The Big Surprise: Dogs Don’t Love Red as Much as We Think They Do
Owners often gravitate toward red toys and objects when shopping for dogs because they assume that red will pique the interest of a playful canine. They also assume that it will be easier for a dog to find a red object that has been tossed in the grass. The reality is that dogs actually have a very hard time seeing red. A red toy that appears very vibrant to a human will come across as a shade of brown, gray or black to a dog.
It’s a similar situation for the very bright shade of orange used for many dog toys. Designed to create a high-alert, high-contrast look, orange toys come across as being a shade of dull or brownish gold. The irony is that choosing objects that are red or orange may actually make it harder for your dog to distinguish between the grass and the toy you are tossing back and forth.
Of course, red and orange toys offer the human involved a benefit because they are very easily detected by the human eye. That means that you may not have to walk away from red and orange completely if you simply want to choose toys that you won’t lose in the grass.
The First Order of Business: Debunking the Biggest Myth About How Dogs See Color
For years, people have been repeating the myth that dogs are color blind. If that were true, it would mean that dogs could only see the world represented in black, white and some gray tones. However, it’s actually not the case at all. Dogs absolutely do see in color. However, that doesn’t mean that they see in the same colors as humans.
While dogs aren’t color blind, they do have a much more limited scope of perceivable colors than humans. This is simply the case because human eyes and dog eyes are composed in different ways. As you may know, the human eye has three different color receptors located inside the retina. For dogs, only two color receptors are located in the retina. As a result, dogs see fewer colors than humans.
Which colors do dogs actually see? As far as we know, dogs can only perceive shades of blue, yellow and gray. There’s also pretty strong speculation that the colors dogs do see actually appear far less intense than they do to the human eye. Of course, nobody can actually confirm that without asking a dog. Here’s a breakdown of what a human sees versus what a dog sees:
| Human Sees | Dog Sees |
|---|---|
| Violet | Dark blue |
| Blue | Light blue |
| Blue-green | Gray |
| Green | Light yellow |
| Yellow | Dark yellow |
| Orange | Dull gold |
| Red | Dark gray |
As you can see, a dog’s color perception creates something of a parallel world compared to what the human eye sees. However, a dog’s ability to see a tapestry of colors makes them far from color blind. This still leaves the question open regarding which specific colors dogs are most attracted to in their daily lives.
What colour dog collar for different coloured dogs?
There are of course many combinations of colour on our four-legged friends, we have selected a few of the more popular to give some inspiration when thinking about what colour dog collar you might chose.