Do You Think Dogs Are Color Blind

[fishduck]

I think the reason some dogs run right to an orange ribbon on a blind is not because they can see the orange in the ribbon it's because they see the movement of it if the wind is blowing.

My dog will line a blind marked with a ribbon or a blind pole. She will also line a blind with a visible orange bumper. She will also run to painted grass. I failed more than one Master test because she thought she needed to check out the blind pole in the marking set up before she looked for the marks. It really messes up memory & is hard for an amateur to train for. But lining the blind is SWEET in a test!

[Jake&Tex]

I run my blue Heeler in agility, and read the article that frontier posted a couple of months ago on an agility website, where it tied into being mindful about the colors you use for equipment and choose to wear while handling. I had just run an outdoors agility trial the week before (open field surrounded by trees), where it seemed that I was running 2 different dogs that weekend. Tex looked lost during our Saturday runs, but was much better on Sunday. After reading the article, I realized that I was wearing a red jacket on Saturday, and a navy blue one on Sunday. Because he feeds so much off of my body language with just his peripheral vision, I think it was more than a coincidence! Interesting stuff!

[Ken Bora]

I think the reason some dogs run right to an orange ribbon on a blind is not because they can see the orange in the ribbon it's because they see the movement of it if the wind is blowing.

this is true IF the blind has not been run by any dog yet. like an am. training by themself. but any time another dog has run your blind, you have scent. As a great, funny, AKC / HRC / NAHRA judge (who may read this) told me as I left the running line from an AKC senior land blind with gallery clapping as the Chessie of the day had just lined it......
"Nice Trail"!

[Scott Parker]

Your right Ken and if the grass is long you really get a good drag back scent you can see the dogs running the blind with their noses down. You just have to hope the first dog takes a straight line back and doesn't go off and visit a bush or something.

[Ken Bora]

...... You just have to hope the first dog takes a straight line back and doesn't go off and visit a bush or something.

OH, and when one dog does, and then the next three going out take the same curve!!
For me, the folk I talk to. It is more of the Golden owners who claim to have orange
seeing dogs. But I think they just evolved a better sniffer to overcome having to scent through
the shampoo and conditioner and no-stick pan coating for so many generations.

[Scott Parker]

My dog will line a blind marked with a ribbon or a blind pole. She will also line a blind with a visible orange bumper. She will also run to painted grass. I failed more than one Master test because she thought she needed to check out the blind pole in the marking set up before she looked for the marks. It really messes up memory & is hard for an amateur to train for. But lining the blind is SWEET in a test!

Mark my dog will run to a pole also but sometimes there are poles around where I train and he wants to go to them so I decided to fix him one day I ran him on a blind in a field they were doing perk test in and they had a bunch of white pvc pipes sticking up. He had no idea which one it was by.

[HuntinDawg]

Do keep in mind that dogs can also see gradients, shades, and shadows (or else they would be running into things all the time!), so an orange pole marking a blind does not necessarily suggest that the dog can see the color orange - rather, it just tells us that the dog can see the pole against the surrounding environment.

I almost hate to pull just a snippet from such a quality post, but I think this really gets to the heart of it and I think we've all seen evidence of this whether we perceived it this way or not.

I think the reason some dogs run right to an orange ribbon on a blind is not because they can see the orange in the ribbon it's because they see the movement of it if the wind is blowing.

While this is undoubtedly true, my dogs also seem to see (or not see) orange objects based on their sheen or reflectivity. The material seems to make a difference. For instance, my dogs are likely to run right past a canvas orange bumper in the grass, but not nearly as likely to run past a plastic orange bumper in the grass. The plastic bumper's hard/smooth surface reflects light much more than the canvas one which almost seems to absorb the light. 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.

BTW, I have a type of color blindness myself and I have a heck of a time seeing orange ribbons marking blinds sometimes if they are not in direct sunlight or are not moving. I can see them but then when I look away and look back I have to "find" them again instead of them jumping out at me like they are supposed to. I can overcome this by wearing shooting glasses with the appropriate shade of lens to make the orange really "pop".

[Scott Parker]

Huntindawg Your right about them being able to see the reflection off of bumpers and ribbons. I always try to put them in a shaded area the only problem is when I'm running really long blinds is I have a hard time seeing them myself.

[fishduck]

Huntindawg Your right about them being able to see the reflection off of bumpers and ribbons. I always try to put them in a shaded area the only problem is when I'm running really long blinds is I have a hard time seeing them myself.

With really long blinds, I try to place all of the factors/suction at the middle of the blind. Then use the biggest, brightest orange pole I have. That not only helps me see the blind but avoids any nit picking at the end of the blind. The last thing I want to happen at 4-500 yards is back and forth casting trying to dig out the bird. For my dogs this strategy ensures both the handler and the dogs are sucessfull.

[Scott Parker]

With really long blinds, I try to place all of the factors/suction at the middle of the blind. Then use the biggest, brightest orange pole I have. That not only helps me see the blind but avoids any nit picking at the end of the blind. The last thing I want to happen at 4-500 yards is back and forth casting trying to dig out the bird. For my dogs this strategy ensures both the handler and the dogs are sucessfull.

When I started my dog doing long blinds I would use something to mark the blind that he couldn't see from the line but when he got within 50 to 100 yards of it he could see it. As soon as he showed me that he could see it I would stop him and then cast him to it. But after he got better at running long blinds I quit using an aid to help him because I didn't want him out there looking for something to run to I want him to carry the line I cast him on and when I stopped him I wanted him to be focused on me for a direction rather then trying to look out in the field for a pole.