Have you ever played a game of hide and seek with your dog? Have you ever wondered about their eyesight and if they see the world the same way you do?
The dog's eye, and the make up of certain types of light detecting cells, gives us a pretty good idea of how their vision compares to ours.
The retina covers the back of the eyeball and is made up of two different types of light detecting cells. These light sensitive cells are called the rods and cones and they have different functions. The make up and proportion of rods to cones helps explain the subtle
differences between the way we see the world and the way your dog views the world.
Your dog has many more rods than cones in his retina compared to yours. Rods are the light sensitive cells that allow the dog to see movement and see in low light conditions. Cones provide for color vision and visual acuity.
So, compared to your dog, you see colors and detail better, while he sees movement and has better night vision than you.
Your dog is not color blind. He can see blues, yellows and different shades of gray but he can't see reds and greens the way you do.
Your detail vision is better, too. What you can see clearly at 75 feet would have to be only 20 feet away for your dog to see with the same level of detail.
Your dog has better peripheral vision than you. His eyes are set slightly wider than yours which allows him a larger field of vision.
When you think about this, it makes perfect sense. Dogs evolved as hunters and a hunter needs to detect movement in dim light. Most prey species are active at night or in the low light of dawn and dusk. Your dog with his wide field of view and ability to detect movement in low light makes him an accomplished hunter and to survive in the wild you have to be successful in the hunt.
Dogs integrate their vastly superior sense of smell with their eyesight, too. When you throw a ball for
your dog he can see it well until it stops rolling. They will then pick up the ball with their sense of smell and track it down.
Their ability to detect the slightest movement also allows them to detect very subtle changes in body language. This is very important in social interaction and pack behavior. It allows them to set up a social hierarchy which contributes greatly to success in breeding and hunting. It also allows domestic dogs to detect changes in your mood.
The
ability to tell whether you are happy or sad or even angry is one of the reasons we love our dogs so much. It makes training easier, too, when you combine body language with verbal cues. You could say that the differences in eyesight between dogs and their owners help strengthen the bond we share.
I say "vive la difference".