Dog Behavior Explained: Scientist Alexandra Horowitz Reveals Your Dog's Mind to Oprah

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One of the great joys of Oprah’s life has been her dogs – she’s loved 21 one of them! For all the dog lovers, have you ever wondered what’s really happening inside the mind of your dog or how they experience the world? Oprah talks with canine cognitive scientist and New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Horowitz, whose groundbreaking book Inside of a Dog has transformed how we understand our dog companions. From the astonishing power of a dog’s nose to how they interpret our words, emotions and intentions Dr. Horowitz reveals what life looks like from a dog’s point of view. She also explores how dogs form memories, how they learn and solve problems and why their low-to-the-ground perspective influences everything, from how they experience sound and scent, to how they navigate the concept of time in a human world. Oprah and Alexandra also take questions from our listeners like: Do dogs feel anxious when we leave them alone? Can they form deep soul bonds with their humans? What do they understand about aging, illness and the end of life? The episode also checks in with a passionate dog lover whose social media mission has helped rescue hundreds of senior dogs, giving senior pups a second chance with a family. This episode is presented by our fantastic partners at The Farmer’s Dog. Their real, human-grade food has been clinically shown to help dogs age well, so you can have more good years together. Visit https://www.thefarmersdog.com/oprahpodcast for more. BUY THE BOOK! https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Inside-of-a-Dog/Alexandra-Horowitz/9781416583431 00:00:00 - Welcome Alexandra Horowitz, author of “Inside of a Dog” 00:05:22 - Do dogs have intelligence like humans? 00:06:50 - Their most important sense 00:08:40 - Detecting diseases and emotions 00:11:50 - Dogs track our movements 00:13:10 - What your dog remembers 00:17:30 - Do dogs feel a soul connection? 00:21:40 - Having a dog changed her life 00:22:30 - Do dogs have a concept of time? 00:27:00 - Showing your dog you are boss is harmful 00:30:30 - Do dogs get bored? 00:32:40 - Do dogs understand when it's their time? 00:34:40 - How do humans know when it's time? 00:37:28 - Meet Steve who adopts senior dogs 00:39:00 - Do dogs know their name? 00:48:23 - Adopting older dogs 00:49:38 - What Alexandra wishes people knew about dogs 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

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0:00.0	This episode of the Oprah podcast is presented by our fantastic partners at the Farmer's Dog.
0:08.3	So you say that a dog's sense of smell is so powerful that they can detect, listen to you all,
0:14.3	a teaspoon of sugar dissolves in a million gallons of water,
0:21.6	that would be two Olympic-sized swimming pools.
0:23.6	There are dogs who can detect a picogram of explosive,
0:28.6	which is a trillionth of a gram.
0:30.6	So they can be trained to detect drugs or COVID,
0:34.6	or the smell of cancerous cells.
0:42.0	But even the dog we live with, they can smell all those things.
0:43.7	And they can smell emotions.
0:45.2	They smell our emotions. So everything that's happening in our body emotionally and physically, biologically, health-wise,
0:52.8	creates its own scent. They can sense the change.
0:57.8	Hi, everybody, a warm, warm, welcome to you. Thanks for hanging out with me here on the Oprah
1:02.8	podcast. I have to say, one of the great, great joys of my life has been that I've been able to share my life with dogs since I was an adult.
1:14.1	I think that they make life so much sweeter and richer in all the ways.
1:18.8	Every single one of my dogs has been a teacher for me.
1:21.8	I've had 21 dogs.
1:24.7	Sadie is my 21st dog.
1:26.9	And I've, before Sadie, I had 11 dogs at one time. And that was the
1:33.2	happiest I ever was in my life was when I had, was living in Chicago and had a farm in Indiana.
1:42.0	And we drive to the farm in Indiana on Fridays and I had two dogs, Sophie and
1:49.1	Solomon who lived with me in Chicago and the other nine dogs would be waiting at the farm.
	...

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