Pug-o-Vision

Many people say to me, "Why do pugs turn their heads on the side like that? It makes them look so cute and intelligent"

I answer, "It's a byproduct of a survival trait evolved in the wild."

I am then usually looked at with skepticism.

Allow me to use diagrams.

In the top figure, we see a pug from the top (a plan view) and the field of vision (FOV).

The placement of the eye has more in common with fish and parrots, than with other mammals. The two FOVs will eventually overlap, giving stereoscopic (depth perception) vision.

(Uniquely, this happens over the horizon, so in other words; Not on this planet. The pug only has depth perception of objects in space. This ability is offset by being short sighted.)

In the middle figure, the FOV from the side. You will note that if the pug is approached within 1.5 meters by an average size human it cannot see above the level of the human's knees.

In the bottom figure (side view with head tilted) the FOV shows that the pug can perceive an entire human at a single glance. A further useful trait to the pug in the wild, is that inside the range of 1.5 metres, the pug can also perceive juicy treats that have been thrown on the ground in front of it, as well as the human throwing them.