Can dogs see in color?

Question

Joshua Broadwater · Answer

This is a great question. Can dogs see in color? The age-old myth is that dogs do not see in color. They see black and white. That's actually not true. So research suggests that dogs are similar to people that are red-green colorblind or what's considered deuteranopic, meaning they have a difficult time distinguishing red and green, but they tend to see blues and yellows much better. Those are the receptors in their eyes that they have that they can distinguish blues, yellows, and shades similar to those, but red and green may be much more difficult for them. So when you're picking out those toys for your dogs, research suggests that the ball that's blue, the ball that's yellow, they're going to be able to see those and distinguish those much better than, let's say, toys that are red-green, things like that. So yeah, dogs do actually see in color, research shows.

Natalie Marks · Answer

Can dogs see in color? I'm so glad we can bust this myth together. It's been long thought that dogs only see black and white and maybe shades of gray, that they're actually colorblind. However, we know that dogs see not only those, but in spectrums of yellows and blues. So some experts will say pick out toys that are more in those spectrum of colors, yellow and blue tones, so your dogs can see them better. I think that's still up for debate, but it might be why your dog is infatuated with a yellow tennis ball, but if you pick out a pink or red one, they could care less. Jury's still out on the final say on that, but again, dogs can see black, white, and gray and the spectrum of yellows and blues.

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"Can dogs see in color?"