Do Dogs Really Love Us? with Oprah and Dr. Carl Safina

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah?sub_confirmation=1 Oprah sits down with renowned ecologist Dr. Carl Safina, author of the New York Times bestseller Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, to explore our sacred connection with the animal world—especially our tight-knit relationships and bonds with our beloved dogs. Joining them is author and neuroscientist Dr. Gregory Berns, whose groundbreaking MRI research offers scientific proof that our dogs really do love us. Dr. Berns discusses his eye-opening books How Dogs Love Us and Cowpuppy. The episode also features extraordinary true stories of hero dogs who saved their owners’ lives. BUY THE BOOK! https://wwnorton.com/books/alfie-and-me https://books.apple.com/us/book/alfie-and-me/id6445787372 Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi everyone, welcome to the Oprah podcast.
0:02.0	I'm so glad you're spending your time here with us.
0:04.0	I'm really, really excited for this episode
0:06.5	because we're exploring an idea that I've wondered about,
0:09.8	maybe you have to, but I've wondered about this for years.
0:12.6	Do our dogs share the same love for us as we have for them?
0:17.2	Do dogs and other animals experience joy, grief, loneliness, even hope? Over the years,
0:23.6	I've had 21 dogs, each one a unique member of my family who gave us so much love and so many
0:31.4	memories. My guest says that dogs help make us the people we would like to be. Isn't that the truth?
0:39.8	Carl Safina is a world-renowned ecologist and conservationist who writes extensively, and may I say
0:46.3	exquisitely too, about the interior lives of animals, including his New York Times bestseller,
0:52.5	beyond words, what Animals Think and Feel,
0:56.0	which is just an absolutely fascinating read,
0:59.2	highly recommended.
1:01.3	And your newest book, What Owls Know and What Humans Believe.
1:06.3	Okay, can I tell you, welcome, first of all.
1:08.5	Thank you, thank you.
1:10.5	Thanks so much for being here.
1:11.3	It's fantastic to be here.
1:12.5	Well, when I read, after reading this book, I had the most interesting dream about my former Cocker Spaniels that I had for 13 and 14 years in the 90s, Sophie and Solomon,
1:27.7	that I took to work every day with me during the opera show.
1:31.6	And no matter where I was, they were either in a green room waiting,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Harpo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Harpo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.