Is my cockapoo colorblind? Many have asked or thought about this question over the years. The answer is yes. And no.
If a scientist was to explain this they would tell us that dogs are actually dichromats, meaning they have only two eye cones distinguishing color, but that they can see some color. The three hues that your cockapoo can see are yellows, violet / blue and gray colors. Anything in the violet range comes out as a blue color. Reds and orange, which have become a very popular color for dog toys lately, are actually seen through a dogs eyes as yellow, while they also see green as yellow, so the red toy falling in the grass blends in, making it harder than expected to find.
Basically, your pup can’t see green at all. Any mixed color that has yellow in it, looks yellow to your dog, as does red. The lighter the green the more it goes toward a white color to your dogs eyes. The darker the red, the more it goes toward a gray or even black color to your dog. On the color scale, the only difference between normal human eyes and your cockapoos eyes are one eye cone. This helps humans see the full range of spectrum because you can see the three primary colors as they are.
What does this mean for your pooch? Not much actually. If you buy him a red or orange toy, he will likely be able to track it through the extra eye receptors that he does have and his sense of smell. If your dog needs to find something, he can use his heightened night vision or his tracking ability. Things may get trickier if he already has poor vision due to a health problem like Progressive Retinal Atrophy, or old age.
If you want to help make your dogs fetching ability fast or are training him for disc dog competition, our advise would be to find a flying disc thats blue or purple. It will be they easiest thing for him to see against the grass! Choosing toys that are easily distinguished by your dog’s eyes can make play time that much more fun for both of you.