You and Betty and the Nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science

a richer, more rewarding life.

Welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indravis Gontas.

This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.

We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.

There is more and what we see.

A lot of people adopted dogs and other animals from shelters during the pandemic, or maybe even ordered a puppy online.

And now a lot of those animals are being returned to shelters as we start to return to life

as it was before the pandemic. But even if you were stuck at home for months or even years at a time,

playing with your new companion, you likely missed some of the

most significant days of that puppy's life. To fill you in on what it was like from birth,

Alexandra Horowitz, who is really well known for her best-selling book inside of a dog, what dogs

see, smell, and know, has written a book

called The Year of the Puppy, How Dogs Become Themselves. And in it, she describes her own

experiences with the adoption of a puppy, but one whom she began to get to know even on the day

she was born. Dr. Horowitz runs the dog cognition lab at Barnard College, so she's a master observer of dog behavior.

But as she describes in her book, some of the things she learned in that first year were completely new to her

and reshaped the way she thinks about dog cognition.

Alexandra. reshape the way she thinks about dog cognition. Alexandra Horowitz, welcome to inquiring minds.

Thanks for having me.

So your book is such a delight to read because I get to live through the first year

of having a puppy without actually having a puppy. And while, you know,

...