Eyes

Author: Denise Partlow

Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas

When it comes to our dog’s senses we typically see them as superior to us but did you know that a dog’s vision is relatively poor?

For one, they typically have 20/75 vision where we have 20/20. This means that what they see at 20 feet away is what humans can see at 75 feet away. This is another reason why allowing dogs to sniff is so important because that is their stronger sense and when they rely on their eyesight they can sometimes make poor decisions.

There are some breeds though that are bred to have better eyesight, such as the Labrador, since they are commonly used as seeing-eye dogs, so they may actually have similar vision to us.

The position of the eyes also matters. For most breeds a dog‘s eyes are placed further apart. This allows them to have better peripheral vision so that they can see more around their head.

However there are some breeds that have been bred to make them look more human-like with shorter noses and their eyes are frontally placed, but they are slanted so they still can see around corners better than we can but not as well as a dog with laterally placed eyes.

The more that it can see laterally the less they can see straightahead, right under their nose, this is why sometimes dogs have difficulty seeing things directly in front of them.

While dogs cannot see in absolute dark, they can see in less light, much better than we can. This is due to the reflective layer within their eyes that reflects light back. You can notice this shining in their eyes when you have taken a picture with a flash.

Dogs can also see a few colors such as blue-violet, yellow and grey but they cannot decipher between green and red.

One way that their eyesight is superior to ours is that they can detect motion much better than we can, allowing them to spot moving objects such as prey, way before we do. I’m sure those of you with high prey drive dogs have noticed this before.

Understanding what we know about a dog‘s vision, I think it’s important for us to remember that because we, as humans, rely heavily on our eyesight it doesn’t mean a dog does. Be sure to take this into consideration throughout your training.