premise: The science of laterality the study of mental functions and the side of the brain from which they originate was advanced recently by research that found that around 30 per cent of dogs were either left- or right-pawed and the remainder were ambidex- trous. The research became of commercial interest when it was realized that the dogs that showed no preference for left or right were more likely to react badly to loud noises such as fireworks or thunderstorms. Such behaviour makes a dog unsuitable for a career sniffing out drugs or guiding the blind. As things stand, one in every two dogs fails the training programmes for these roles because of an intolerance of loud noise.
hypothesis: The commercial interest mentioned in the passage can be taken to relate to a hope that a test of paw preference will improve the selection process by which dogs are chosen for these careers.