Are dogs colour blind? Dog behaviourist and psychology expert explains

There’s one rule I always follow when buying my dog (a Golden Retriever named Nelson, aka the most perfect boy ever) toys: always get them in blue or yellow.

I can’t remember if I read it somewhere or saw it on TikTok one day, but ever since finding out that supposedly the only colours dogs can see are blue and yellow, I’ve been on a mission to make sure Nelson’s world is as bright and colourful as possible.

I thought that I’ve been doing a good thing for my fur-son, really making sure he gets the best experience possible out of life. Turns out, I’ve been doing the opposite. 

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I spoke with dog behaviour specialist and psychology expert Nathan Williams to see if the random piece of information I’d stumbled upon was actually true and if I was in fact one of the best dog owners around.

I was very quickly humbled.

Now, I want to preface this by explaining I wasn’t entirely wrong about the colour thing, blue and yellow are the only colours dogs see similarly to us, but the answer to whether or not dogs are colourblind is actually much more nuanced than a simple yes or no.

Williams explained that dogs are colour deficient due to the fact that the only have two receptors in their eyes, whereas us humans have three. 

“So that’s why the blue and the yellow [gets mentioned], because dogs have receptors where they can see those colours, but it doesn’t mean a dog can’t differentiate orange and red and pink,” he shared.

“We can differentiate orange and pink because we can see that colour, but what a dog will see is, in red they’ll see dark grey, in orange it’ll be a lighter grey and pink will be an even lighter grey.”

Basically, aside from blue and yellow, dogs can only see brightness not colour pigment.

If you’re wondering how this information humbled me, we haven’t gotten there yet.

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After covering dog colour deficiency, Williams went on to explain why the fact that dogs don’t see the world the same way we do doesn’t really matter, and why we should never actually buy them toys.

(Spoiler alert: Nelson has a basket full of toys, plus plenty more littered around the yard.)

“We’re not meant to use toys when it comes to a dog’s vision,” he said.

“So the more a dog uses its eyes, the less intelligent the dog will be because 60 per cent of a dog’s brain is dedicated to scent.

“And then the other big portion of that is the hearing, which means the smallest part of their brain is eyes.”

According to Williams, eyes are basically “backup information” for our dogs but since we love to humanise them (note me referring to Nelson as my “fur-son” above) we try to introduce them to the world in the way we learn. 

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If you’ve ever wondered why your dog reacts when they see a leaf or maybe a strange statue, it’s pretty much because by introducing toys we’ve taught them to use their eyes before their nose.

If they were using their scent before their sight, they’d be able to detect that these things aren’t actually a threat.

“When we introduce toys, we’re actually teaching a dog to ignore scent because toys are plastic and a dog wouldn’t sniff plastic and go, ‘Wow, plastic, that’s my favorite. That smells amazing’,” Williams explains.

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“So we actually teach dogs to react to what they see… toys cause problems in dogs. There’s a list of reasons why [they’re] bad, and there’s nothing in them that’s good.

“We’ve actually replaced bones with toys, which is so backward it’s not funny.”

Now luckily for me, Nelson isn’t a barking dog. He’s never been fazed by someone walking by the house or the postman dropping off the mail.

But, Williams explains that the introduction of toys and the focus humans place on their dogs sight can be the reason for some dogs exhibiting those behaviours. 

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“When a posty comes past, they’re stimulated because we taught them to be stimulated by what they see,” Williams says.

“What the dog’s meant to do is sniff and know that’s not a threat or a challenge or anything like that.

“It’s all based on what humans teach dogs to do. We just don’t realise what we’re doing, when we’re doing it.”

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