Spot The Collie Illusion

Can you see the head of a hearding dog Collie in this photo above?
Can you see the head of a hearding dog Collie in this photo above?

I am more than certain how those of you that came to this article via your optical illusion widgets saw the illusion immediately! Rest of us (Festivus, the illusion for the rest of us!) will need an explanation before we see it. It all began when Joe Faircloth sent me a photo, taken in front of the local bridal-wear shop in Newtown Powys, UK. Joe asked me a simple question, whether I can see a Colli in his simple shot?

What do you see?
What do you see?

In the beginning I almost ditched the submission, thinking there is nothing interesting about it (you have to remember we get dozen of submissions daily – not all of them qualify), but then a simple coincidence made me see it. As most of you know, Gmail has a built-in function, which previews  the thumbnail of the attached pictures and files. While I couldn’t see anything in the full-size photo Joe sent me, I saw the dog’s head perfectly when the shrinked version appeared! To picture you what happened, I made a similar thumb and added it to the right. Remember, original picture I received was 5 times bigger than the version I posted above… Can you see it now? If you still have problems, try shrinking the image – or check how it looks inside your preferred widget.

101 Replies to “Spot The Collie Illusion”

  1. Wow, I tried looking at this for 10 minutes and finally decided to zoom out on my browser. After zooming to about 25% it just popped out at me. My main problem with the larger image is that the man’s head is solid color while the woman’s head is not which makes it hard to distinguish how it would correlate to a dog’s head. Took me a while but it was pretty amazing once I finally saw it.

  2. It is easier to see once you shrink it. The man’s left hand is the dog’s nose. The man’s tux is the dog’s body and neck, while the two heads are the eye’s and ears. The dog is looking at you.

  3. neat i thought it looks more like a st bernard though but still neat the guys hand is the dogs nose i took me a while to get it almost gave up.

  4. I think the caption throws you off. I wonder if it is easier to spot the dog if you don’t see the caption. At first, I thought that I saw an animal, but once I read “Celtic Brides” I couldn’t see what I first saw. I moved back from the screen and then I saw the dog. Ironically, it looks my dog.

  5. its not fair to those of us that have widgets, i actually thought we were supposed to see the man and women in the illusion, not the collie…

  6. the best way to see it is to squint.
    i was looking at it for 5 minutes and didn’t see anything and then i squinted and saw it instantly.

  7. I found that with a tight squint I could see the dogs head i don’t know that it is a collie but the grooms hand appears to be the nose and the heads are the ears.

  8. I could only see it when I lent back and squinted at the picture, but I see it now! The man’s hand is the nose, and the two heads are two dark patches over the Collie dog’s eyes.

  9. took me a while to spot it, until I saw the “from-far” point of view of the pic : at that moment a Dog jumped in my face ! nice one !!

  10. If you’re able to, just close one eye and make the other eye go out of focus by going slightly cross-eyed and you’ll see the dog…! Took me a second but it’s definitely there.

  11. Thanks brian, after long effort i am able to see the dog with the black spotted ears and eyes, its face is covering the two couples. Good one for now

  12. I spent too much time looking for a dog head from the side, I could not see it until I read a comment about the dog facing me. Great illusion!

  13. hi v. i always im impressed with you daily illusions that fumbles and baffles the mind i do love your artistic web page keep up the good work i can’t find the god either but i have good eyes ill manage one day take care v. keep up the good work happy thanksgiving to all of the canadian amigos ciao nadia

  14. I would call that a border collie, not the typical American collie. Much easier to spot in the thumbnail than in the full-sized image.

  15. it took me about 2 days on the first day i had shut down my laptop and THEN i saw it on the widget because it was so tiny. today the 2nd day i try seeing it on the big version still to hard to c. bummer

  16. I squinted at the smaller picture and then immediately saw the “dog”–not the collie I was thinking of and trying to see. Certainly NOT a “Lassie” collie, to be sure.

    Tell people to “Look for the dog looking at you” and my guess is they’ll see it quicker.

  17. HELLO AGAIN V. I MUST BE REALLY BLIND OR I NEED STRONG GLASSES I HAVE STARED AND STARED AT THAT ILLUSION AND I AHVE NOT YET SEEN ANY DOG I HAVE STARED UNTIL MY EYES POPPED OUT OF MY SOCKETS YET I CAN’T SEE A DARN THING PLS OUTLINE THE DARN DOG SO I CAN PUT MY MIND AT REST AND MY EYES AS WELL I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE CAN U PLS OUTLINE IT THANKS MR V.

  18. I’ve got the illusions on my vista gadgets and saw the dog before anything else.
    p.s. Simple thumbnail view = move away from your monitor :)

  19. COULD SOME NICE PERSON ON MOILLUSIONS EMAIL ME shavedmoonie@hotmail.com AND PLS GIVE ME THE ANSWER TO THIS BAFFLING AND EYE TEASING OPTICAL ILLUSION THAT I MY REAL MSN LIVE MSGR EMAIL AND IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD EMAIL ME THIS “DOG” THAT EVERYONE SEES EXCPET FOR ME MAYBE I SHOULD REEXAM MY EYES BUT MY EYES FOR 37 IS PRETTY DARN GOOD ANYWAY HAVE A GOOD LONG WKND TO ALL OF THE CANADIANS WHO R CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING THIS LONG WKND CAIO GOBBLE GOBBLE

  20. Oh yea! Noooooooooow I see it. It was hard. If you back away from the computer, you see it.

    P.S. The peoples heads are the black spots over the eyes. :-)

  21. Whoah Nadia…the dog is looking at you, the people are its eyes/ears, the man’s hand is its nose (I’m pretty sure). Took me a loooonnnnnggg time. There’s nothing wrong with your eyesight! Optical illusions have to do with how the mind interprets things, not how good your sight is.

  22. the dogs eyes is the 2 persons heads, da dudes hand is da nose, da dudes body is the dogs body. it took me 30 secs to see it lol

  23. That was amazing! The woman’s profile was the eye. The man’s head was the spot around the eye. The hand was the nose. It’ll look like the dog is wearing a shirt if you step back 5 feet.

  24. that was AWESOME! But Robert is much cooler. you just have to stand back, away from the computer, or phone, or WHATEVER you are using…fancy people

  25. i finally saw it after i read the comments it is so cool but that is not at all a collie it is deffinitaly a saint bernard but still super cool

  26. easier to see from afar… or just take off ur glasses till your eyes burst.. saw it immediatey y cant you? clue: nose = man’s hand

  27. I moved back from the monitor and then scrolled back and forth quickly over the thumbnail. Saw it then no problem.

  28. Lol it’s just a dog’s head without a body
    If you have a lot imagination, you can even see the dog is laughing !!

    Greetzzz Stefanie !

  29. HOLY MOLY THAT WAS HARD. i was sitting here going AHHHHH I CANT FLIPPING SEE ITTTTTT. i had to scroll down and find clues and everything! then i FINALLY saw it. only a little bit though! lol

  30. Yesterday I saw this and I can’t see it… But finally I realised that the man’s hand is the dog’s nose.

  31. If you have photoshop and run a gaussian blur you can see it better or you can just squint your eyes and get a similar effect.

  32. I GOT IT WITHIN THE FIRST SECOND THE PIC POPED UP CUZ IM ALL LIKE WHATS A COLLIE?
    THEN WHEN THE PIC POPPED UP IM ALL LIKE AWHH A PUPPY
    BTW IM A 12 YR OLD GIRL
    xD

  33. OHHH!! i see it for those having problems
    the guys hand is the dogs noes,
    peoples heads are eyes and ears of the dog and
    the mans body/suit is the dogs upper body

    it isnt a lassie collie it is a border collie

    1. OMG! THANKS SOOO MUCH! I’VE BEEN HERE FOR 20 MINUTES TRYING SEE IT, AND I’M LIKE “wut the f*** are you talkin’ about?!” BUT THEN I SQUINTED MY EYES AND SAW IT! XD

      PS. yes, i am very hyper… !!!!

  34. so i looked for a really long time and didn’t see it until i stood up at my comp, I have a flat laptop screen to look at so throwing the brightness off a bit made it pop out like crazy. and it’s not just part of the picture like is circled above, it’s the whole image except the writing. The image goes all the way out to the sides of the ears being the back of the people’s heads and then you get a bit of the dog’s shoulder in the man’s shirt, and also it’s a St. Bernard not a collie … looks just like Beethoven.

  35. Quite hard but I tilted iky screen try and try again and don’t skip or cheat ! Plz make another on of a boxer dog

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