Dogs also prefer one side of their paws. Most dogs, like humans, are right-handed, or rather: right-pawed. According to a study from 2004, male dogs often prefer the left side and female dogs the right.

 

In official studies, the dogs' eyes or muzzles were covered with adhesive tape. Automatically, the dog tries to remove the offending tape with its favourite side first. However, a dog owner can find out with a simple test whether his dog is right- or left-handed. Dogs can also be ambidextrous, i.e. not preferring any particular paw.

How to find out if the dog is right- or left-handed

A dog trained to paw will often give its favourite paw at the master's command. However, it is possible that the dog has been trained to a certain side that is not necessarily its favourite side. If the dog is not trained, you can kneel on the floor in front of it and hold out a hand. Many dogs copy their master and extend a paw, in this case their preferred side.

You can also put a blanket over the dog's head to test which paw the dog uses to pull it down.

Put a treat on the floor so that the dog can see it and cover a bowl over it. Now you can see which paw the dog will use to turn the bowl over to get to its treat.

Put a blob of peanut butter on the dog's nose so that he cannot reach it with his tongue. The dog will try to wipe the peanut butter off first with its preferred paw. You can do all these tests to see which paw the dog uses more often.

Important: If the dog does not pull the blanket down quickly enough, you should help it so that it does not choke. Do not use peanut butter on allergic dogs.