Dog’s Amazing Sense of Sight
The five senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste are how we as well as dogs find out about the environment we all live in. Dogs have senses which are very different to our as humans.
Without good eyesight a dog would not be able to live for long in the wild. When the dog is awake he is constantly stimulated by what he sees. We will try to look at things from the dog’s point of view.
The dogs have a fantastic ability to see movement across a wide field of vision. Dogs are interested in seeing animals at ground level and not higher up in trees or in the air and so their focus is at that level. The dogs eye has poor colour reception and can not see details at all clearly. Dog are not though, as many believe, colour blind. It is more that they see as we see when light is fading at dusk. Dogs have better low light vision than humans. Some dogs, with a long muzzle, have a very wide field of vision of up to 270 degrees. Some short nosed dogs can have more detailed vision, more akin to how the humans can view detail.
How can what the dog sees can lead to problems
- Seeing a moving object, car, bike, jogger, motorbike or even a sheep can cause the dog to be tempted in to a hunting mode by chasing the moving object.
- Moving dogs and humans outside the dogs garden can cause the dog to want to escape. If it cannot escape then it is likely to run back and forward following the fence line.
- Dog read the intentions of other dogs that approach them. If a dog appears with fur fluffed up this reading of an approaching dog is difficult and can result in inappropriate behaviour, like attacking, when there is no real danger.
- Rushing a fence or gate when someone passes by the garden has been triggered by the movement of that person.
- Dogs can have difficulty in seeing because of a lot of facial hair falling in front of their eyes.
So how does it affect us when changing our dogs behaviour?
- Hand signals need to be made at waist or at a lower level so they are more likely to attract the attention of your dog.
- Movement gets more interest from our dog, so hand signals that involve movement should be used.
- The dog is very responsive to slight changes in movements, do you remember the story of Hans the Horse? If you slightly change your hand signal it will be interpreted differently by your dog.
- Young and inexperienced dogs find it difficult, at first, to find food that is held in the hand. This results in their biting at the fingers rather than the food they are after. You can correct this by holding the food in your clenched hand in front of their mouth. You then open your fingers to reveal the food.
So if you keep these 5 ideas in you mind whilst you are changing you will help your communication with your dog.
Using a Dog’s Hearing Ability to help Training
Train my dog to Come – the recall
Train my dog not to jump up at visitors
Train my dog to stop pulling on the lead
Train my dog to not show anxiety when I leave him along
Training my dog to use a crate
