In this new podcast from the Freakonomics Radio Network, dog-cognition expert and bestselling author Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog) takes us inside the scruffy, curious, joyful world of dogs. This is the first episode of Off Leash; you can find more episodes in your podcast app now.
Alexandra Horowitz.
Hi, Stephen.
It's nice to talk to you.
It's nice to talk to you too.
Did you take your interesting vitamins this morning?
Yes.
I'm ready.
Alexandra Horowitz is a writer and a cognitive scientist at Barnard College in New York, where she runs a dog cognition lab.
She's also the host of a new podcast.
It's called off leash, and it's part of the Freakonomics radio network.
All right, I need you to fill in a couple blanks for me.
Dogs are to Alexandra Horowitz as blank are to blank.
What they are to me is like areas to mammals.
They're part of my existence.
Wow.
And intrinsic to it and necessary for.
It, without which you would die.
I don't mean to be dramatic about it, but they're part of me, period.
It can't be just a coincidence that dog is God spelled backwards, can it?
I think you've got it mixed up.