Our Dogs, Ourselves, Alexandra Horowitz
Our Dogs, Ourselves, Alexandra Horowitz
7 Rating(s)
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Our Dogs, Ourselves
The Story of a Singular Bond

Author: Alexandra Horowitz

Narrator: Alexandra Horowitz

Unabridged: 8 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Pets


Synopsis

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog and The Year of the Puppy, an eye-opening, informative, “entertaining, and enlightening” (BookPage) celebration of the human-canine relationship for the curious dog owner and science-lover alike.

We keep dogs and are kept by them. We love dogs and (we assume) we are loved by them. We buy them sweaters, toys, shoes; we are concerned with their social lives, their food, and their health. The story of humans and dogs is thousands of years old but is far from understood. In Our Dogs, Ourselves, Alexandra Horowitz explores all aspects of this unique and complex relationship that “dog lovers will savor and absorb” (Shelf Awareness).

As Horowitz considers the current culture of dogdom, she reveals the odd, surprising, and contradictory ways we live with dogs. We celebrate their individuality but breed them for sameness. Despite our deep emotional relationships with dogs, legally they are property to be bought, sold, abandoned, or euthanized as we wish. Even the way we speak to our dogs is at once perplexing and delightful.

In thirteen thoughtful and charming chapters, Our Dogs, Ourselves affirms our profound affection for this most charismatic of animals—and makes us “see canine companions in new ways” (Science News).

About Alexandra Horowitz

Alexandra Horowitz is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and KnowOn Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation; Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of SmellOur Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond; and The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves. She teaches at Barnard College, where she runs the Dog Cognition Lab. She lives with her family of Homo sapiensCanis familiaris, and Felis catus in New York City.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Dallas on December 11, 2020

I'm a rescue worker and this book ended up pissing me off to no end. The behavior and psychology info was fine, but the author is completely naive if she thinks we're anywhere near a situation that would allow us to reconsider current spay/neuter practices. In a perfect world, maybe sterilization co......more

Goodreads review by John on December 26, 2019

Horowitz's essay on spaying and neutering in the NY Times is what led me to pick up the book. That piece received much criticism, not surprisingly, from advocates of spay-neuter programs, but it fits in to the larger theme of this book—that we should let dogs be dogs. As we have turned them into bel......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on June 01, 2021

I am surprised that the reader reviews for this book are not better. Perhaps readers familiar with Horowitz's previous books came to this one with an expectation that it would be focused on her research as the others were. Our Dogs, Ourselves is a much more personal work. The chapters stand as indiv......more

Goodreads review by Jen on October 23, 2024

Surprisingly uneven given Horowitz’s field of research (the breed chapter in particular needed another round with a fact-checker), but with some good bits. Her “Inside of a Dog” is definitely a superior book.......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea on August 26, 2019

Alexandra Horowitz has written quite a lot about how dogs experience the world. In Inside of a Dog she explored and illuminated how dogs think. In Being a Dog, Horowitz addressed the dog’s experience of the world through their olfactory sense. In her latest title she looks at both ends of the “human......more