Are dogs color blind or can they see color...

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by Kodak

I am hotter than a firecracker because I just got off the phone with a friend of mines who stated dogs are colorblind. She said that 1000's of test have been done and it has been proven. The reason I got P'd Off is because I ran into a ex-coworker that I hadn't seen in years. We talked for a minute but she kept getting distracted focusing towards a car (her car) that was several feet away. There was a dog in the car that would pop up and bark if anyone walked pass the car which is normal. I asked her why she kept looking out and she told me her dog gets crazy when a black person walks pass the car. I found it humorous and never considered the fact that dogs are suppose to be colorblind. I would've asked her to explain that with no hesitation but I was floored. I pointed out that the dog barked at everyone that came pass the car. She said that he barked the loudest and jumped the seats when the black couple walked past. I am not trying to make this a racist topic or a debate, and I am unsure about the color blind theory. I think most dogs in cars bark as protecting their owners property. Kodak barks and growls at any male, female, beast or child that are 10 to 100feet away just claiming territory. Maybe it's just me, but I ended the conversation with you better go check on your dog. Maybe he thinks he's about to get Jacked, & I went in the store.

Your friend is partially correct, hundreds of tests showed dogs could not distinguish between colors, but it was found out the tests were done wrong. Because of a dogs intensive sense of smell the, dogs were noticing odor cues and not sight cues. When tests were done ruling out odor as one of the components that differentiated between the objects, it was found that dogs could distinguish different colors.

The dog sight experiments are used as a classic example in experimental psychology as to why an experiment has to be set up in such a way as to rule out any other variables that could produce the result. Unfortunately, many people just remember the first tests so this is why there is some confusion.

Even among humans there is a great deal of difference on how we see colors. Woman on average can see many more differences in shades of color than men.

Nancy

[mizzwanned]

My dog that passed away used to bark at black ppl and asian ppl for some reason but never at hispanic or white ppl. IDk why but he always did this and he barked really loud like if he wanted to attack them.

[txshopper73]

Hmmm...interesting. One of my best friends from my childhood days was black. His German Shepard bit me once (luckily didn't break the skin) and they told me it was because I was white and he was use to being around black people.

No, I do not believe that dogs see colors as you and I. There are too many studies that prove this.

[txshopper73]

Something else to think about...can a color blind HUMAN differentiate between races? I do believe so...

[JiggityJig]

That is really something, but according to my Ex-coworker her dog knew the diffrence between a black and white person.

Wow, I must be the only one missing something, because I totally don't even understand what you're asking.

From what I have understood, dogs do see colors, just with less variety and intensity than humans do. I've had tons of people tell me that their dog can differentiate between a red ball and a yellow one...etc.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume that they ARE completely colorblind, as in, they only see in black and white.

They would STILL be able to tell the difference between a black skinned person, a tan-skinned person, and a white-skinned person! It's all about shades and tonalities.

When we watch old black and white movies, obviously we can see the difference in shades of skin, it's just in a spectrum of white/gray/black.

I don't really understand why it's hard to believe a dog could recognize or respond to skin color??? At any rate, it definitely doesn't sound like something to make a huge issue out of with your co-worker. There's really no way to broach the subject without coming off like you're accusing her of being a racist. I'd just let it go.

[gads112903]

I would be more worried about the fact that she left her dog in the car!

[judyeve]

That black and white issue about dogs comes from years ago when segregation
existed and dogs were not used to either dark humans or light humans,depending on who they were used to seeing, so they would react. It has nothing to do with racism.

I'd like to see that newer research saying that dogs are not as colorblind as originally thought. I've heard that cats also see color.

JUDY

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by judyeve

That black and white issue about dogs comes from years ago when segregation
existed and dogs were not used to either dark humans or light humans,depending on who they were used to seeing, so they would react. It has nothing to do with racism.

I'd like to see that newer research saying that dogs are not as colorblind as originally thought. I've heard that cats also see color.

JUDY

The black white issue and segregation has absolutely no bearing on the fact that scientists in earlier studies believed that dogs could not see colors i.e. red, yellow, blue etc. As stated in my earlier post, it was because the tests were done improperly and didn't take in account for a dog's incredible sense of smell. Experimenters thought they were training the dogs to react to a certain color, yellow, for example, but the dogs actually were picking up odor cues, such as dyes in coloring or material used, or experimenter's hand scents. When given a red object that was touched by the same experimenter, the dog would choose that because the sense of smell overruled the colors. Once the experiments (YEARS LATER) were done to rule these things out, the dogs showed they could differentiate between colors such as blue, red and yellow.


This thread went in two different directions. I thought you were asking if dogs were colorblind. This means can they distinguish between colors. It has nothing to do with can a dog distinguish between races. There is probably a great deal of research on the topic, but my responses were directed to whether or not a dog can see colors i.e., blue, red, yellow. There is loads of research on this and the answer is yes. As far as being able to differentiate between the races, while I'm not familiar with the research, I don't see why they would be able to do this; and remember, dogs generally bark at the unfamiliar.

[judyeve]

Dear Nancy:

You're right - the thread went in 2 different directions. I hope you weren't offended by my reply - it's just an old wive's tale that I remember from when I was a kid. It had nothing to do with your point.

At any rate, I am glad that dogs can see color, and I find the scientific
reasons for the mistaken older theories interesting. I was a science teacher.

Judy

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by judyeve

Dear Nancy:

You're right - the thread went in 2 different directions. I hope you weren't offended by my reply - it's just an old wive's tale that I remember from when I was a kid. It had nothing to do with your point.

At any rate, I am glad that dogs can see color, and I find the scientific
reasons for the mistaken older theories interesting. I was a science teacher.

Judy

No, I wasn't offended, but I was frustrated by this thread.

[Kodak]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

No, I wasn't offended, but I was frustrated by this thread.

Why are you in it if you're frustrated by it? It's an open forum and I asked an open question. Just so you know it offended me as I am black and she is white. Her dog was barking at everyone, and it is a big dog. I am not prejudice and you had to be there to hear it, so ask questions first.
Jiggity Jig doesn't understand what I'm asking? It boils down to one question which I thought was self explanatory. Question: Can dogs distinguish between colors and races? I wasn't convinced otherwise and I'm no where near stupid. I stated this was not to become a race issue which is why I didn't state my race in my question. But now that I have, it is still not a race issue. It is a dog issue, and I am still not convinced, jackets and people are two diffrent things. I can see them noticing the diff in a coat or toy color. But I wanted proof of studies showing they can tell the diff in races.

[judyeve]

Dear Kodak:

What your co-worker(?) said was offensive, but race and color are two different things.

It seems that dogs can distinguish between colors, which Nancy explained so well. I can't imagine how a dog could distinguish between races - what would be different between races for any animal to respond to?

I don't talk to people who annoy or offend me. It's easier and much more pleasant than trying to prove them wrong. You already know you don't like the way she thinks and is probably not worth the trouble.

Judy

[Nancy1999]

I was frustrated because I didn't feel like I could explain things in such a way as to make people understand. I thought I explained things, and then someone would say, I wish they would do new research to see if dogs are colorblind. Your title was, " Are dogs color blind or can they see color... led me to think this was your question, but I think you really wanted to know if dogs can distinguish between skin shades. Again, there are probably studies that examined this issue; the earlier studies, which confirmed dogs could see actual colors, would certainly lead one to believe that a dog can distinguish between shades if there is enough difference. However, being able to be trained to do this and naturally doing this is another topic. Being able to be trained to do this would be how we'd know they can distinguish between skin colors, but it wouldn't tell us if this is something a dog automatically notices. There are so many other things that can set a dog off barking, i.e. the smell of another dog on a person, the smell of fear etc. Again, it is my belief that dogs will bark at the unfamiliar and skin color might be part of that equation. Sometimes, I wish people couldn't see the differences among skin color.

[LittleFurbabies]

Blah, I don't know if either:
-She was looking at the dog barking so that if it jumped and attacked someone she could stop it.
OR
-She wanted to be alerted about black people being too close to her car.

Whatever, I don't think dogs distinguish color anywhere near as well as they can pick up their owners feelings about the people the colors belong to....so I'd have a problem with her.

[JiggityJig]

I still don't think it's worth confronting the person about, or sending "information" to her about it, because there are just too many unknowns.

Maybe her dog does or does not really react to "black people".

If it does, maybe it's because they are reacting to HER issues with black people. But maybe it's as simple as an animal barking at what is unfamiliar to them.

I adopted a stray dog once, and it was the most gentle and friendly dog in the world....but it was winter, and when I had on my black gloves, the dog always became fearful, and wouldn't let me come near it.

From that I could surmise that it had once been abused from a black person. Or, a person who wore black gloves. Or, maybe the animal was simply reacting to the unusual sight of a person suddenly having big, puffy hands of a different color than usual.

That's what I mean....too many unknowns, as we cannot read the dog's mind.