Is Your Dog a Leftie or a Rightie?
< A version of this article was published on the Green Acres Kennel Shop blog >
< Updated 2026-06-11 >
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No, I’m not asking about your dog’s political persuasion. I’m inquiring whether your dog is left-pawed, right-pawed, or ambidextrous.
A New article in Science, How can you tell whether your dog is right-pawed or left-pawed?, discusses a new paper published by The Royal Society Open Science; “The ‘Doginburgh Inventory’: from hands to paws in assessing canine motor laterality.” Scientists were interested in learning more about a dog’s pawedness because there is evidence that it may affect our dogs’ immune response and behavior.
While some pet parents and scientists have posed this question more than once, a new protocol was recently developed by a team of scientists based on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, a standardized tool used to assess handedness in humans. Scientists wanted a more accurate assessment beyond hand or paw preference; the strength of that preference can vary among individuals. Those who are ambidextrous can do things equally easily with either hand or paw.
Sometimes a person or dog may change their handedness due to injury. For example, my father entered the United States Marine Corps right-handed. An injury during the battle for Guadalcanal left him paralyzed on his right side for over a year. When he was finally released from a Naval Hospital stateside, he departed left-handed and remained so the rest of his life.
Dogs in the study were evaluated after two tasks involving paw manipulation and two tests involving locomotion. The test results allowed them to place a dog in one of five categories: strong left, weak left, ambilateral, weak right, or strong right. Further studies hope to examine the effects of a dog’s age and breed on paw preference. You can learn more at the links below.
- Science – June 9, 2026 – How can you tell whether your dog is right-pawed or left-pawed? – https://www.science.org/content/article/how-can-you-tell-whether-your-dog-right-pawed-or-left-pawed
- Royal Society Open Science – June 10, 2026 – The ‘Doginburgh Inventory’: from hands to paws in assessing canine motor laterality – https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/6/252201/482081/The-Doginburgh-Inventory-from-hands-to-paws-in
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