Minichan

Could your dog or cat be a southpaw?

Paw preference won’t make a dog or cat walk, talk or wink like a human. You won’t even get a high-five or a fist pump out of it, said Dr. Nick Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Here are a few simple tests you can do to determine your pet’s preference. Doing it 100 times (over several days) should give you an answer:

- If you teach a dog to shake, which paw does it offer you first and most often?
- Fill a toy with something delicious and put it in the centre of the dog’s visual field. Which paw does it use to touch the toy first? Which paw does the dog use to hold the toy?
- Put something sticky on a dog or cat’s nose. Which paw does the animal use to remove it?
- Place a treat or a piece of cheese under a sofa, just beyond a dog or cat’s reach. Which paw does it use to try and get it out?
- Dangle a toy over a cat’s head. Which paw does it lift to bat it?
- Put a treat under a bowl. Which paw does the cat or dog use to move it?
- When a dog wants in the backdoor, which paw does it “knock” with?

Schwartz said there are a few things that might alter test results:
- If a dog has arthritis or an injury in a shoulder or leg, it could use the other to compensate.
- When a cat really wants something, tests show it uses its dominant paw, but when it’s just fooling around, it may use either or both.
- It’s possible that handedness in dogs, and maybe cats, will change over time as the animal’s motivation changes.