc etc etc etc!!!
Amazing! Dogs can jump from our vehicles and in a split second take in their surroundings or distinguish if anything is important in their world.

[RookieTrainer]

As you might expect, the phenomenon of seeing orange bumpers, even from a distance, is increased when direct sunlight is involved rather than shade or heavy cloud cover.

I discovered this yesterday afternoon. I had three orange poles out, one of which was in the sun. My dog went after the one in the sun at a noticeably faster clip and with a more confident demeanor. Funny that this post is here this AM.

Have any of you guys considered putting your blind poles in the ground at a 45 degree angle as an intermediate step between visible poles and no poles? I have heard a little bit of discussion that maybe the angled poles are a little harder to see.

[Ken Bora]

I have seen a couple folk now dress up blind poles with plastic flowers and fake ivy from crafts stores. One has a couple sunflowers. It is kinda funny as they are plain as day, but blend right in, at the same time.

[John Robinson]

I have seen a couple folk now dress up blind poles with plastic flowers and fake ivy from crafts stores. One has a couple sunflowers. It is kinda funny as they are plain as day, but blend right in, at the same time.

I have seen this too. My feeling on the color thing is that some dogs seem to pick out orange better than others, it might be a shades of gray thing, or maybe orange is more contrasty for one dog than another. Having thrown fun bumpers for decades, I know for a fact that dogs see white or black bumpers laying on the ground much better than they see orange.

[KPR's Texas Retrievers]

The article on this website pretty much describes the way most people think dogs see color. psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200810/can-dogs-see-colors

[Ted Shih]

I don't know what they see or don't. I do know that my dogs recognize orange blind stakes. In fact, in training we will leave blind stakes out on marks and blinds as diversions for the dogs.

[Steve Hamel]

I'm "red/green color blind ". It's important to note in these conversations that we color blind people see in color , but we perceive/process them differently then normal people.

My wife has asked me in the past how I tell the difference between green/red traffic lights ? I tell her the green light appears brighter/whiter to me.

So, perhaps our dogs "see" orange, it just appears to them differently then what you see. But, I have seen dogs that can pick out orange. I owned one of them.

Steve

[John Robinson]

I'm "red/green color blind ". It's important to note in these conversations that we color blind people see in color , but we perceive/process them differently then normal people.

My wife has asked me in the past how I tell the difference between green/red traffic lights ? I tell her the green light appears brighter/whiter to me.

So, perhaps our dogs "see" orange, it just appears to them differently then what you see. But, I have seen dogs that can pick out orange. I owned one of them.

Steve

Between the little science I know and what I have observed with dogs over the years, I think you are right on.

[fishduck]

I don't know what they see or don't. I do know that my dogs recognize orange blind stakes. In fact, in training we will leave blind stakes out on marks and blinds as diversions for the dogs.

Very good idea! Is a hole in my training that needs patching.

[Glenda Brown]

When originally reading this thread, I remembered about a study done at UCSB re canine color vision. The one doing the study was Dana Vaugh, PhD who was in the same obedience training group that I was. Came across the study today while going through old files. It is too long to put here, but if anyone really wants to read it, contact me privately and I will copy it for you.

The practical applications: Dogs have dichromatic color vision. Compared to normal humans, dogs lack the green cone type....Simply put, dogs cannot distinguish between shades of yellow-green, yellow, orange and red -- but they can easily distinguish each of those from white. In contrast, blue-green appears white to dogs....First, it's important to keep in mind that dogs use many types of visual cues besides color to detect objects iin their environment.

It is an interesting read. Dana used her Italian Greyhounds and a Toy Poodle bitch to use for the study---because of the size of the computer-controlled testing device, only small dogs could be used. Because two widely divergent breeds were tested, it is likely that all dog breeds have the same color vision abilities.

This study was done around 1991 and there have probably been many studies done using this one as the foundation.

Glenda