When do puppies start to see?
Unlike human babies, puppies do not open their eyes immediately after birth and their eyes remain closed until they are 8-16 days old (there is some individual variation here).
When puppies first open their eyes, they will have a bluey-grey appearance and are cloudy compared to an adult dog’s eyes. In addition to this, their ability to control how much light gets into their eyes does not fully develop until 4 weeks of age (known as the pupillary light reflex)2. So, it is important to keep the lights fairly dim until then and avoid direct sunlight during this time.
Puppies younger than 4 weeks of age have a reduced ability to protect their eyes with a blinking reflex2, so they are at an increased risk of damage to the surface of their eyes (known as the cornea). This is important when managing your puppy’s environment to reduce the risk of injury.
A puppy’s vision and ability to see distance continues to develop until 8 weeks of age and by 16 weeks, a puppy’s eyesight is fully developed for distance.
What Does a Puppy Vision Look like?
As we have learned, by the time puppies are seven to eight weeks old, they have full visual acuity. But what, exactly, does a puppy see?
Puppies see the world in shades of gray and blue. They also have difficulty distinguishing between nearby objects and those that are far away. This is because their eyes are still growing and their visual processing center is not fully developed.
As puppies mature, their vision improves and they are eventually able to see color and judge distances more accurately.
So, next time you look into your puppy’s eyes, remember that they are seeing a world that is somewhat different from your own. But with time and maturity, their vision will become just as sharp as yours.
“This can also makes dogs more sensitive to some loud noises than humans – this explains why thunder or fireworks may be puzzling, frightening, or even painful,” explains Dr. Jerry Klein, AKC chief veterinary officer.
Some breeds have more developed senses than others. Bloodhounds, for instance, have exceptionally powerful noses, while sighthounds like Greyhounds are better at spotting game. Learning as much as you can about your puppy’s senses and how he experiences the world is a great way to understand his needs and will help you become a more informed and responsible dog owner.
Puppies come tumbling into our lives full of exuberance, energy, and a wholehearted enthusiasm for life. It is natural that we wonder how they perceive the world, and if they see, hear, and smell differently than we do. We want to share their experiences. First, though, we need to understand how puppy senses work.
You’ve probably noticed that your puppy can hear things that you can’t. You’ve seen her cock her head to one side and look off in the distance, long before the object or person comes into sight.
Dogs’ ears have much deeper canals than ours, which creates a better funnel for sound to carry down to their eardrums. All dogs, but especially those with upright ears, such as German Shepherd Dogs, use their ears almost like radar antennas, thanks to the 18 muscles they have to fine-tune the ear’s position and essentially “turn up the volume” on their hearing.
Can Dogs See Color? – How a Dog’s VISION Works
When puppies are born, their eyesight and hearing is not yet fully developed and a lot of their behaviour is ‘pre-programmed’ as part of their survival instinct. During the transition phase of a puppy’s development, which is days 11-21, puppies develop their senses of vision and hearing.