10 Questions For Alexandra Horowitz
What goes on in the mind of a dog? That’s the defining question for Alexandra Horowitz, a leading researcher of dog behavior and cognition. She is a professor at Barnard College, where she heads the Dog Cognition Lab. Her books include “Inside of a Dog,” “Being a Dog,” and the recently released "Our Dogs, Ourselves.” Dr. Horowitz will be reading from her new book at The Chatham Bookstore on October 26, the Williams Bookstore on Nov. 14 and at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck on Nov. 19. And, not incidentally, she and her family — canine, feline and human — have a home in the Rural Intelligence region.
1. Your lab is primarily interested in understanding what it is like to be a dog. Have you figured it out yet?
[Laughs] It might be a fool’s errand. It’s just really directed toward getting a better understanding of dog cognition and perception. I have an eccentric lab that deals with questions about people and their dogs. It’s been a fascinating journey. We think we know… but when you probe more, there’s so much underneath. The culture of dogdom — there’s something more complicated and interesting under the simple “dogs are great.” It’s much more interesting and complex once you start probing.
2. In your dog-human play study, you found that certain types of play result in a more positive effect for both dogs and humans. Is there a “best” way to play with our dogs?
Sometimes we consider play to be one kind of thing, but it’s not really defined what play is. On the dog’s side, any interaction, social play, is good. You can give your dog a toy to play with, and they’re engaged, but social play is the best kind of play. Things like turn taking, fetch, rough and tumble, wrestling play. Intermediate types would be teasing play, grab the dog’s paw, or run away and hide. Anything you’re doing with your dog is good for the dog.
For us, the best experience is when the play is more active, and touching types of play, like wrestling or teasing play. Fetch is not as good for the people as it is for dogs People seemed happiest when acting like dogs.
3. Do dogs love us?
That’s the question I’m asked most often. I would say my answer is, don’t ask science to answer that for you. Science doesn’t have a finger on the subjective experience of dogs. But there are all sorts of behaviors that your dog shows you that talks to the affection, affiliation and attachment that we’re looking for. Things like greeting behavior, licking, even anxiety when you’re gone. Each person has to gauge what that means for him or herself.
What the dog feels? We don’t know. But absolutely, all behaviors point to love. They have the same neurochemistry in their brains that humans do.
4. There’s been a shift in thinking about the spay/neuter issue, that maybe it shouldn’t be standard policy, as most of us have come to believe. What are your thoughts about it?
I have a chapter in the new book about it. We’re told it’s the responsible thing to do, and there’s a good reason why spay/neuter policies are what they are. But it’s time we examine them. Is it the best for the dogs? We all agree on the reason for it. But we haven’t gotten rid of overpopulation. Other countries do it differently. In Norway it was illegal to spay and neuter until recently, but they don’t have big overpopulation. We can breed dogs, make more, and give them away without penalty. Spaying doesn’t solve that. Then there’s the issue of higher rates of diseases with some breeds with spay/neuter. There’s good reason to be thoughtful and rethink the issues — there may be a better way going forward.
5. How has your research affected your relationship with your own dogs?
Tremendously. All studies feed back into how I deal with them — realizing how good their sense of smell is, how much a part of their welfare is to let them smell. I create space for them to do nose work and smelling exercises. My dogs are heavily observed animals.
6. Is it hard to switch off your scientist hat when you leave the lab and become your dog’s companion at home?
I never totally switch it off, but I do celebrate them as just companions and company. I use language in talking about them at home that I wouldn’t use in the lab. I’m a normal dog person at home.
7. When you’re out of the lab and you see people interacting with their dogs, what makes you happiest?
Off-leash dogs makes me happy. I love seeing people running around with them. I just relax when I see people with dogs.
8. What more do you want to learn?
We’re starting two studies in the lab. The first is to help a dog learn a positive association with a smell that might help it relax in a stressful situation. The second is studying if dogs have a sense of their own size.
9. You have a home in Taghkanic. What brought you to Columbia County?
We learned about the area from Susan Orlean. We became friends when her book "Rin Tin Tin" came out. She pointed us to a summer share around there. We started renting in Pine Plains and fell in love with the area. I wanted my son to have a sense of nature and of animals that are not in zoos, to see the sky and look around forests. We eventually rented in Hillsdale before moving to Taghkanic. I spend as much time up there as I can.
10. What’s your favorite place to take your dogs in the region?
We love Roe Jan. Sometimes we walk the rail trails with the dogs when it’s too wet or snow's too high to go to the park. We also hike in the Taconics.
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