Right or left handed dog?

Some people tell me they have a right handed dog or a left handed dog, because the dog has a tendancy or a preferance to go in one direction more than the other. I tell them; than you haven't really had a dog that was one sided!


Kilt is right handed. That means ever since Kilt was a pup, she could only circle to the right. While she is out playing with the other dogs, she will only circle to the right; in the house she circles to the right. What makes a dog right or left handed? God if I know. Must happen in the birth canal :0) But, I can tell you that she has had a litter of 5 pups and all of them were well balanced. None of the pups show this particular irritating quality (for lack of a better word to call it.)


How have I dealt with this exasperating idiosyncracy? Wow...has it ever been difficult. Kilt is a hard driving, pushy son of a gun. I love her for that. When she is driving, her right handedness doesn't seem to effect her working ability. She will drive and flank naturally into the next county. But when we are fetching she is always off to the left side going "away to me."


We are constantly doing "walk-abouts" allowing her to fetch the sheep to me. I am forever changing directions to keep her on her toes. But, I can still see that something is not quite wired right.


Kilt is a fabulous ranch dog. We haven't partnered up on the trial field. Oh yeah...she has her share of PN ribbons, but mostly because the sheep were too difficult for the other dogs. It wasn't because of our "finesse." :0) I have moved her up to open, hoping a longer outrun will relax her a bit. I have to admit though, I have learned more from Kilt than any other dog I have owned.

And, to Kilt and Jet....thanks for Yoko!