What Colors Can Dogs See? Your Dog's Favorite Colors!

What colors can dogs see? It's important to keep in mind which colors stand out the most for dogs when choosing a toy or a dog training tool. It is important that your dog can distinguish toys and activities from other objects, include floors and grass.

Are Dogs Color Blind?

Are dogs color blind? Smell and hearing are a dog's primary senses, but sight plays an important role in their lives, as well. Having sight helps a dog in satisfying its basic needs in everyday life. There are, however, several misconceptions about canine vision.

Do Dogs See Colors?

Do dogs see colors? The short answer is, yes! Dogs can certainly see colors, but not as their humans see them. There has long been the misconception that dogs only see in shades of gray, or black-and-white. The fact is, their eyes are different and they see things in in a different color-scale or spectrum than their human counterparts. We people see things in a richer and brighter palette, so it's important to understand what dogs see when it comes to choosing toys and products they will interact with.

What Colors Can Dogs See?

What colors can dogs see? Rather than the full spectrum of colors we people see them, dogs see the colors that appear to us as blue, yellow and various shades of gray. A human's visual cones are able to assemble 3 different colors (blue, red and green) and their inherent mixes, but a dog's visual cone can only facilitate 2 (blue and yellow). This truncated color perception is called dichromatic vision. See the image above for a spectrum-comparison.

What Color Do Dogs See Best?

What color do dogs see best? Since dogs have dichromantic vision on their particular spectrum, colors such as red or green will be perceived as a shade of gray. Blue and yellow are the easiest and most attractive colors for dogs to see.

Dog Color Spectrum

Dog color spectrum? In the picture below, we can see the difference in how humans and dogs perceive color. Notice how dogs strongly receive blues and yellows, but their vision of red, green and orange, have more of a muddled grayish hue.

We heartily recommend buying dog toys and devices which are blue and/or yellow. This will make their playtime more fun and help them to distinguish their toys and activities from their surroundings.

Here are a few of our favorites, tested by contributing members of this site. Check out the following affiliate links. Favorite Ball, Favorite Chew Toy, Favorite Laser Pointer