Have you ever wondered what colors a can dog see? It may surprise you to know that even humans can use color to spot things. Our eyes are equipped with several types of specialized light-sensing organs that allow us to adjust to different light intensities. In theory, we could take a color photograph of an object with our eye, adjust its brightness and contrast, and take that image to our computer and use that image to create a color photo of the item. It's not far off from reality; studies have found that some people can actually perceive colors using just their eyes.
Most dogs can see at least six basic shades of color. These include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, gray, and white. Recent studies have found that dogs can respond to color in various shades of blues, oranges, yellows, and even grays in a more selective manner than humans can., This kind of color perception is called dichromacy. Grey dogs can blend any shade of blue into any other shade of blue, and green dogs can blend greens into any other shades of green. Some breeds of dogs are naturally monochromatic (all one color), while others are more of a combination of the two or three colors.
The most interesting question of what colors a can dog see has to do with seeing ultraviolet colors. It seems that, in many cases, dogs cannot see green, blue, or gray under ultraviolet light. Only very pale green or bluish blues are discernible to the human eye. The explanation for this phenomenon could be that our eyes aren't designed to see these colors, which explains why only a few people can see them. Greyhound breeders, however, think that a particular type of dog bred for hunting may be able to tolerate higher temperatures and thus may be able to tolerate the loss of green and blue vision.