Do Dogs have a Color Preference?
By: Eddie Lord
Problem
Do dogs have a color preference?
Hypothesis
My hypothesis was that most of the dogs would go to yellow or blue. I thought yellow because it is a bright color and blue because I have heard that dogs see in shades of gray which is a darker color.
Procedure
With the dog in another room, I put the papers (yellow, red, purple, green, and blue) on the floor in no particular order evenly spaced 5 inches
apart so they weren't too close to each other.
2. I placed a dog treat in the middle of each piece of colored paper.
3. I had the dog come into the room, let him/her eat one treat.
4. Then I recorded which colored paper the dog chose the treat from and what position in the row the paper was located.
5. As the dog was eating the treat, I would quickly pick up the other treats from the other papers so the dog wouldn’t eat all of them.
6. Next, I would repeat the process 2 more times with the same dog, but each time when the dog was in another room, I moved the papers
around in a different order so the colors were in a different position each time.
7. I tested the two other dogs the same way, but on different days with new pieces of paper, so they wouldn’t smell the other dogs, which could cause them to chose the same thing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the data showed that all three dogs picked a treat once from the purple paper. The Labrador Retriever picked green two times and the Pomeranian picked it once, so the green paper was picked three times as well. The Dakota Sport Retriever and the Pomeranian both picked yellow. The red paper was only picked once by the Dakota Sport Retriever. No dogs picked the blue paper. I learned that the color purple was the preference of the dogs that I tested. It was chosen the most by all three dogs. My hypothesis was not correct because the dogs did not pick yellow or blue the most. I noticed through observation that it might have been the position that the dogs went to more than the color. Through my data, the position all three dogs went to the most was the second paper from the left. This position the dogs went to a total of four times. I also noticed that the dogs seemed more interested in getting the treat, rather than what color it was on. Even though all my experiments were done the same way, I feel like it wasn’t an accurate conclusion of a dog’s color preference. To improve this experiment, I would use the same breed of dog, age, and gender and maybe even use different color dog toys instead of treats. Overall, this experiment was interesting to see that these three dogs chose purple the most.
Abstract
I wanted to investigate if colors, attracted dogs to certain spots. Since I have a dog of my own, I thought it would be beneficial for training purposes. I tested five colors in this project. I tested yellow, red, purple, green, and blue. I used three different breeds of dogs. I used a Dakota Sport Retriever, a Pomeranian, and a Yellow Labrador Retriever. I predicted that most of the dogs would go to yellow or blue. I thought yellow because it is a bright color, but on the flip side, I thought blue because I have heard that dogs see in shades of gray.
With the dog in another room, I put the papers (yellow, red, purple, green, and blue) on the floor in no particular order evenly spaced 5 inches apart so they weren't too close to each other. I placed a dog treat in the middle of each piece of colored paper. Once this was set up, I had the dog come into the room, let him/her eat one treat, then I would record which colored paper the dog chose the treat from. As the dog was eating the treat, I would quickly pick up the other treats from the other papers so the dog wouldn’t eat all of them. Then, I would repeat the process 2 more times with the same dog, but each time when the dog was in another room, I moved the papers around in a different order so the colors were in a different position each time. Every time the dog ate a treat, I would record on a piece of paper what color he/she took the treat from and what position in the row the paper was located. I tested the two other dogs the same way, but on different days with new pieces of paper, so they wouldn’t smell the other dogs, which could cause them to chose the same thing.
The data showed that all three dogs picked a treat once from the purple paper. The Labrador Retriever picked green two times and the Pomeranian picked it once, so the green paper was picked three times as well. The Dakota Sport Retriever and the Pomeranian both picked yellow. The red paper was only picked once by the Dakota Sport Retriever. No dogs picked the blue paper.
I learned that the color purple was the preference of the dogs that I tested. It was chosen the most by all three dogs. My hypothesis was not correct because the dogs did not pick yellow or blue the most. I noticed through observation that it might have been the position that the dogs went to more than the color. Through my data, the position all three dogs went to the most was the second paper from the left. This position the dogs went to a total of four times. I also noticed that the dogs seemed more interested in getting the treat, rather than what color it was on. Even though all my experiments were done the same way, I feel like it wasn’t an accurate conclusion of a dog’s color preference. To improve this experiment, I would use the same breed of dog, age, and gender and maybe even use different color dog toys instead of treats. Overall, this experiment was interesting to see what color these three dogs chose the most.
Data Table