Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know QUOTES

2 " By standard intelligence texts, the dogs have failed at the puzzle. I believe, by contrast that they have succeeded magnificently. They have applied a novel tool to the task. We are that tool. Dogs have learned this--and they see us as fine general-purpose tools, too: useful for protection, acquiring food, providing companionship. We solve the puzzles of closed doors and empty water dishes. In the folk psychology of dogs, we humans are brilliant enough to extract hopelessly tangled leashes from around trees; we can conjure up an endless bounty of foodstuffs and things to chew. How savvy we are in dogs' eyes! It's a clever strategy to turn to us after all. The question of the cognitive abilities of dogs is thereby transformed; dogs are terrific at using humans to solve problems, but not as good at solving problems when we're not around. "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

4 " Many people’s expectations, at least in this country, are fairly similar: be friendly, loyal, pettable; find me charming and lovable—but know that I am in charge; do not pee in the house; do not jump on guests; do not chew my dress shoes; do not get into the trash. Somehow, word hasn’t gotten to the dogs. "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

6 " I am I because my little dog knows me. —GERTRUDE STEIN "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

8 " If we want to understand the life of any animal, we need to know what things are meaningful to it. The first way to discover this is to determine what the animal can perceive: what it can see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense. Only objects that are perceived can have meaning to the animal; the rest are not even noticed, or all look the same. The "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

10 " The complement of remembering so thoroughly can be the strange inability to forget anything at all. "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

12 " Even the objects in a room are not, in some sense, the same objects to another animal. A dog looking around a room does not think he is surrounded by human things; he sees dog things. What we think an object is for, or what it makes us think of, may or may not match the dog’s idea of the object’s function or meaning. Objects are defined by how you can act upon them: what von Uexküll calls their functional tones—as though an object’s use rings bell-like when you set eyes on it. A "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

14 " Our mortal knowledge may not be visible in all of our moves, but it shines through in some: we shrink back from the balcony’s edge, from the animal with unknown intent; we buckle up for safety; we look both ways before crossing; we don’t jump in the tiger cage; we refrain from the third serving of fried ice cream; we even entertain not swimming after eating. If dogs know about death, it might show in how they act. I "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

16 " Yet dog-walks are often not done with the dog’s sake in mind, but strangely playing out a very human definition of a walk. We want to make good time; to keep a brisk pace; to get to the post office and back. People yank their dogs along, tugging at leashes to get noses out of smells, pulling past tempting dogs, to get on with the walk. "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

18 " Dim but happy "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

20 " Parece que los lametones alrededor de la boca son lo que da pie a la madre a vomitar voluntariamente carne a medio digerir. Cuán decepcionada ha debido de sentirse Pump al no haberle regurgitado carne de conejo a medio comer ni una sola vez. "

― Alexandra Horowitz , Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know