What Amber likes best about our house is the many windows, and that the windows are low so she can see out. In the bedroom the sills are even with the surface of the bed so she can curl up, or stretch out, lie down, sit, or stand, and still keep an eye on what goes on in our neighborhood. Frequently I join her. We each prefer to watch the activities of members of our own species, but both are interested in cats. There are usually representatives of all three species moving about. People with dogs on leashes pass by. Children in swim suits with towels draped across their shoulders walk to the swimming pool two blocks away.
Across the street live two black labs who come out on their deck to bark loud warnings to any dog passing by. Alerted by them, Amber joins in to tell potential interlopers not to mess with us either. Caddy-cornered across the street lives a very old golden lab who is free to wander loose but never goes further than the sidewalk surrounding his yard. He suns himself at the foot of his porch steps and pays no attention to the ruckus.
Across the street in both directions live seemingly unemployed young men who are outside much of the time.
They attract more unemployed young men who come by to lean on their trucks and smoke and talk, or get a football and toss it back and forth in the street, or help each other carry things from the trucks to a garage.
Some of the young men are attended by small children who play in the yard. Amber and I watch what goes on. One of the children, a little girl about three years old, is playing with a garden hose and sprays the young men standing by the truck. One of them chases her and takes the hose, spraying her with it as she laughs and runs.
Do Amber and I see the same thing as we look out our window at the ‘hood? Not exactly. Partly, of course, our interests govern what we notice. But beyond that there are differences in our ability to see. It is not true, although I have often heard, that dogs see only in black and white. But it is true that their ability to distinguish colors is less than that of humans. According to John Bradshaw, “they have only two types of color-sensitive receptor cells.” However, “they can distinguish many different colors based on the relative strength of the signals coming from these two.” He goes on to say that dogs cannot distinguish orange from red. And that they see turquoise as gray, which I wish I had known before painting the bedroom walls bright turquoise.
So if it’s bright daylight when Amber and I look out the window, she probably does not see the bright primary colors of the children’s yard toys across the street as vividly as I do. But if the daylight is fading in the evening, she has the advantage. Her vision is much better than mine in dim lighting because while she has fewer color receptors, she has more light receptors, making her night vision more sensitive than mine. According to Alexandra Horowitz, Amber also sees faster than I do; that is, she is better at seeing things in motion. This no doubt comes in handy when chasing rabbits. It also explains the almost miraculous-seeming ability many dogs have to catch a ball or a Frisbee on the fly.
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