I bet there are things that have a much better impact on dog emotion than color. If there is really a client looking to promote a calming atmosphere maybe plug in calming scents.

Calming scents such as lavender. My dog walker swears by lavender.

lisaam. I want to avoid the human equivalent of being kept for hours in a bright red stop sign room- I hate the color red with a passion.

My dogs ideal home would be a pile of torn bath towels, shredded toys and acres of snacks readily available I think they have different priorities than I do. They have never mentioned a favorite color.

I searched for: calming colors for dogs animal hospital (no quotes)

I showed the OP to my nine year old Greyhound. She rolled her eyes and asked if you were kidding?

Thank you cd7733! Very Helpful! So interesting!

"ability to see the UVB spectrum .... some materials appear to fluoresce to dogs, including organic material like urine that contains phosphorous as well as bright white, manmade materials such as paper, plastic and white fabrics, Lewis says. Because these white items are more visually jarring to dogs, their use should be avoided. Your professional-looking white doctor’s coat could be lighting up like a christmas tree to your patients.

"White lab coat appears like a lighted Christmas tree"

You're welcome, DK Haas! Glad to help!

Your cute dogs obviously are very comfortable with red, blue and black(?) based on the picture of them on your sofa. Separation anxiety is about you leaving rather than where you leave them. Room color is likely to be a very minor component of the solution as they live in your home rather than occasionally visiting a vet clinic. The whole environment is going to be more important as lisaam said as well as behavior modification. Pheromone products are available and helped my dog adjust when she came to us and had some anxiety. Distractions and good treats are helpful. You might want to check out Temple Grandin’s work. She does most of her work with livestock but has some very interesting insights into how animals experience their environment.

I honestly do not think dogs give a damn as long as they are fed and loved.

Funny how some ppl embrace any opportunity to make a neg or mocking comment, rather than go about their day. Truly, I wish they have more joy in their lives. Sad

What a caring attitude, DK Haas. Your dogs are lucky to have you.

My dog seems to be more concerned about whether she can dig her way underneath the blankets on the bed or the throws on either the living room sofa/basement family room area stationary back 'wallhugger' style futon. After that, her priority appears to be monitoring all humans in the home for signs of eating things but not sharing with her, belly rubs, and spontaneously shedding her entire body's covering of fur at one single moment at any time during the summer months. Seriously, she's a short haired chihuahua miniature pinscher mix and though I brush her regularly, there will be multiple points in the summer where she "poof!* sheds all at once and might be able to turn her fur sheds into yarn to weave her a winter sweater with. ;)

Maybe she'd tell me otherwise (or has been trying to but we don't speak the same language lol) if she could, but my decor palette preferences of blues, greys, cool based greens and darker woods seem acceptable to her. Kind of like the mister in that how the house is decorated and in what colors, is left up to me - as long as I include their top preferences (the mister wanted a big fancy new tv for the main floor living room, the dog likes burrow-friendly blankets, belly rubs, and longingly staring up at the humans through the glass dining room table as they eat their meals. :P

Tartanmeup. Thank you for your kind words. I'm certain kindness is mirrored in you as well.

Jenn-Mom. I'm sorry you must deal with shedding. On the bright side, your furbaby is tiny. So,, there is less hair square footage. I don't know the breed mix of mine. Thankfully, my boy (feet in the air sleeper) doesn't shed at all. My girl on the other hand, flounces her long hair all over the house. Hence, the need for blankets on the chocolate couch.

She's 12lbs (big for either of the breeds she's a mix of), but we also have throws/blankets on the sofas to contain the fur shed and can be removed when guests visit - without having to worry about offering them a vacuum of their back/rear before they leave. One gets tucked around the sides/back of the cushions and then another is left in a heap on top of it instead of neatly folded, so she can kick/dig it around into a suitable nesting spot and/or burrow underneath. My dog can sleep in some odd positions. Sometimes on her back with front paws in the air, back legs splayed and snoring; there's the uncanny ability to have her head on the bed pillow so if I wake up I'll be face to face with her staring me down from the mister's pillow (he gives up half his bed pillow, I end up sitting perched on the front half of chairs because the dog wants to sleep behind me on the back portion of the chair seat if she can manage; squeezes herself directly between the mister and I in the bed like she's some kind of nun overseeing middle school students at their first school dance while yelling "LEAVE ROOM FOR JESUS!"...

She's got quite a personality. :P

Dog and cat threads have become very combatitive on Houzz in the past. Seems to be an emotional topic.

Tilly. Thank you

I find it difficult to understand why some ppl are compelled to make neg mocking comments, as this is a design assistance request forum, not Twitter, where snipes are the norm. After reading a post, either add guidance or move-on. Some folks really need to find contentment. Clearly, they hold a negative self-image and must dig at others to make themselves feel superior. Rather than succeeding at that, they remain with a negative self-outlook and it continues. Perhaps they should get more exercise? After all, "exercise gives your endorphins and endorphins make you happy" (E. Woods). One thing miserable ppl have in common is "In Cel". Involuntary celibacy, or lack of fulfilling friendships, which becomes a circular pattern.

You remind me of a reply I spotted on Reddit yesterday, DK: "That's a lot of words to say "No one wants to f*** me."

Well this must be why my lab & lab wannabe were so naughty in the family room with Walnut paneling and red/brown/gold carpet. {'70s}

It is my understanding that different animals not only have different visual systems, and different color perception, they also have very different prioritization of their senses. While humans get a lot of their environmental feedback from our sense of vision, other animals might not. From what I have been told, dogs are not particularly influenced by visual information, whereas cats are more so (although movement is probably more important than static colors) and birds are extremely visual.

I am sure, somebody could do more research and find more data on this question. But my initial impression would agree with what everybody else in this thread seems to think as well. There is no such thing as the equivalent of a "stop sign red" room for a dog. To think that there is would be a failed attempt to treat animals as if they were humans.

But there are, of course, lots of other things you can do to make the room comfortable for a dog. Smells and accessories/toys would spring to mind. You probably already know from your own experience with your pets which things are important to them.

How was my comment negative . I happen to have a lot of joy in my life I have dogs i love and they really do not care what color my walls are .

Thank you CD7733 for providing me with the color palette from the veterinarian research periodical. It has helped tremendously. GRAY-GREEN wins!

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I have a gray-green /jade bench in a spare room that my boy loves to nap under. So, I will move it to the utility/mud room.

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I searched for inspiration for walls and cabinets and I found some wedding palettes that all matched jade with gray.

I found this utility room which belongs to Sophie Patterson. It has "pebble" pale gray cabinets and antique brass hardware.

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Considering the gold accents on the bench, I'm thinking of using these ideas, excludng the $5185 RW Atlas faucet in antique brass. (Ahhhh to have the designer discount!)

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Other than a decorative vase....How can I marry the bench to the room? Would SW Sea Salt be a good choice of wall color Or should I choose another light color? It is not a huge space and it is interior room without windows.

SW Sea Salt:

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Or use my leftover SW Eider White or Accessible beige from the master bedroom?

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Since this is a laundry room, I wanted to point out that detergents (a lot of them anyway) contain fluorescent brightening agents). If dogs can see into the UV spectrum, that drip of detergent down the bottle may also look like a lighted Christmas tree.

Here I thought dogs only saw things as grey or white....learn something new every day.

I love sea salt and have used it several times in different spaces- right now it is in my laundry room. I've never really thought of it as a gray/green color. But it is very mercurial - it sometimes looks more blue/green and other times more green/blue depending on light and what it's reflecting in the room. I know i find the color soothing and zen, but I'm not sure how my dogs feel about it.