Question Does my dog prefer a light color, like yellow, or a dark color, like blue? My research showed that dogs can see some colors. They see color the way a red-green colorblind person would see colors. This made me wonder if my dog had certain colors she liked more than others.

Standard Human Color Vision vs. Canine Color Vision This is how a person with standard vision would see a set of colored hats This is how a dog sees the same set of colored hats. http://www.vischeck.com/examples/

Research In reflection, a light ray strikes a smooth surface, such as a mirror and bounces off. Refraction occurs when a ray of light passes from one transparent medium to a second transparent medium. Human eyes have three 'cones' that detect color and can identify red, blue, green and yellow light; dogs only have two. This means dogs can distinguish blue and yellow, but not red and green. They see the world the way a person who has red-green colorblindness does. It is a myth that canines see only shades of black and white.

Hypothesis If my dog has a favorite color, then she will go to the one she sees most often in her world: yellow

Materials I used: a yellow cup a blue cup some of Maggie’s food Maggie, my corgi :3

Procedure 1. First we put the yellow cup on the left and blue cup on the right, far apart on our living room carpet. 2. We put a piece of Maggie’s food underneath each cup. 3. Maggie sat equidistant between the two cups. When the cups were ready, we released Maggie and recorded which cup she went to first. 4. We did this six times. 5. Next, we put the blue cup on the left and the yellow cup on the right. We repeated steps 2, 3, and 4 for a total of twelve times.

Procedure 5. We put the yellow cup on the left and the blue cup on the right again, but this time we put them close together. 6. We repeated steps 2, 3 and 4 six times. 7. Finally, keeping the cups close together, we put the yellow cup on the right and the blue cup on the left. 8. We repeated steps 2, 3, and 4 six times.

Independent Variable (What did I change?) Variables Controlled Variables (What did I keep the same?) Dependent Variable (What did I observe?) Independent Variable (What did I change?) The controlled variables in this experiment were the cup colors, the food underneath the cups, and Maggie’s position before being released. I looked for what cup Maggie went to first when she was released. Maggie’s color choice was the dependent variable. I changed the positions of the cups (left and right, far apart and close together) equal numbers of times so I would know Maggie was making a choice based on her color preference and not where the cup was placed.

Data and Results Maggie chose the food under the blue cup 1 time and chose the food underneath the yellow cup 5 times.

Data and Results Maggie chose the food under the yellow cup 4 times and the food under the blue cup 2 times.

Data and Results Maggie chose the food under the yellow cup 6 times and the food under the blue cup 0 times.

Data and Results Maggie chose the food under the yellow cup 0 times and the food under the blue cup 6 times.

My hypothesis was correct. Maggie did prefer the yellow colored cup. Conclusion Maggie chose the yellow cup 15 out of 24 times (62.5% of the time) and the blue cup 9 out of 24 times (37.5% of the time) My hypothesis was correct. Maggie did prefer the yellow colored cup. After observing the experiment, I think that Maggie may have preferred the yellow cup because she could see the cup better. This is because yellow is more vibrant in a dog’s vision than blue. This experiment makes me think about the types of toys that I might purchase for my dog in the future. I believe companies that produce products for canines might be interested in research like this when they are marketing and developing items for dogs.

What color do

dogs like more?