Is Your Dog Right or Left Pawed?

Approximately 80% of the world population is right handers, so it’s without a doubt that many things and gestures (i.e. handshakes) are designed for the righties benefit. But when it comes to our dogs, does it matter if they are right or left pawed? If they are lefties, are they considered the minority or less desired companion dogs? Do we have to “force” train our dogs to use their right pawed like some parents did to those preschooler lefties so as to conform to the society standards?

The good news is no. As a matter of fact, left-pawed dogs are much favored when it comes to training police and guide dogs—according the faulty of Veterinary Science at University of Sydney.

“This work will explain the role of training and maturity on the handedness in dogs. It also improve the relationship between dogs and humans by exploring brains lateralization, one of the most profound individual differences between dogs and humans that influence dog temperament.” said Paul McGreevy, associate professor.

According to a study in Neuropsychology, it seems that lefties use both sides of the brain more easily and faster than righties. From numerous sources, some experts claim that lefties tend to excel better in one to one combat sport such as tennis and baseball. Could this mean that a left pawed dog made a better fetcher than right pawers? Hmm…I’m guessing not since dogs catch flying things with their mouth!

Brain lateralization theory, developed by Roger Sperry and Robert Omstein, is to understand our behavior, our personality, our creativity, and our ability to use the proper mode of thinking when performing particular tasks. Briefly said, right brain processes information in an intuitive, integrated, simultaneous way while left brain processes information in an analytical, rational, logical, sequential way. Although the correlation between brain lateralization and handedness has yet to be proven, Paul Broca suggested that a person’s handedness was opposite from the specialized hemisphere.

Base on the theories and studies above, clearly a left pawer is a winner to have not just in working dog industries but will also benefit owners who want their dogs excel in agility, flyball, obedience, or even in canine freestyle (a.k.a. dancing with dogs) activities. However, on the less cheery side to this study, left pawers are at a greater risk to some diseases.

The study will also contribute to related areas of growing significance in humans. For instance studies show an increased risk of accidental injuries among left handers, and schizophrenia among mixed-handed patients. Left-handed people also have lower life expectancy than right handed people, reflecting the higher incidence of accidents as well as smoking and alcoholism. In addition, evidence indicates that left-handed women have a 39 per cent higher risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer.

How To Test If Your Dog Is Right or Left Pawed?

Steps:

1. Fill the Kong toy with your dog’s favorite food.
2. Place the toy in the middle in front of your dog.
3. Record the paw your dog first used to touch the Kong toy until he has made 100 paw interactions on each of his right and left paw.

What’s Counted:

• Left paw on Kong, right paw not or right paw on Kong and left paw not.
• Left paw over right paw on Kong or right paw over left paw on Kong.
• Left paw on top of Kong right paw underneath or right paw on top of Kong, left paw underneath.

What’s Not Counted:

• If your dog repositions his paw or paws on the Kong without the paw or paws completely leaving the Kong.
• If your dog uses either one paw or both paws to hold down the Kong for longer than 10 seconds.

The Result:

• When your dog used more than 64 right paw interactions out of 100, he is considered a right pawed.
• When your dog used more than 64 left paw interactions out of 100, he is considered a left pawed.
• When your dog used less than 64 paw interactions out of 100 on either paw, he is considered an ambidextrous.

I’ve not done the test on my dogs and I don’t know how long it’ll take. I’d assume it’ll take between 10 to 20 minutes to achieve 100 “correct” paw interactions. Keep in mind that dogs have short attention span. If you notice your dog deviates from his Kong before 100 paw interactions, you pretty much have to stop the test and retest him on another day with better treats!

Source: Dog’s Life magazine. Issue May 2007