Dogs see around five times better in the dark than humans. They have better forbearance, more targeted perception, better spatial vision and faster visual reflexes. However, in a completely darkened room, dogs are just as blind as humans.
In addition, compared to humans, dogs see less well into the distance and can distinguish significantly fewer colors from one another.
But what many don't know?
In dogs, vision is not the primary sensory perception, but rather smell.
Because with up to 60 times more olfactory receptors than humans, they smell on average between 10,000 and 100,000 times better than we do. [1]
They also hear around four times further into the distance and can perceive frequencies of up to 65,000 Hz. For humans, it stops at a pitch of around 20,000 Hz. [2]
Then let's look at the individual factors why dogs see around 5 times better in the dark than we humans.
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#1 Better night vision
Dogs are descended from wolves, which are most active at dusk and dawn. This makes them nocturnal hunters.
But not only for hunting, but also for protection against attacks by hostile predators, it was and is still essential that they can see well in the dark.
Their night vision is better than humans for three reasons:
Human pupils are between 2-4 mm in size and up to 8 mm in the dark. Dogs' pupils, on the other hand, can expand significantly more. [3]
The lens behind the pupil in dogs alone is 3 to 4 times larger than that of humans. Specifically, this means that up to 4 times more light can penetrate the eyes of dogs. [4]
- 2) More light-sensitive cells
Dogs have more light-sensitive cells in their retinas – called “cones”. This means they can absorb significantly more light rays than we humans.
Or to put it another way: What looks dark to us, dogs see much brighter.
- 3) Reflective retina
Dogs have a reflective layer in or behind the retina that reflects light rays back – the so-called “tapetum lucidum”.
This means that dogs can absorb around twice as many light rays as humans. Or to put it another way: dark moonlight is bright sunshine for dogs just as it is for us.
This also explains why dogs' eyes glow in the dark. [5]
It is no problem at all for a dog to catch a Frisbee at dusk. However, dogs cannot see anything in a completely dark room.
Just like you can't see anything in a room like this with night vision goggles. A night vision device simply amplifies the existing light.
For evolutionary reasons, dogs can see better in the dark than humans. They have larger pupils, more light-sensitive cells and a reflective retina. A dark room therefore appears significantly brighter for dogs.
#2 More targeted perception
You've probably noticed that since you bought your first car, you suddenly see the same model on the streets everywhere – the so-called «selective perception».
This ability allows us to distinguish the “important” from the “unimportant” from all the millions of sensory stimuli per minute. So a kind of “filter” for your perception.
Dogs have the same ability. However, their filter is set much finer.
Specifically, this means that dogs not only see better in the dark than we humans, but can also distinguish irrelevant from relevant objects much more precisely.
This also explains why dogs find it much more difficult to pay attention to seemingly “unimportant things”. For example, a curb.
Compared to humans, dogs focus their eyes on fewer and more relevant things. People perceive a significantly larger number of irrelevant objects, even in the dark.
#3 Better spatial vision
Dogs' eyes are already anatomically aligned so that their peripheral vision in the dark is significantly better than that of humans.
What this means is “indirect vision”. That is, what you still perceive without specifically focusing on the object. And that has two reasons:
- 1) The eye relief is greater
In humans, the average distance between eyes is 6.2 cm. However, the values vary between 5.4 and 7.2 cm depending on size and genetics. [6]
In dogs, on the other hand, the eyes are between 1.1 and 1.4 times further apart, depending on the breed.
Specifically, this means: The average eye distance for dogs is 7.7 cm and varies between 6.8 and 8.7 cm.
- 2) The eyes are more lateral
Human eyes are completely frontal. We therefore see things best that are literally right in front of our noses (“foveal vision”).
In dogs, on the other hand, the eyes are slightly turned to the side. As a result, you have a slightly harder time seeing ahead in the dark, but better around you (“peripheral vision”).
This also explains why, after being thrown from the front, the treat often ends up on the dog's head instead of in the mouth.
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Most dog breeds can see clearly at an angle of between 240° and 250°. Some greyhounds, on the other hand, can see up to 270° around them. [7]
For comparison: humans can only see at an angle of 190° and only 120° is really sharp. [8]
Dogs have better spatial vision than humans, both in daylight and in the dark. Their viewing angle is up to 80° larger, which means they can see a significantly wider part of their environment, even during the race.
#4 Faster visual reflexes
Depending on the lighting conditions and fatigue, the human eye is able to perceive between 10-60 light stimuli per second. So we see up to 60 images per second.
Specifically, this means: Our maximum “flicker fusion frequency” (FFF) is 60 Hz. This is high enough to be able to see a running person clearly.
This also explains why older televisions with a refresh rate of 50 Hz often flicker. Because our eyes notice the short breaks between the individual images.
The faster objects move, the blurrier they become to our eyes. To the point that we can no longer perceive it – like a bullet from a gun.
Dogs, on the other hand, see up to 80 light stimuli per second, even in the dark. They therefore see even faster objects much more clearly than we do. [9]
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This also explains why dogs naturally have significantly better reflexes for catching fast objects.
Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to kill a household fly? Well, their flicker fusion frequency is a whopping 250 Hz.
Dogs see up to 33% more light stimuli in the dark than humans. This allows you to see even fast objects clearly, which we humans can only perceive as blurry.
#5 Poorer depth perception
Compared to humans, dogs see far more poorly. More specifically, humans have, on average, 20/20 depth perception. [10]
This means you can see things clearly even from 20 feet away. Assuming, of course, that you don't have poor eyesight.
Dogs, on the other hand, only have depth perception of 20/80. Dogs see around four times worse in the distance in daylight and in the dark. [11]
Specifically, this means: A dog has to be 20 feet (approx. 6 m) away from something in order to see it as clearly as we can at a distance of 80 feet (approx. 24 m).
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In practice, however, this doesn't make a big difference. Dogs' primary sensory organ is still their nose.
Even if they can't see things clearly in the distance, they still know immediately what it is based on the smell.
People can see into the distance around four times better than dogs, both in brightness and in the dark. What is still clearly visible to us can often only be perceived blurredly by dogs. In return, they are much better at perceiving smells from a distance.
#6 Poorer color vision
Dogs are so-called “dichromats”. This is Latin and means that they only have 2 color receptors in their eyes: blue and yellow. [12]
It is a myth that dogs see black and white. Her world, on the other hand, is predominantly blue, yellow, gray and white. In total, they can only recognize around 10,000 different colors.
This also explains why the obstacles in dog competitions are usually blue or yellow. They can simply distinguish these colors best.
Humans, on the other hand, are so-called “trichromats”. We can therefore not only perceive blue and yellow, but also all shades of red. [13]
This means we are able to perceive up to 1,000,000 different colors. So around 100 times more colors than dogs can see – even in the dark.
This makes it all the more paradoxical that the most popular color for dog toys is red. Because dogs simply cannot perceive red colors.
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The so-called “mantis shrimp” even has 16 color receptors. So 5 times more than us humans and 8 times more than dogs.
Think about how crazy and colorful the world would look like that!
Both in daylight and in the dark, dogs only see shades of blue, yellow and gray. Unlike humans, they cannot perceive red tones. As a result, they only see around 1% of all colors that are visible to humans.
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