Fun with dogs

[layla]

According to urban legend, dogs can't see colors, but I'm not convinced of that. Out and about this morning, Lucky zeroed in on a bright blue Pepsi can lying in a field of weeds. It's possible that he was attracted by something else -- the shininess, maybe -- but it certainly stood out to *me*, a bright and not at all natural blue, and he was definitely going for it visually.

He picked it up and carried it back to the house. In addition to being a fossil-hunting dog, Lucky is also a trash-collecting dog. Cans and bottles are the exact right size and shape to be carried in his retriever jaws, and he's never happier than when he's carrying something. If he finds an appropriately-shaped piece of trash on our walks, he'll cheerfully carry it home for me. It's very cute.

He's also discovered the joys of gourds. Last Christmas I got a bag of gourds for decoration, but never really did anything with them, so Orion appropriated them as shooting targets. There are now gourds, riddled with bullet holes, scattered around the yard. Like Pepsi cans, they're just the right size and shape to be carried in a retriever's mouth, which means that Lucky keeps finding them and bringing them back to the house.

Comments

[allanharvey.livejournal.com]

Not so much an urban legend; more of a scientific fact, I'd've thought...

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the question ... urban legend or fact? I guess if I weren't so lazy, I could look it up on Google. But he was definitely seeing that can, and very much aware that it wasn't just a rock or some other uninteresting object.

(And, Allan! Hi!)

[allanharvey.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Still alive. Just.

I thought it was all something to do with the rods and cones in the eyes, no? Ah, who knows? It's just one of them things people seem to quote: dogs see in black and white. Perhaps your dog is the exception that proves the rule. Yeah, that's it!

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Aha, Google knows all! (http://www.petplace.com/dogs/can-dogs-see-in-color/page1.aspx) Apparently blue is just about the only color that they *can* see -- which would certainly explain why Lucky fixated on that one little blue Pepsi can like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

[pamola.livejournal.com]

Color Blindness aside, a can obviously does not belong in a natural environment because of it straight lines and regularity. Dogs also have sweet teeth like humans, so he could have been keying on the sugary smells.

Oh I'll google the colorblindness:
http://www.puplife.com/Shop/Control/fp/SFV/32255/view_page/How-Dogs-See-Color
Hey, Blue and Red are in a dog's limited color view.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just googled it too! Apparently they see mostly blues and purples -- so it makes a lot of sense that a blue Pepsi can would be very obvious to him in the middle of a bunch of brown rocks and green grass, which would all look more or less the same color to his eyes.

The can was far enough away that it was just a spot of color in the field. I can definitely believe he could orient on something like that by smell (I've seen him do very impressive feats of scent-finding) but it *looks* different; he has to cast around to find what's making the smell. In this case, he was obviously going for it by sight.

[ndgmtlcd.livejournal.com]

You've got your very own biological Wall-e. If you can mate him properly and do the same with a few generations, then one day there will be no more litter in national parks and cities.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

It's really cute! And probably the only (semi) useful thing that he does.

[ldragoon.livejournal.com]

Dogs have limited color vision. I believe they can see blue and maybe red? Or is it green? I used to know and can't remember! :P Wikipedia it -- they are not true black/white color blinds.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I went and googled it after writing the above (see comments). Apparently, dogs have fairly acute color-sense in the blue and violet range, but most of the other colors we can distinguish look more or less the same to them -- which means, then, that it makes perfect sense that a blue can in a green-and-brown field would really stand out to a dog.

I still remember how utterly fascinated I was, as a kid, to learn that some flowers which look white to us are spotted and striped in the ultraviolet spectrum that bees can see.

[ldragoon.livejournal.com]

I think I read that some people can actually see on the ultraviolet spectrum. I'll have to look it up and see if it's true. :)

[vogelein.livejournal.com]

Plus, Orion totally gets Alaska Points for turning Anything Not Nailed Down into target practice.