diff --git a/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard.go b/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard.go
index 10527328304..677ab4b2733 100644
--- a/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard.go
+++ b/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard.go
@@ -204,8 +204,26 @@ func extractQueriesFromDashboard(dashboardJSON map[string]interface{}) ([]Dashbo
 
 // isV1Dashboard checks if a dashboard is in v1 (legacy) format
 // v1 dashboards have a "panels" array at the top level
+// v2 dashboards have "elements" map and "layout" structure
+//
+// This follows Grafana's official dashboard conversion logic which uses
+// type-safe assertions to distinguish between formats.
+// Reference: apps/dashboard/pkg/migration/conversion/v1beta1_to_v2alpha1.go:450
 func isV1Dashboard(dashboard map[string]interface{}) bool {
-	_, hasPanels := dashboard["panels"]
+	// Check for v2 indicators first (positive identification)
+	// v2 dashboards use a map of elements, not an array
+	if _, hasElements := dashboard["elements"].(map[string]interface{}); hasElements {
+		return false // Definitely v2
+	}
+
+	// v2 dashboards also have a layout structure
+	if _, hasLayout := dashboard["layout"]; hasLayout {
+		return false // v2 has layout field
+	}
+
+	// Check for v1 panels with type assertion (must be an array)
+	// This is type-safe: `{"panels": "string"}` would fail this check and return false
+	_, hasPanels := dashboard["panels"].([]interface{})
 	return hasPanels
 }
 
diff --git a/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard_test.go b/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dffc47d2c40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/dashvalidator/pkg/validator/dashboard_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+package validator
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestIsV1Dashboard(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name      string
+		dashboard map[string]interface{}
+		expected  bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "v1 dashboard with panels array",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"panels": []interface{}{
+					map[string]interface{}{
+						"id":    1,
+						"title": "Panel 1",
+						"type":  "timeseries",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expected: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "v1 dashboard with empty panels",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"panels": []interface{}{},
+			},
+			expected: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "v2 dashboard with elements map",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"elements": map[string]interface{}{
+					"panel-1": map[string]interface{}{
+						"kind": "Panel",
+						"spec": map[string]interface{}{
+							"id":    1,
+							"title": "Panel 1",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "v2 dashboard with layout",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"layout": map[string]interface{}{
+					"kind": "GridLayout",
+					"spec": map[string]interface{}{
+						"items": []interface{}{},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "v2 dashboard with both elements and layout",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"elements": map[string]interface{}{
+					"panel-1": map[string]interface{}{
+						"kind": "Panel",
+					},
+				},
+				"layout": map[string]interface{}{
+					"kind": "GridLayout",
+				},
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "empty dashboard",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{},
+			expected:  false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "dashboard with wrong panels type (string instead of array)",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"panels": "this-should-be-array-not-string",
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "dashboard with other fields only",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"title": "Test Dashboard",
+				"uid":   "test-uid",
+				"tags":  []string{"monitoring"},
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result := isV1Dashboard(tt.dashboard)
+			require.Equal(t, tt.expected, result, "isV1Dashboard() returned unexpected result")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExtractQueriesFromDashboard_VersionValidation(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name          string
+		dashboard     map[string]interface{}
+		expectError   bool
+		errorContains string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "valid v1 dashboard extracts queries successfully",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"panels": []interface{}{
+					map[string]interface{}{
+						"id":    1,
+						"title": "CPU Usage",
+						"type":  "timeseries",
+						"gridPos": map[string]interface{}{
+							"h": 8,
+							"w": 12,
+							"x": 0,
+							"y": 0,
+						},
+						"targets": []interface{}{
+							map[string]interface{}{
+								"datasource": map[string]interface{}{
+									"type": "prometheus",
+									"uid":  "test-prometheus",
+								},
+								"expr":  "rate(cpu_usage_total[5m])",
+								"refId": "A",
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expectError: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "v2 dashboard returns unsupported format error",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"elements": map[string]interface{}{
+					"panel-1": map[string]interface{}{
+						"kind": "Panel",
+						"spec": map[string]interface{}{
+							"id":    1,
+							"title": "Panel 1",
+							"data": map[string]interface{}{
+								"kind": "QueryGroup",
+							},
+							"vizConfig": map[string]interface{}{
+								"kind":     "TimeSeriesVisualConfig",
+								"pluginId": "timeseries",
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+				"layout": map[string]interface{}{
+					"kind": "GridLayout",
+					"spec": map[string]interface{}{
+						"items": []interface{}{},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expectError:   true,
+			errorContains: "unsupported dashboard format",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "invalid dashboard (no panels or elements) returns error",
+			dashboard: map[string]interface{}{
+				"title":       "Invalid Dashboard",
+				"description": "This dashboard has no panels or elements",
+				"tags":        []string{"test"},
+			},
+			expectError:   true,
+			errorContains: "unsupported dashboard format",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			queries, err := extractQueriesFromDashboard(tt.dashboard)
+
+			if tt.expectError {
+				require.Error(t, err, "Expected error but got none")
+				require.Contains(t, err.Error(), tt.errorContains, "Error message doesn't contain expected substring")
+			} else {
+				require.NoError(t, err, "Expected no error but got: %v", err)
+				require.NotNil(t, queries, "Queries should not be nil for valid dashboard")
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}