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A Dog’s Color Vision

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What Colors Can Dogs See?

What Colors Can Dogs See?
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Dogs are truly magnificent puzzles with amazing capabilities we humans try to understand. While we tend to focus on a dog’s incredible scenting abilities, we rarely discuss a dog’s vision.

Are dogs colorblind? Do dogs see colors differently than humans? What colors can dogs see? We answer your questions below.

Blues, Yellows and Grays

Dog Color VisionDecades ago, scientists believed dogs were colorblind. It was assumed dogs saw the world in shades of gray and white, but we know differently now.

Recent studies have discovered that dogs see colors in variations of blues, yellows and grays. This type of color vision is referred to as dichromacy.

Dichromacy means dogs can match any color they see with a mixture of no more than two pure spectral lights (Wikipedia, 2017). In contrast, humans have three color receptors, so we’re able to see a full spectrum of colors. Dogs only have two. They’re missing the red/green receptor. Other mammals are dichromats too, such as horses and cats.

What Does This Mean?

This means dogs see the world in different colors than humans. Next time your dog runs past a bright red toy sitting on top of vivid green grass, remember your dog sees various shades of yellow. This applies to a yellow tennis ball on your lawn too. When your dog is looking for his yellow tennis ball on green grass, he sees shades of light yellow.

The best color for dog toys is blue, especially if it’s for outdoor play. Have you ever noticed dog agility equipment is usually blue and yellow? They’re marked in medium blue and yellow colors, so dogs can see the obstacles.

Dogs See Better at Night Than Humans

While dogs can’t see all the colors of the rainbow, they can see much better at night than humans. Dogs have a mirror-like structure in the back of the eye that reflects light called a tapetum. This structure bounces the light waves back at the retina a second time, increasing the retina’s chance to collect the light (How well do dogs see, 2009). Next time you take a photo of your dog, and his eyes glow, remember it’s the tapetum. 🙂

Heartworm Disease In Dogs

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Overview of Heartworms in Dogs

Heartworms in Dogs
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With warm winter temperatures and large amounts of rainfall in the U.S., 2017 will be a record-breaking year for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are annoying blood-sucking insects that cause heartworm disease in dogs (and cats) too. Learning about heartworm disease in dogs and heartworm prevention can prepare you when the mosquitoes come out.

How Does a Dog Get Heartworms?

Dogs get heartworms from heartworm-infected mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites a heartworm-infected mammal, such as another dog, this mosquito is now infected with heartworm microfilaria (tiny heartworms). When this mosquito bites your dog, it then passes the microfilaria into your dog’s bloodstream. This process happens at an alarming rate. In mosquito-prone areas, thousands of dogs are diagnosed with heartworm disease every year, which is why heartworm prevention is so important.

RELATED: How to Prevent Scorpions From Stinging Your Dog

What Do Heartworms Look Like?

Heartworms are thin spaghetti-like worms that live inside your dog’s heart valves. As they multiply and grow, heartworms block vital blood flow. Many years ago, while working as a veterinary technician, we performed a necropsy on a dog that had passed away from heartworms. Our veterinarian pulled at least 30 heartworms from the small dog’s heart with each worm measuring 10-12 inches long.

Can Dogs Die From Heartworm Disease?

Without heartworm prevention, heartworms are fatal. Additionally, symptoms of heartworm disease in dogs don’t show up until the later stages. Many pet owners assume monthly heartworm prevention is too expensive and instead opt to complete heartworm treatment if their dogs contract these nasty worms. However, heartworm treatment is extremely expensive and can be dangerous.

For a medium-sized dog, heartworm treatment can cost more than $1,000. When dogs undergo heartworm treatment, they must be under close veterinarian supervision and follow stringent crate rest requirements. As heartworms die from treatment, the potential to cause further complications is huge.

How are Dogs Tested for Heartworms?

Veterinarians take a small sample of your dog’s blood during his or her yearly checkup. If heartworms are present, a SNAP test will indicate a positive result. Some veterinarians will then look at the dog’s blood sample for active microfilariae under a microscope. Under microscopic magnification, microfilariae look like tiny bits of rice moving around within the blood sample.

Heartworm Prevention

Heartworm prevention is key. Most dogs ingest a monthly heartworm preventive that kills any microfilaria present. To prevent missed doses, it’s important to give heartworm medicine at the same time each month. When choosing a heartworm preventive, discuss all options with your veterinarian first. Puppies will start heartworm prevention around 4-6 months of age and continue for life.

During early morning and dusk hours, keep your dog indoors to decrease mosquito bites. Additionally, some flea preventives also repel mosquitoes. If you live in mosquito-prone areas, as your vet about a year-long heartworm preventive. It’s worth spending $10 to keep these nasty and fatal worms away.

As temperatures warm up and rain falls, expect mosquitoes soon!

UP NEXT: 6 Reasons Why Dogs Need Veterinary Preventive Care

How To Use Facebook To Help Dogs In Need

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Help Dogs in Need the Right Way

Help Dogs In Need
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In a perfect world, social media would be packed with wagging tails, adorable puppy faces and darling dog tricks. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. Eventually, a dog lover will stumble upon a desperate-dog-in-need post, and it will tear at her heartstrings. Before you hide the post or tag your friend in a comment, learn how to use Facebook to help dogs in need.

Verify the Dog’s Status

When desperate pleas pop up on your social media feed, take a few moments and verify the dog is still in need. Verify by clicking on the original picture and scroll through the comments for updates. Once a dog has found a foster home, or has been safely pulled from Animal Control, someone usually updates the entire group. If nothing is noted, this dog is probably still in desperate need.

After checking if a dog still needs help, please share the post publicly with your Facebook or Twitter family. When sharing, take a moment to copy and paste the original message including the dog’s location (city and state), specifics about the dog (breed, age, gender, contact person) and verification that the dog is still in need. If you’re unable to foster or donate to help the poor dog, the very least you can do is share his or her story.

Comment Only If You Can Help

There’s no question that Facebook has certainly benefited dogs in need. Many dogs have been adopted due to lightning fast viral attention. However, there’s a downside too. Many well meaning dog lovers write comments that aren’t helping the dog in need. These excessive comments clog up Facebook posts and worse yet provide a false sense of safety.

We all want to help these dogs, but posting “Someone please help this dog now,” “I wish I could help, but I have 4 dogs already” or “This dog looks just like my dog” or tagging a friend within a comment actually delays help. Instead, comment only if you’re able to offer help.

Better Ways of Helping Dogs in Need

Foster, transport, donate or offer your skills. Most rescue shelters accept donations through PayPal or post an Amazon wish list on their websites. If nothing is posted, message the shelter and ask how to send donations. Then, share this link to friends and family on Facebook.

You can also start a fundraiser or make cute hats for shelter dogs. Many years ago, a Pit Bull rescue created beautiful flower hats to showcase available dogs up for adoption. If you’re crafty, offer to create beautiful adornment pieces, such as sequin ties for male dogs or hats. Be strategic with your social sharing, and offer help.

Don’t Scroll Past It

Simply put, seeing sad dogs hurts. Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed a sharp decline in social media shares for posts about dogs in need. I’ll use my social media friends and followers as an example.

I have more than 500 dog-obsessed friends and followers, but maybe only one of my friends will repost a plea for a dog in need. About 3 to 4 years ago, at least 40 people would’ve shared the post. Why such a huge gap now?

From my perspective, it’s gut-wrenching and exhausting to see animals in desperate need every day. Some days, between 5 to 10 pitiful furry faces pleading for help pop up on my newsfeed. Some posts rip my heart into pieces due to unimaginable animal cruelty. I scroll past quickly, telling myself that not seeing it makes it not happen. But then I remind myself that these poor dogs have no voice and that I do.

Social media is powerful, but dog lovers must be strategic to help dogs find their forever home.

6 Reasons Why Dogs Need Veterinary Preventive Care

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Benefits of Dog Preventive Care

Dog Preventive Care
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Over the last decade, veterinary visits for dog preventive care have drastically decreased. While it’s easy to assume the decline is due to pets being healthier, it seems pet emergency visits have increased, indicating people are waiting until their pets are really sick to do anything about it (Pet Health Crisis: Americans Skimp On Preventive Care, 2014).

Early prevention is key to your dog’s health. Your dog needs at least one to two preventive care visits per week. Before searching Dr. Google to find a diagnosis for your dog, check out these 6 reasons why your dog needs to see a veterinarian for preventive care every year.

1. Prevent Obesity

As Americans gain weight, so do their dogs. Obesity is considered an epidemic in pets now, as obesity steadily increased in 2016, affecting nearly 59% of cats and 54% of dogs, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP).

Many pet owners miss weight increases, especially the tiny weight gains that pile on over months or years. One or two pounds may not seem much, but it can push a small dog into the obese category for her size. We know obesity can and will cause medical issues.

During preventive care visits, a veterinarian will weigh your dog and complete a thorough veterinary exam. The vet will also discuss your dog’s weight gain, set a goal weight for your dog and design a weight loss plan specific for your dog. This advice is well worth a $50 vet exam fee. 🙂

2. Prevent Arthritis

As dogs age, arthritis slowly develops in their joints. Many pet owners miss subtle signs that would indicate their dogs are in pain, but a veterinarian can detect signs of pain within minutes during an exam.

Additionally, your vet can watch your dog move around the exam room or trot outside to observe your dog’s natural movement. Understanding biomechanics, they notice even the slightest gait abnormalities that can prevent later chronic conditions from developing.

When you’re at the vet, express any changes in your dog’s routine, such as sleeping longer, excessive panting, refusal to walk or hiding from family.

3. Determine Causes for Lumps

Lumps, bumps and abnormal spots will appear on dogs as they get older. Most appear during middle age, and should be checked out by a veterinarian ASAP. While several lumps and bumps are benign, many are not. Only a veterinarian can determine the cause and course of treatment for lumps and bumps.

Most veterinarians will do a biopsy and remove lumps and bumps, then send them off to pathology for a diagnosis. Resist the urge to post pictures and ask social media groups for advice about suspicious spots on your dog. The best advice anyone can give you would be to bring your dog to the vet tomorrow. 🙂

RELATED: Why You Should Get Pet Insurance

4. Prevent Pet Emergencies

Many dogs develop chronic illnesses and need preventive care to ensure they remain problem-free. Once a diagnosis is made, veterinarians will develop a wellness protocol, so follow your vet’s recommendations. Paying preventive health care prices is much cheaper than paying for pet emergency care costs.

5. Get Blood Work Done

Many vets recommend routine blood work for dogs, especially when they’re trying to find a specific cause of illness. Dogs are unable to speak; they can’t say their tummy hurts or they feel sick. Essentially, routine blood work takes a peek inside your dog to ensure everything is working correctly.

Every dog needs routine blood work done yearly, including puppies, so their vet can establish a baseline. Older dogs usually need routine blood work every six months since dogs age much faster than humans. When your vet suggests blood work, there’s a reason and it just might save your dog’s life.

6. Detect Signs of Serious Issues

Sometimes, minor ailments mask scary things. When in doubt, bring your dog in for a thorough preventive care check-up. Early diagnosis ensures a better outcome.

Many years ago, my Bouvier had a slight rear leg limp that persisted for a month. His limp would go away for a week, but then suddenly reappear. We scheduled a vet visit where they took an X-ray of my dog’s leg. When my vet said it was bone cancer, I was gobsmacked. There’s an old saying: “When you hear hoof beats, you expect horses, not zebras.” It took me hours for this diagnosis to sink in; I wasn’t expecting it at all. Morale of the story is you just never know, so it’s always best to have a professional rule out the scary stuff.

When in doubt, check it out. 🙂

Psychic Readings For Dogs: I Want To Believe

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My Experience With Pet Psychic Readings

Animal Communication
Monkey Business/Adobe Stock

Whether or not you believe in the supernatural, pet psychic readings are certainly an interesting topic. After polling pet owners on their supernatural beliefs, I found results were split right down the middle. I’m from south Louisiana and our culture strongly believes in supernatural powers and psychic abilities. While I mostly believe in science-based principles, sometimes I encounter tiny gray areas that allow supernatural power to seep in. Here’s my experience with psychic readings for my dogs. (It just might leave you scratching your head!)

Why I Turned to a Pet Psychic

Many years ago, I shared my home with an extremely aggressive dog. Since he was a young puppy, he was troubled, but had made tremendous strides during his adolescent years. Just when we had reached our dog training goals, he regressed.

After exhausting several veterinary behaviorists and fellow dog trainers for advice, a very good friend of mine recommended a pet physic reading. Honestly, if this recommendation had been from someone else, I would’ve scoffed at the idea. However, this person is world-renowned in animal behavior, is extremely accomplished in the pet industry and had great results from a recent psychic reading for her dog. Hum, could this work?

During the Psychic Reading

After waiting three weeks for an opening, I finally got on the phone with my friend’s highly recommended pet psychic. She was extremely pleasant, but kept small talk to a minimum and asked very few questions. Within 30 seconds of our call, she asked if I was calling about a big fluffy dog to which I answered yes. She said he’s a smart boy, but he suffered from really bad headaches. It’s important to note, I never reveled my dog’s gender during our call. I felt goosebumps run down my spine.

The psychic told me my dog’s exact age, gender and described him completely. She also mentioned specifics about his personality that no one knew except for me and my husband. She said my dog had an issue with his neck, and that was causing his headaches. We were advised to find a good chiropractic veterinarian and have his neck adjusted in a specific spot. After writing down the exact adjustment location, she said, “Hang on a minute, your little dog is so sad.” How did she know I had another dog?

Apparently Stella, my Miniature Bull Terrier, was sad about our recent move. We had moved into our new home about six weeks ago. To help Stella through this adjustment period, the psychic said she would talk to Stella and explain our move was for the best. As I waited on the phone for a few minutes, I could hear Stella’s tail wagging underneath my desk. After a few closing pleasantries, we ended our call.

After Our Psychic Call

During our entire conversation, I took notes. After hanging up, I sat and cried. Honestly, I was shocked how accurate the animal communicator was about my dogs’ conditions. Stella was a different dog after my conversation with the pet psychic; she was back to her old self and played for hours. I found an amazing veterinary chiropractor and scheduled an adjustment for Santiago, my large Bouvier. As you guessed it, his painful area was exactly where the psychic recommended. While Santiago’s aggression never really went away, regular chiropractic adjustments sure helped.

Before pointing to social media or the Internet as hints during our psychic reading, I wasn’t on social media at the time. I had used rescue dogs as demo dogs in articles and videos back then, so it was impossible for the pet communicator to know specifics about my dogs. Trust me, I didn’t say much during our conversation, as I was too busy taking notes.

Other Dog Experts’ Encounters

Over the years, several dog behavior experts confided in me about their personal experiences with pet psychics and animal communicators. Some called because their dogs acted oddly during conformation shows, refused to jump or climb over certain agility equipment, had mysterious illnesses, or had recurring pains that vets were unable to detect. Regardless of the reason, most dog behavior experts were very satisfied with their pet psychic reading results. While this is an unconventional subject, it’s certainly interesting and food for thought if you really want to know what your dog is thinking. 

Have you consulted a pet psychic? If so, what was the outcome?

Dog Training Nation is a dog training blog for pet owners and dog lovers. We cover a range of topics from puppy socialization tips to dog aggression to dog health. It is our hope you share our content to make the world a better place for dogs.

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