INSIDE OF A DOG

Part Temple Grandon, part Stephen Pinker, Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist with a background at The New Yorker, explains what dogs think and know in this fascinating, scientifically rigorous book with a literary flair.

This book is a fresh look at the world of dogs--from the dog's point of view. Horowitz is a cognitive scientist who does research in the field of dog cognition; she is also an unabashed dog person. INSIDE OF A DOG is the synthesis of these two perspectives: of a dog owner and a scientist. As a dog owner, Horowitz is naturally curious about what her dog thinks about and knows. As a cognitive scientist researching animal cognition she is intent on understanding the minds of animals who cannot say what they know or feel. The book introduces us to the science of the dog--their perceptual and cognitive abilities--and uses that introduction to draw a picture of what it might be like to be a dog--the experience of a dog. During most of her study of dog cognition Horowitz lived with her own dog, Pumpernickel, who was a constant source of delight and mystery, filling Horowitz's mind with questions and ideas. This book chronicles her exploration of the science that is available to help us understand the world from a dog's perspective. Horowitz's own scientific journey, and the insights she uncovered, allowed her to understand her dog better, and appreciate her more through that understanding. The reader will be able to do the same. It is also useful to say what this book is not. It is not a dog training book. Horowitz does not pretend to know the unknowable: how to read your dog's mind; what your dog's innermost thoughts are. Instead, this book is about equipping dog owners to look at their dogs' behavior in a different, and revealing light, that will allow them to understand their dogs and enjoy their relationship even more.

Horowitz is a term assistant professor of psychology at Barnard College. She has a PhD in Cognitive Science, and has studied the cognition of humans, rhinoceros, bonobos, and dogs. She has researched dogs professionally for 8 years, and had an unwitting subject, Pumpernickel, a wonderful and ovine mixed breed, in her home for 17 years. Before her scientific career, she worked as a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, and was on the staff at The New Yorker magazine. She currently lives in New York City with Finnegan, a dog of indeterminate parentage and determinate character, and the fond memories of dogs past.