Fact sheet: Dog senses and body language

Dog senses and body language: fact sheet

How dogs see

• Dogs do not see only in black and white. They can make out yellow and blue, and mixes of those colors (American Kennel Club).
• Dog eyes have two kinds of cone cells for color. Most people have three. Scientists call this dichromatic vision (Neitz, Geist and Jacobs, 1989).
• In one experiment, dogs relied on color, not brightness, to choose between colored targets (Kasparson and colleagues, 2013).
• Dogs have more rod cells than cone cells. Rods work in low light and help catch movement (American Kennel Club).
• Red and orange toys are hard for dogs to see on green grass; yellow and blue are easier (American Kennel Club).

How dogs show feelings

• A relaxed dog has a loose body, an open relaxed mouth and ears in a natural position (RSPCA).
• A play bow, chest down and bottom up, invites play (ASPCApro).
• A worried dog may hold its body and head low, tuck its tail, put its ears back, yawn or lick its lips (RSPCA, ASPCApro).
• A stiff body, raised hair and a stiff, high tail are warnings to give a dog space (RSPCA).

Quick quiz

1. How many kinds of cone cells do dogs have? ______
2. Name two colors dogs can see well. ______ and ______
3. What kind of eye cell helps dogs notice movement in low light? ______
4. A dog has its chest down and its bottom up. What does it want? ______________
5. Model it: draw arrows to show a dog seeing a ball, its brain getting the information, and the dog running to fetch it.