Audiobook: Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond

The best-selling cognitive scientist and author of Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz, takes an eye-opening, informative, and wholly entertaining examination of the dog-human relationship and reflects on the culture of dogdom.

“You’re so cute and so smart. And worth money! I could marry you,” said a woman to her goldendoodle. “Be nice! When you get tired, you get nasty,” reminded the man to his rambunctious dog.

Alexandra Horowitz is intrigued by the various ways humans are changed by our relationship with dogs: When humans unconsciously made the decision to domesticate dogs, they were changing the course of our species’ development. And, too, when each person makes the decision to breed, own, or adopt a dog, we enter into a relationship that will change us. It changes the course of our days: Dogs need to be walked, fed, attended to. It can change the course of our lives: Dogs weave their way into our lives with their constant silent presence by our sides. It has changed, too, the course of our species.

In Our Dogs, Ourselves, Horowitz examines what’s called the “dog-human bond”: examining all aspects of the complexity of this unique interspecies pairing. From her position as a dog scientist, she uses the science of dogs and dog-human interaction to ground a consideration of the various ways that dogs, as a species, reflect us, and how they reflect (sometimes badly, sometimes well) on us. And she goes beyond the cognitive science to consider the culture, laws, and human dynamics that reveal and restrict this bond between two disparate species.

Much of what we accept as the way to live with dogs is odd, surprising, contradictory, revelatory, and sometimes disturbing. This audiobook gets inside and explains the nuances of the dog-human connection, both on an individual basis and societally. The result: We are made conscious about dogs as never before.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog, 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).