Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell

by Alexandra Horowitz

Overview

From the #1 bestselling author of Inside of a Dog and The Year of the Puppy—“an incredible journey into the olfactory world of man’s best friend” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Alexandra Horowitz’s follow-up to her New York Times bestseller explains how dogs experience the world through their most spectacular organ—the nose.

In her “fascinating book...Horowitz combines the expertise of a scientist with an easy, lively writing style” (The New York Times Book Review) as she imagines what it is like to be a dog. Guided by her own dogs, Finnegan and Upton, Horowitz sets off on a quest through the cutting-edge science behind the olfactory abilities of the dog. In addition to speaking to cognitive researchers and smell experts, Horowitz visits detection-dog trainers and training centers; she meets researchers working with dogs to detect cancerous cells and anticipate epileptic seizure or diabetic shock; and she even attempts to smell-train her own nose.

As we come to understand how rich, complex, and exciting the world around us is to the canine nose, Horowitz changes our perspective on dogs forever. Readers will finish this book feeling that they have broken free of their human constraints and understanding smell as never before; that they have, for however fleetingly, been a dog. And, as The Boston Globe says about Being a Dog, “becoming more doglike, not surprisingly, can make anyone’s life a little more vivid.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476796024
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	136,256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alexandra Horowitz is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know; Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell; Our 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 sapiens, Canis familiaris, and Felis catus in New York City.

Table of Contents

1 Nose of a Dog 1

2 Smeller 7

3 Sniffing the Wind 33

4 Walking While Smelling 61

5 Plain as the Nose on Your Face 79

6 My Dog Made Me Smell It 101

7 Nose to Grindstone 129

8 Nose-wise 157

9 Stink-waves 183

10 Civet Cats and Wet Dogs 219

11 Nosed Out 255

12 Smell of the world 269

Notes and Sources 275

Thanks, an Index of 305

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

[This] fascinating book will open many eyes to the often forgotten world of airborne chemicals…Horowitz combines the expertise of a scientist with an easy, lively writing style.

The New York Times Book Review - Frans de Waal

08/01/2016
Horowitz, a dog cognition researcher at Barnard College and author of Inside of a Dog, explores the way dogs experience the world in this rich and absorbing examination of noses and scents. By studying the process of “seeing” the world by the scents that flood a dog’s nose, Horowitz hoped to increase her own sense of smell while increasing her understanding of dogs. By performing sensory experiments on herself, she explores the structural differences between canine and human noses and the ways in which dogs are better designed to detect scents. Sniffing, the key to capturing smells, is hilariously practiced by Horowitz as she walks her dogs, Finnegan and Upton. Horowitz’s experiences with dog trainers, perfumers, and truffle hunters will leave readers sniffing to find the rich aromas in their colognes, wines, and backyards. Both dog lovers and pop science readers will want to stick their noses in this book, and they may find themselves using their noses, like Horowitz and dogs everywhere, to experience the world more vividly. Agent: Kristine Dahl, ICM. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

I'm not entirely certain whether Alexandra Horowitz's Being a Dog has made me want to buy a dog or morph into one—but I do know that it was magical. Horowitz has crafted an utterly engrossing, witty, finely-observed narrative that will make you look at the power of the nose in a wholly new way.”
—Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game and Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

"An incredible journey into the olfactory world of man's best friend."
—O Magazine

"Like a Mary Roach but with a solid scientific background to her credit, Horowitz is a skilled investigative reporter who takes readers into unfamiliar worlds, shares her experiences there, asks probing questions, and makes those worlds come alive. Dog owners curious about the lives of their pets will savor this book, but it deserves a wider audience than just animal lovers."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Fascinating...Horowitz combines the expertise of a scientist with an easy, lively writing style."
—The New York Times Book Review

“Horowitz...explores the way dogs experience the world in this rich and absorbing examination of noses and scents...Both dog lovers and pop science readers will want to stick their noses in this book, and they may find themselves using their noses, like Horowitz and dogs everywhere, to experience the world more vividly.”
—Publishers Weekly

"I have fresh appreciation for [my dog's] sniffing behavior."
—The New York Times

"Becoming more doglike, not surprisingly, can make anyone’s life a little more vivid."
—Boston Globe

"A delight for dog lovers and anyone who enjoys the smell of breakfast, crayons, rich earth, fresh-baked cookies, and yes, even dogs. . . . Being a Dog is one great book to sniff out."
—Daily Citizen

“Spellbinding...This book will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.”
—Forbes, “The 10 Best Popular Science Books of 2016”

From the Publisher

★ 10/15/2016
Horowitz (psychology, Barnard Coll.; On Looking: A Walker's Guide to the Art of Observation) explores the sense of smell in both dogs and humans in her follow-up to Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. She explains how dogs "see" their environment through smell in the way that people depend upon their vision to take in their surroundings. Readers accompany Horowitz on a quest to learn how dogs train in order to track scents, and she recounts her adventures following dogs on their expeditions in wildlife conservation tracking and truffle mushroom hunting. The author also examines her own limitations and capabilities of smell, participating in research studies and interviewing experts. She investigates wine tasting, how perfumes are created, and the "smellscapes" of various cities. This engaging book will awaken in readers a new appreciation for the olfactory sense and the motivation to make better use of this often overlooked function. VERDICT General readers, and dog lovers in particular, will be delighted by this book's insight into the canine aptitude for scent detection and how people who purposefully take advantage of their sense of smell gain an enhanced ability to perceive the world. [See author Q&A on p. 106.]—Laurie Neuerburg, Victoria Coll.-Univ. of Houston Lib.

Library Journal

2016-07-19
If the olfactory ability of dogs seems like a dull topic, be prepared for a surprise. This engrossing book takes on not just canine noses, but what we can do with our own—with a little experience and a good guide.Dog enthusiast and researcher Horowitz (Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, 2009, etc.), who teaches at Barnard College and runs the Dog Cognition Lab there, is a keen observer of both dogs and people. She reveals how dogs take in the world and what humans can learn from them about the world we are missing. For the scientifically minded, there is a brief exploration of the anatomy of a dog’s snout, but that’s just for background information. For general readers, the author chronicles her illuminating field trips to the Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where the skills and the limitations of detection dogs are revealed (think explosives, cadavers, and drugs); to the Northwest for a day with trained truffle-hunting dogs; and to an obedience training club on Long Island, where one of her own pet dogs got to play some “nosework” games. The author’s nose received a workout, too, when she spent time with expert perfumers and with a winemaker, as well as when she embarked on a guided walking smell tour of New York City. While she certainly could not detect all the scents a dog would, she learned to pay attention and to become acutely aware of the city’s odors, both rich and subtle. Like a Mary Roach but with a solid scientific background to her credit, Horowitz is a skilled investigative reporter who takes readers into unfamiliar worlds, shares her experiences there, asks probing questions, and makes those worlds come alive. Dog owners curious about the lives of their pets will savor this book, but it deserves a wider audience than just animal lovers.

Kirkus Reviews