The sight of dogs is a topic that arouses much curiosity and raises questions such as: is it true that these animals see in the dark? Is it true that the dogs have night vision? Whoever has a little creature at home may have had the impression that he considers everything even without any light.
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Night vision
It is real that dogs have a much more limited view of colors than humans. But in contrast, they see a much more significant amount of shades of gray than we do. The most accepted explanation for this is that the ancestors of the dogs needed much of the night vision to be able to hunt in this period, being more important to them the shades of gray than the colored image. They need only 25% of the amount of light a human needs to see at night.
The structure of canine vision is different from ours, they do not see the world the way we do, but can they actually see in the dark? No, although the dogs see better than we do in the dark, they cannot look into the total darkness.
The Structure of Canine Vision
The vision of dogs has some mechanisms that make us feel that they can see completely in the dark. The dogs have larger pupils, have more rods on more full retinas and a tissue called tapetum lucidum.
Dogs’ eyes, as well as most predators, are located in front of the skull, with the visual axis closer to the parallel and larger binocular visual field. Thus, the image is formed from the stimuli received by the two eyes, which means that the dogs see the object that is in front of their head quite well and have the peripheral vision at eye level.
Do dogs see in the dark?
The Night Vision of Dogs Like humans, dogs cannot also look into the complete darkness, but they make the best use of any available light, however small.
Pets have adaptations for improving night vision, so they are able to see in low light environments. This is made possible by the presence of pigments in the back of the eyes that reflect and amplify light up to 130 times longer than humans.
Because of the way the dogs’ eyes are structured, these animals use any available light source in a duplicate way, that is, they process the light as it enters the eyes and then reflects any excess again. Hence, the view of dogs in the particular situation with poor lighting may be blurred, but they are still able to perceive any movement.
Do dogs see black and white?
In addition to whether dogs can see in the dark, another common question is whether they see only black and white. This is also not true, studies suggest that these animals possess and use color vision, but differently from humans. Dogs have specific receptors for color vision, but this number is tiny compared to humans, reaching about 10% of humans’ ability to see colors.
The colors that the dog sees
The chromatic range of dogs is smaller than people’s. Color vision is not crucial for a dog to survive in its environment.
Humans have three types of color receptors in their eyes, each specialized in capturing the three fundamental or primary colors (red, yellow, and blue). The combination of all allows the construction of the complete chromatic scale.
It is true that dogs do not only see black and white, but they distinguish less color than people. The eyes of dogs have only two types of visual receptors and therefore cannot generate the full range of shades available to humans.
It can differentiate blue tones from reds or blues to greens, but it cannot, for example, distinguish between green and red.
Are they more sensitive to movement?
Yes, dogs’ eye receptors are very well suited for motion detection, especially in low light conditions. Some dogs can identify a moving object 900 meters away, but when it is kept static can be recognized only about 500 meters. This shows that dogs are more adapted to recognizing moving objects and especially at some speeds, which may explain why some dogs ignore standing objects and love to play or “hunt” moving objects.
Can they have a better side view than the human?
The ability of dogs to see peripherally is higher than that of humans. This makes them see objects out of the primary focus, more efficiently, especially if they are in motion.
Do they see blurry?
In healthy animals, visual accommodation (imaging) occurs without distortion at distances greater than 50 centimeters from the eye. However, dogs have the small adaptability to very close objects, making the image blurred less than 33 inches from the eyes. Dogs use other senses, such as smell and taste, to compensate for the investigation of very close objects.
A curiosity: why do not dogs look in the mirror?
Dogs can, yes, look in the mirror and see the reflected image, but they cannot recognize themselves. A dog in front of the mirror has the impression that there is another dog in front of him and many of them can attack, bark or just hide from the image itself.
Can dogs watch TV?
Dogs watch TV differently from humans. The TV programs are adapted to the human perception of 60 frames per second, forming a linear image like the one we see. Dogs can see from 70 to 80 frames per second, causing the TV to be watched as slides swapped very quickly. Since dogs do not have good visual accommodation, they are even interested in the movement generated by the exchange of images.
Visual health
It is also worth noting that dogs can also have vision-related health problems: cataracts, glaucoma, and keratitis are the most common, observe if there are any changes in their eyes such as the change in coloration, red or irritated eyes, the habit of getting your eyelids closed or blinking frequently. A visit to the vet to check the eyes of your little friend may prevent future complications.
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