Does owner handedness influence paw preference in dogs?

Charlton, Kimberley; Frasnelli, Elisa

doi:10.1007/s10071-022-01673-x

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This study supports previous reports of skilled paw use in dogs 75,76 . Even though dogs do not use their paws as skillfully as humans, having a dominant paw/limb may bring many benefits to them.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…All saliva samples were collected at the same time interval, i.e., between 10 and 12 a.m. Like other physiological measures, the saliva sample taken in the home environment was used as basal cortisol value, while the one collected 10 min after the OFT was used as an indicator for acute stress. It has previously been shown that approximately 10 min is needed after the induction of a stressor for a detectable increase in peripheral cortisol to occur 76 . Saliva samples were transported at + 4 °C in sample containers and stored at -20 °C until cortisol analysis.…”

Section: Animals and Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Acute and chronic stress alter behavioral laterality in dogs

Demirbas

Isparta

Saral

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dogs are one of the key animal species in investigating the biological mechanisms of behavioral laterality. Cerebral asymmetries are assumed to be influenced by stress, but this subject has not yet been studied in dogs. This study aims to investigate the effect of stress on laterality in dogs by using two different motor laterality tests: the Kong™ Test and a Food-Reaching Test (FRT). Motor laterality of chronically stressed (n = 28) and emotionally/physically healthy dogs (n = 32) were determined in two different environments, i.e., a home environment and a stressful open field test (OFT) environment. Physiological parameters including salivary cortisol, respiratory rate, and heart rate were measured for each dog, under both conditions. Cortisol results showed that acute stress induction by OFT was successful. A shift towards ambilaterality was detected in dogs after acute stress. Results also showed a significantly lower absolute laterality index in the chronically stressed dogs. Moreover, the direction of the first paw used in FRT was a good predictor of the general paw preference of an animal. Overall, these results provide evidence that both acute and chronic stress exposure can change behavioral asymmetries in dogs.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Animals and Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acute and chronic stress alter behavioral laterality in dogs

Demirbas

Isparta

Saral

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Even though somatosensation is not to be equated to motor behavior, we were interested in seeing whether somatosensation may be processed more strongly by one over another hemisphere within individuals (by looking at laterality quotients, hypothesis 3). Based on the existing literature for motor biases (Charlton and Frasnelli 2023 ; Ocklenburg et al 2019 ; Simon et al 2022 ), we expected the majority of dogs in our sample to show lateralized somatosensory processing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Functional mapping of the somatosensory cortex using noninvasive fMRI and touch in awake dogs

Guran,

Boch,

Sladky

et al. 2024

Brain Struct Funct

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dogs are increasingly used as a model for neuroscience due to their ability to undergo functional MRI fully awake and unrestrained, after extensive behavioral training. Still, we know rather little about dogs’ basic functional neuroanatomy, including how basic perceptual and motor functions are localized in their brains. This is a major shortcoming in interpreting activations obtained in dog fMRI. The aim of this preregistered study was to localize areas associated with somatosensory processing. To this end, we touched N = 22 dogs undergoing fMRI scanning on their left and right flanks using a wooden rod. We identified activation in anatomically defined primary and secondary somatosensory areas (SI and SII), lateralized to the contralateral hemisphere depending on the side of touch, and importantly also activation beyond SI and SII, in the cingulate cortex, right cerebellum and vermis, and the sylvian gyri. These activations may partly relate to motor control (cerebellum, cingulate), but also potentially to higher-order cognitive processing of somatosensory stimuli (rostral sylvian gyri), and the affective aspects of the stimulation (cingulate). We also found evidence for individual side biases in a vast majority of dogs in our sample, pointing at functional lateralization of somatosensory processing. These findings not only provide further evidence that fMRI is suited to localize neuro-cognitive processing in dogs, but also expand our understanding of in vivo touch processing in mammals, beyond classically defined primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

show abstract

“…Even though somatosensation is not to be equated to motor behavior, we were interested in seeing whether somatosensation may be processed more strongly by one over another hemisphere within individuals (looking at laterality quotients, hypothesis 3). Based on the existing literature for motor biases (Charlton & Frasnelli, 2023; Ocklenburg et al, 2019; Simon et al, 2022), we expected the majority of dogs in our sample to show lateralized somatosensory processing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional mapping of the somatosensory cortex using noninvasive fMRI and touch in awake dogs

Guran,

Boch,

Sladky

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dogs are increasingly used as a model for neuroscience due to their ability to undergo functional MRI fully awake and unrestrained, after extensive behavioral training. Still, we know rather little about dogs’ basic functional neuroanatomy, including how basic perceptual and motor functions are localized in their brains. This is a major shortcoming in interpreting activations obtained in dog fMRI. The aim of this preregistered study was to localize areas associated with somatosensory processing. To this end, we touched N = 22 dogs undergoing fMRI scanning on their left and right flanks using a wooden rod. We identified activation in anatomically defined primary and secondary somatosensory areas (SI and SII), lateralized to the contralateral hemisphere depending on the side of touch, as well as activations, beyond an anatomical mask of SI and SII, in the cingulate cortex, right cerebellum and vermis, and the Sylvian gyri. These activations may partly relate to motor control (cerebellum, cingulate), but also potentially to higher-order cognitive processing of somatosensory stimuli (rostral Sylvian gyri), and the affective aspects of the stimulation (cingulate). We also found evidence for individual side biases in a vast majority of dogs in our sample, pointing at functional lateralization of somatosensory processing. These findings not only provide further evidence that fMRI is suited to localize neuro-cognitive processing in dogs in vivo, but also expand our understanding of touch processing in mammals, beyond classically defined primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.Significance StatementTo understand brain function and evolution, it is necessary to look beyond the human lineage. This study provides insights into the engagement of brain areas related to somatosensation using whole-brain non-invasive neuroimaging of trained, non-sedated, and unrestrained pet dogs. It showcases again the usefulness of non-invasive methods, in particular fMRI, for investigating brain function and advances the mapping of brain functions in dogs; using this non-invasive approach without sedation, we are able to identify previously unknown potential higher-order processing areas and offer a quantification of touch processing lateralization.

show abstract

Does owner handedness influence paw preference in dogs?

Cited by 7 publications

References 53 publications

Acute and chronic stress alter behavioral laterality in dogs

Acute and chronic stress alter behavioral laterality in dogs

Functional mapping of the somatosensory cortex using noninvasive fMRI and touch in awake dogs

Functional mapping of the somatosensory cortex using noninvasive fMRI and touch in awake dogs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About