Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!xanth!nic.MR.NET!umn-cs!uf!mpp
From: mpp@uf.msc.umn.edu (Mike Pritchard)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Handedness
Message-ID: <12326@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU>
Date: 26 Apr 89 20:29:10 GMT
References: <0ejKI2d3Uw1010VXzqU@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> <1256@mmm.UUCP> <784@adobe.UUCP>
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Reply-To: mpp@uf.msc.umn.edu (Mike Pritchard)
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In article <784@adobe.UUCP> greid@adobe.COM (Glenn Reid) writes:
>I taught my dog to shake hands with me.  The command is "shake."  At
>first, she would give me either paw, or both paws, but after a little
>bit of training consistently gives me her right paw.
>
>I don't know if this illustrates an understanding of right versus left.
>More likely it is positive- and negative-reinforcement at work.  But
>hell, I'll bet that's how people learn left from right, too.  I know
>lots of people who still don't know the difference without thinking
>about it.
>
>Glenn

My dog always had a preference for his left paw (we used to say that he
took after me, since I'm left handed :-).  When I taught him to shake he
would always give me his left paw.  After a while I was able to get him
To offer the right paw, but only after I indicated in some way that I wanted
that paw, not the left (touching the right paw was usually enough).
If he wanted some attention, was playing around, etc and decided to use his
paws to do it, he would always wind up using his left paw.
-- 
Mike Pritchard
Internet: mpp@msc.umn.edu  
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."