German Shepherds' Eyesight - Page 1

Few questions about GSD's eyesight:

1. Is it better than humans in general?

2. Can they see colors?

3. Can they see details?

4. Do they see in the dark?

5. Has it ever happened that your dog didn't recognize you from a distance in the dark?

5. How far can they see?

6. When does a puppy's eyesight mature?

I will reply with what is my experience and limited knowledge.

1. Is it better than humans in general? I understand that it is worse. Also, the individual dog's field of pererpherial vision depends greatly on the shape of the skull.

2. Can they see colors? I understand that they cannot. But since I am colourblind I would not think this is an issue.

3. Can they see details? No, but their eyes are instinctively developed to detect tiny movements at a long distance.

4. Do they see in the dark? Yes they can, and the colourblindness allows them to see better than we can in the dark.

5. Has it ever happened that your dog didn't recognize you from a distance in the dark? It happens a lot; if they cannot hear or smell me before they sense me.

5. How far can they see? Hmm, can't answer that. I would think they can see as far as we can, but perhaps not to the degree of detail at a distance.

6. When does a puppy's eyesight mature? I would say at one (1) year of age-but that is just a guess. For us humans, our peak is about our early 20's. 

Good Questions!

Regards, Bob-O

1), 2), 4) There are two types of cells in the retina of the eye. One sees colours (cone cells), the other sees in black and white (rod cells), but is more sensitive to movement, and sees better in the dark. Carnivores have more of the black and white rod cells than we do, so they have better eyesight at night, and are better at detecting movement. Last night, my dogs were barking up a storm outside, and I wanted to see which dog was doing most of the barking. I turned off the lights in the room, and turned on the yard lights. The dogs saw me do this, so they stopped barking. I stood motionless inside the darkened room for about 5 minutes, but they did not resume barking. "I wonder if that's because they can still see me," I thought. So, I tested this by abruptly lifting one of my hands. I could tell from their reaction that they saw the movement.

2) It was previously thought dogs were colour-blind, but recent tests have proven they do see colours, just not the way humans see them.

3) Can they see details? Ohhh, yes! I am a nurse. I used to have a pen that looked exactly like a hypodermic syringe, with the nib where the needle would be. Every time I took that out of my purse, Tasha would run and hide! The vet had to hide the hypodermic behind his back if he were approaching her to give her a shot!

5) Dogs have good distance vision. My German Shepherd, Tasha, could get distracted by a cat down at the end of the street during training.

6) I believe (without looking it up) that a dog's eyesight is fully developed by 9 months. The lens of the eye forms from three different sections. They fuse together at 9 months, and there are no further changes in the eye after that.

Thank you Bob-O and Sunsilver.  You covered all my questions.

Bok

Sunsilver, thank you for a more scientific and correct explanation than I could provide. I often suspected that dogs can determine colour to some degree, but of course so can I. Perhaps because I have been taught what certain shades (to me at least) really represent.

What always amazed me is that a dog can see a blade of grass twitch at a long distance, but that is an instinctual development as well as a physical development. And the details? Yes, I have one who can spot a hypodermic syringe lying still on a table.

Best Regards,

Bob-O

If anyone is interested, Stanley Coren covers this pretty extensively in one of his books.  I don't remember if it is "How Dogs Think," or "The Intelligence Of Dogs," but both are great reading anyway.