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From a Dog's Point of View

Corey Childs

A dog laying in a wire crate


Dogs experience the world much differently than we do. There's even a word to describe it. Umwelt, which is a German word roughly meaning environment. It's used to describe the unique sensory world of an organism. And not just for dogs.


If you're a reader, there's a wonderful book on the subject called "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz. I definitely recommend checking it out. I also want to give credit to the website Dog Vision, whose image tool made it vastly easier to create the examples used in this post.


In today's topic, I want to go through a dogs umwelt, and how it relates to living with people.


A Dog's Sense of Smell


It can be said that a dog experiences the world from the nose back. That is, scent tends to be the first thing on their mind, followed by what they see, then what they hear. You probably already know that dogs have a better sense of smell that humans, but I want to emphasize just HOW much better.


This tissues on the inside of the nose are lined with tiny sensory receptors that enable things to smell. Humans have about six million receptors. Herding dogs? Around two hundred million. Many Hounds? Over three hundred million. That's over over 50 times the amount of cells humans have, though it can vary widely by breed. 


It doesn't stop there though. Dogs also have more kinds of cells dedicated to detecting scent than we do, and much better developed organs to process those smells. Around 1/8th of a dogs brain is dedicated to smell, with their olfactory cortex being about 40 times larger than ours.


So what does that mean? 


An Incredible Sense of Smell


All those things work together to give dogs an incredible sense of smell. Scientist have estimated that a dogs sense of smell is up to 100,000 times better than a humans. With some even speculating it might be closer to one million times better.


Compared to a dog, humans might as well not even HAVE a sense of smell. They have been trained to detect drugs, track people, find cancer, and can even detect minutes changes in a person's blood chemistry prior to seizures or low blood sugar. And that's while just standing NEAR someone. 


It's even true that dogs can quite literally smell fear. That's why it's so important to work on a clients comfort level with things like reactivity. Dogs often look to their owners for cues about how they should respond to the world, and if you are stressed, anxious, or afraid, you can bet a dog's going to assume there's a reason.


It's also the reason why many dogs tend to react more poorly to people who are afraid of them.


Regarding scents though, dogs can tell how long as smell has been there, and can even detect things that are months old if the conditions are right. Dogs are smelling a timeline of events that we can never hope to experience. Quite literally looking into the past 


The Role of Scent in Training


Your dogs sense of smell also plays important roles in things like potty training. Where they will tend to revisit the places they have gone before, even if that's in your house. That's why it's so important to use a pet specific enzymatic cleaner when cleaning up after them.


Smell is also often an underutilized aspect of enrichment. In the shelter work I've done, one of the regular enrichment activities were using smells in spray bottles (diluted essential oils in water) to give dogs a novel experience, or even calm them down. 


In a related way, things like DAP or dog appeasing pheromone, harnesses those sensory organs to put your dog at ease. Which can work great for some dogs.


I often find that even while just walking their dogs, many people think their dog should be beside them in a heel rather than off to the side sniffing. If the walk is FOR your dog, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for their wellbeing that you let them stop and sniff. That's not to say that leash manners aren't important or that you should let them drag you wherever, but rather something to actively think about and try to implement.


Sniffing has even been shown to lower a dogs heart rate!


It's of course also important when a dog is interacting with other dogs. They can quickly tell all kinds of things like: another dogs age, gender, health, if they are altered (spayed or neutered), reproductive status, emotional state, and all kinds of things we will probably never even know.


Still, as amazing as a dogs sense of smell is, it's perhaps more applicable to us to discuss their vision. As we tend to be very visual creatures.


A Dog's Vision


There's a popular belief that dogs see in black and white, which as it turns out, actually isn't true. But, their vision IS fairly different from our own and understanding those differences can give you some key insight into their behavior. It will also tell you why they can't seem to find the ball or treat you tossed that's right in front of their face.



The truth is, dogs CAN see color. Just not the same as you and I. 


Are Dog's Colorblind?


Both humans and dogs are able to see thanks to two primary receptor cells in the eye: rods, which help detect light and motion, and cones, which help differentiate color. The human eye has 3 types of cones; which help us detect red, blue, and green. Dogs on the other hand only have 2 types of cones; allowing them to detect blue and yellow.


So it turns out dogs are indeed color blind, but they don't see it in black and white. Rather, they see the world in those shades of blue and yellow. Still, there's a lot more to the story than that.


While humans may have more cones than dogs, and can see in more colors; dogs actually have many more rods than humans. This allows them to detect motion better, and see in much lower light conditions than we can. 


Built Different


In addition, dogs also have what's called a tapetum lucidum. Which is a reflective layer of tissue in the back of the eye that reflects even more light back onto those cones. It's also the reason a dogs eyes sometimes shine at night or in photos or videos, especially in low light. You can see that same effect in many other animals as well.



But, while dogs may have a tapetum lucidum, one thing they DON'T have is a fovea. The fovea is an area in the human eye with a high density of cones that allows us to see objects in great detail. In contrast, the position of a dogs eyes, along with their lack of a fovea, means the detail they're able to see is only about a 6th of what humans can. 



Along those lines, there's evidence to suggest that dogs have a harder time reading the facial expressions of individuals with darker skin tones. So you may see some dogs be a bit more spooky around those individuals. Especially if they never met anyone like that early in life. It's the same sort of reason things like masks or sunglasses that conceal the face tend to freak dogs out sometimes.


Take a look at these images comparing what a human sees to a dog.


This is what a human sees.



This is how a dog would see it.



That's a HUGE difference!



It's not just about visual acuity though.


A Wide peripheral Vision


The position of your dogs eyes means they are actually really near sighted, with humans being able to make out detail at about two and a half times the distance your dog can. But that same eye position means they have a much wider peripheral vision than we do and is one of the reasons your dog may notice that squirrel long before you do. 


Dogs track motion extremely well, but their detailed vision isn't that great.


All of that is the reason your dog is able to track and grab a ball flying through the air at high speed, but isn't able to find that same ball sitting in the grass right in front of them. Especially if it's a similar color to that grass for them.


Another thing that may be sitting in front of your dog that they aren't paying attention to is your TV. 


A Dog's Thoughts on TV


Just like dogs are able to track motion much better than us, they may actually be able to see the individual frames of what playing on the TV. While it's believed the human eye can generally detect between 30 and 60 frames per second, the canine eye is believed to detect at least 70, and maybe even more.


This means that while a show may seem fluid to you, your dog may be watching a slideshow. No wonder they may not be interested. 


Coincidentally, some older lights may flicker at a rate your dog can see too. So while you see solid light, they may see constant strobing. 


Though modern TVs and lighting is starting to bridge that gap, it just may be the reason your dog could care less.


Playing Favorites


There is a thing your dog DOES care about though, and THAT is their toys. Now, dog toys come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors; but which one would your dog prefer? 


Good question... I can't ask them. 


But what I CAN tell you is which ones they are likely be able to see the best. And that is ones colored blue or yellow. It's actually believed that dogs are able to see even more blue than humans can. 



Since those are the colors they see best, there's anecdotal evidence that some dogs have a preference for them. Especially with fetch or chase. It may just explain the reason many dogs are obsessed with tennis balls in particular. 


Which, side note here, tennis balls are actually horrible for your dogs teeth. That yellow fuzz is surprisingly very abrasive. I've seen dogs with their teeth worn flat or at odd angles from excessively chewing on them. My cattle dog LOVES tennis balls with her whole heart and will actually strip off the fur like she's eating a corncob. The ones made for dogs are often (though not always) better about that abrasiveness. Or you could opt for rubber one as well.


So the next time you are picking out a toy for your dog, give some thought to the way they may view it.


A Dog's Hearing


The last sense I want to touch on today is their hearing.


Dog's have evolved to hear a specific range of noises. Primarily, ones that lead to food. Especially high pitch squeaky ones.


A humans auditory range is from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz. From low rumbling to high squeals. But dogs can hear sounds up to 45 kilohertz. Much higher than we can. Hence why dog whistles work, even though we can't hear them. 


Even just in our homes, the crystal resonators uses in many electronics produce a high noise that, though inaudible to us, can be heard by out dogs. Ever seen your dog wake up and immediately start staring at the wall? That could be why. Or maybe it's the sounds of insects or rodents that are often undetectable by us. BUT...we will go with the electronics.



Ask any noise sensitive person and they can tell you about how sometimes they can't focus because they can HEAR the constant buzz of electricity or the lights. Our poor dogs deal with that constantly. 


Of course, just like us, there's a lot they can get used to and tune out. Which may even include you talking to them.


Selective Hearing


Dogs are nearly as good as we are in detecting pitch changes, and can be taught a wide variety of words. But make no mistake, they don't have the same affinity for verbal language that humans do. I can't count the amount of times I've had people say their dog should "just know" what they are asking. Like they were born understanding your particular language. 


I'm a firm believer in clear communication, and though I won't get too into the weeds about it here, there are just a few points I want to make.


  • If possible, it's useful to have a visual cue along with your auditory on. As dogs are more predisposed to pay attention to body language than speech.


  • If you haven't specifically taught them what a word means, don't expect them to know it. And the more you use it without them responding, the more they learn to ignore it.


  • Keep your cues simple, at one to two syllables, and make sure they have a specific meaning.


Do You EVER Stop Talking?


People are a chatty bunch. We talk nearly constantly to other people, dogs, inanimate objects, ourselves, and really anything in our vicinity. 


Dogs on the other hand, are not. At least when it comes to verbal communication. With everything your dog can smell, see, and hear; its no wonder they sometimes tune us out. Even when trying to teach dogs the meaning behind words like "sit"; well meaning owners tend to talk continuously and encourage them. It's hard for them to learn which specific word they should be paying attention to if you are tossing whole sentences at them.


A Small Miracle


They are being bombarded with more sensory information than we can ever hope to experience. If anything, it's a small miracle they do so well in our constantly buzzing and flashing homes. 


They stare at us with a confused look and tilted head that says they have no clue what we are going on about, but there's probably no one they would rather be with. Which goes the same for us. Despite our weak grasp on the nuances of canine communication...


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