Your Dog's Eyes

Dogs see the world through very different eyes to us, here’s 5 ways how:

It's long been believed that dogs are colour blind or that they can only see in black and white. However, dogs can in fact see colours, just along a different and more limited spectrum. They have fewer colour receptors in their retinas than we humans do, meaning that colours don’t appear as vibrant to them, but this also means that they are able to distinguish between shades of grey much more accurately than we can.

Human sight is sharper than dogs’ - what a dog can see happening at 20 feet away is similar to the accuracy of what a human can see at 75 feet away. As their sight doesn’t always allow them ultra in depth analysis of what’s in front of them, they often they let their noses step in to help them decipher what it is they’re seeing.

Though humans might see the world in more detail than dogs, our eyes being directly on the front of our heads leaves us at a disadvantage. Depending upon breed and eye placement, dogs can enjoy up to 250 degrees of peripheral vision, while we are left with around 190. Dogs can also see in low light up to seven times better than we can, as a reflective layer in their eye intensifies available light (cats are in fact better than both of us at this, but shhh… don’t tell them!)

Dogs have a third eyelid which acts effectively as their eyes’ windscreen wiper, keeping them clean and helping to protect against injury. It’s hidden away most of the time, but is located in the inner corner of the eyes, and closes fully while they sleep.

Brown is the “default” eye colour for our pups, but varies dependent on the amount of melanin in the iris and can even be connected with coat colour. Some breeds eyes change colour from puppyhood to maturity as their melanin production increases, such as the Hungarian Vizsla whose eyes turn from a blue/white to an amber gold/brown similar to their fur as they grow up!