Thread: Dog vision. Interesting simulation.

I realise that most things posted on the internet are 100% correct and reliable, but I would still like to read the research that this video is purportedly based upon. I am not sure that this is a correct representation. Dogs, like many mammals have dichromatic vision. This means that they do not possess all of cones in the eye that we do. The cone that they are missing is the one that is sensitive to longer wavelengths such as red and orange. Similar to someone who is colour blind they have trouble distinguishing between middle-wavelength light (which includes green) and the longer wavelengths (red and orange). What they do possess are the cones sensitive to short-wave length light which includes the blue portion of the colour spectrum. While we can't talk to dogs we can talk to people who are colour blind and they see clearly, albeit with a limited range of colours. A study published in the journal for the Royal Society for Biological sciences in the early 90s showed that colour blind people (who have dichromatic vision) performed far between than people with normal vision in identifying camouflaged objects.

When I am training a dog I will often hide from them. When they are young I can hide from them in an open field. I just lie on the ground. But as they get older they find me quickly and can even find me reasonably quickly in heavy cover. I take from this that the dog's eyesight is not getting better it is just that they are learning to use all their senses. So while we think that they see us they have probably just smelt us.