Left-Pawed or Right-Pawed? The Surprising Science of Canine Paw Preference

Published August 2026 · Pet N Pet Editorial · National Dog Day Science Series

Yes, and it's a real, measurable trait, though not quite like human handedness. The largest study on record, a 2021 analysis of 17,901 dogs, found 58.3% of dogs with a clear preference favored their right paw and 41.7% favored their left, while about a quarter of dogs showed no preference at all (Laverack, Pike, Cooper, and Frasnelli, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2021).

But the more interesting finding isn't which paw wins. It's that a dog's "dominant" paw can flip depending on the task, and that measuring it well enough has become a legitimate tool for predicting which dogs succeed in guide-dog and working-dog training.

How Do You Even Test a Dog's Paw Preference?

Researchers use a handful of standardized tests: the Kong test, stuffing a treat inside a Kong toy and recording which paw the dog uses to hold it steady, the first-step test, which paw touches down first on stairs, and food-reaching or tape tests, which paw a dog uses to swipe at a treat under furniture or tape stuck to its nose. Different tests can produce different answers for the same dog.

A 2010 study of 113 potential guide dogs found the first-step test detected a significant paw preference in 76.1% of dogs, compared with just 52.2% using the standard Kong test (Tomkins, Thomson, and McGreevy, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 2010). How you ask the question changes the answer.

So, Which Paw Do Most Dogs Actually Favor?

The largest dataset on record, built from 17,901 dogs through the BBC's "Test Your Pet" project, found 58.3% of dogs with a clear preference favored their right paw and 41.7% favored their left (Laverack, Pike, Cooper, and Frasnelli, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2021). About 26% showed no clear preference at all. That same study found a small but statistically significant sex difference: 60.7% of female dogs were right-pawed compared with 56.1% of males, and older dogs skewed more strongly right-pawed.

A separate 2019 meta-analysis pooling multiple smaller studies found a lower overall rate of clear preference, about 68% of dogs, and no significant sex difference at all (Ocklenburg, Isparta, Peterburs, and Papadatou-Pastou, Laterality, 2019). The two findings don't fully agree, which is normal in a field still working out the best way to measure the trait. What's consistent across every study: unlike humans, where roughly 90% of people are right-handed, dogs show nothing close to that strong a species-wide bias.

The Same Dog Can Test Differently Depending on the Task

A 2018 study testing 32 pet dogs across four different tasks, Kong, tape, lift-paw, and first-step, found that a dog favoring its right paw on one test would often favor its left paw on another (Wells, Hepper, Milligan, and Barnard, Behavioural Processes, 2018). Paw preference, in other words, looks less like a fixed trait and more like something that shifts with what's actually being asked of the paw.

Does Paw Preference Actually Predict Anything Useful?

Yes, and this is the strongest, most consistently replicated finding in the field: it's the strength of a dog's paw preference, how strongly one-sided it is, not which paw wins, that predicts working-dog success. A 2008 study of 43 potential guide dogs found that dogs who used both paws simultaneously less often on the Kong test were more likely to succeed in guide-dog training (Batt, Batt, Baguley, and McGreevy, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 2008).

A 2023 study of military and operational dogs found the same pattern held up at a larger scale: dogs with stronger lateralization were significantly more likely to be fully operational rather than semi-operational, and the authors recommended laterality testing as a purchase-time screening tool (Goldblatt, Gazit, Cappon, and Terkel, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2023). A brand-new June 2026 study went a step further, building the first standardized "Doginburgh Inventory," modeled on the human Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, specifically so laterality testing can be used consistently for training and welfare assessment going forward (Isparta, d'Ingeo, Straziota, Nolè, Quaranta, and Siniscalchi, Royal Society Open Science, June 2026).

What About the 'Anxious Lefties' Claim?

One often-cited 2006 study found dogs with no clear paw preference were significantly more reactive to thunderstorms and fireworks than dogs with a clear left or right preference (Branson and Rogers, Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2006). It's a real, peer-reviewed finding, but it hasn't held up consistently since. A 2019 follow-up study found no difference in paw-preference direction or strength between dogs with behavior problems and matched controls (Wells, Hepper, Milligan, and Barnard, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2019), and a larger 2022 study of 86 dogs found no significant correlation at all between paw preference and standard emotionality scores (Simon, Frasnelli, Guo, Barber, Wilkinson, and Mills, Animals, 2022). The honest read: there may be a narrower link worth studying further, but it's not the settled "no-preference dogs are anxious" rule some pet content implies.

One More Genuinely Fun Finding

A 2023 study found left-handed owners were more likely to own left-pawed dogs, and right-handed owners more likely to own right-pawed dogs (Charlton and Frasnelli, Animal Cognition, 2023). Nobody is entirely sure why, whether it's about how owners handle treats and toys during a puppy's early development or something else, but it's a genuinely odd, verified correlation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I test my dog's paw preference at home?

Stuff a treat inside a Kong-style toy and see which paw your dog uses to hold it steady, repeating the test at least 10 times for a reliable read. Researchers also use a 'first-step' test, watching which paw touches a set of stairs first, since different tests can produce different results for the same dog.

What percentage of dogs are left-pawed?

In the largest study on record, 41.7% of dogs with a clear preference favored their left paw, compared with 58.3% favoring their right, out of 17,901 dogs tested (Laverack et al., Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2021). About a quarter of dogs showed no clear preference at all.

Does paw preference mean anything, or is it just trivia?

It's more than trivia for working and guide dogs specifically. Multiple studies have found that the strength of a dog's paw preference, not which paw it favors, predicts success in guide-dog and operational-dog training programs, making laterality testing a legitimate screening tool in that context.

Are dogs with no paw preference more anxious?

The evidence is mixed. A 2006 study found a link between no paw preference and noise reactivity specifically, but two more recent, larger studies found no significant connection between paw preference and general emotionality or behavior problems. It isn't a settled finding.

Do male and female dogs prefer different paws?

The evidence is mixed here too. The largest single study (17,901 dogs) found a small but statistically significant difference, with female dogs slightly more likely to be right-pawed than males. A separate meta-analysis pooling smaller studies found no significant sex difference at all.

Bottom Line

Most dogs do show a paw preference, though nowhere near as strongly or consistently as human handedness, and that preference can shift depending on what you're actually asking the paw to do. The most useful discovery in the research isn't which paw wins. It's that how strongly one-sided a dog is has become a genuinely useful tool for predicting which dogs thrive in guide-dog and working-dog training.

SOURCES & CITATIONS

Tan, U.  Earliest quantified paw-preference study (n=28), International Journal of Neuroscience (Feb 1987).  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3596925/

Laverack, Pike, Cooper, Frasnelli  Largest paw-preference dataset (n=17,901), Applied Animal Behaviour Science 238:105298 (2021).  https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016815912100085X

Ocklenburg, Isparta, Peterburs, Papadatou-Pastou  Meta-analysis across pooled studies, Laterality (2019).  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30741091/

Wells, Hepper, Milligan, Barnard  Task-specific inconsistency in paw preference across 4 tests, Behavioural Processes 149:1-7 (Apr 2018).  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29391215/

Wells, Hepper, Milligan, Barnard  No paw-preference link to behavior problems, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 210:81-87 (2019).  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159118303174

Branson, Rogers  Link between no paw preference and noise reactivity (n=48), Journal of Comparative Psychology (2006).  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16893254/

Simon, Frasnelli, Guo, Barber, Wilkinson, Mills  No correlation between paw preference and emotionality (n=86), Animals (2022).  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9103732/

Batt, Batt, Baguley, McGreevy  Kong-test lateralization predicts guide-dog training success (n=43), Journal of Veterinary Behavior 3(4) (2008).  https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/sersani/4/

Tomkins, Thomson, McGreevy  First-Stepping Test methodology (n=113), Journal of Veterinary Behavior 5(5) (2010).  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236676460_First-stepping_Test_as_a_measure_of_motor_laterality_in_dogs_Canis_familiaris

Goldblatt, Gazit, Cappon, Terkel  Laterality strength predicts operational-dog status, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 262:105900 (Mar 2023).  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159123000722

Isparta, d'Ingeo, Straziota, Nolè, Quaranta, Siniscalchi  The "Doginburgh Inventory," a new 5-category laterality scale, Royal Society Open Science 13(6) (June 1, 2026).  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/13/6/252201/482081/The-Doginburgh-Inventory-from-hands-to-paws-in

Charlton, Frasnelli  Owner handedness correlates with dog paw preference (n=62), Animal Cognition (2023).  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36057017/