How Your Puppy Experiences the World Around Them
If you’ve ever owned a puppy, you are probably well aware of that “puppy love” feeling. Because of how much we cherish these little furballs, it’s not uncommon to be curious about how they perceive the world. How does your puppy see, hear, and smell everything around them? Let’s find out!
What Your Puppy Sees
For the first two weeks after a puppy is born, they actually can’t see anything. Their little canine eyes won’t open until they are around 14 to 21 days old. Once they can finally open their eyes, their vision is limited – but not in the ways people usually assume they are. It’s a common myth that dogs are color blind and only see in black and white when actually dogs (and your puppy) can see color just not as much as we do. Your puppy sees the world in yellows and blues and lacks the perception of greens and reds.
Your puppy may not be able to recognize every color on the spectrum, but they can see exceptionally well in the dark. Puppies have more rods in their eyes, which pretty much translates to their vision is much better in dimmer lighting than ours are.
Another fun fact about dogs is their attention to detail, which they don’t have much of. Since canines are natural-born hunters, their eyes are developed to recognize even the slightest movements.
The Things Your Puppy Can Hear
Your puppy’s hearing is the last sense they end up developing, in fact when they’re born they’re Deaf. Not until they’re about three weeks old does a puppy’s hearing begin to emerge. But once it does, it’s four times better than how we hear – they even pick up a more extensive range of frequencies than we do.
Canines have much deeper canals than we do, which creates a better funneling system to carry sound into. All dogs use their hearing in a way that’s similar to radar antennas, dogs with upright ears especially. Due to the 18 different muscles working in their ear, your puppy can fine-tune their hearing, which is pretty much like turning the volume up on a radio. This helps to explain many dogs fear of thunder and fireworks – because of how loud they are; it may be not only frightening but also painful to listen to.
Your Puppy’s Sense of Smell
Every smell something rotten that causes your sense of smell to be extra sensitive the rest of the day? Well, imagine that being 10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive – that’s what your dog experiences. Your pup’s sense of smell is so advanced that it’s structured to separate the acts of breathing and smelling. From the moment your puppy was born, they used their sense of smell to navigate the world around them – because remember, they can’t see or hear yet.
Some breeds are more specialized or skilled in a specific sense than other dogs are – but the bottom line is, your puppy sees, hears, and smells their environment much differently than you do. Learning this can give you the tools to better help your puppy develop more effectively.