Quotessence
Home / Authors / Alexandra Horowitz Books

Alexandra Horowitz Books

Author

Related Quotes

“Wasser’s (conservation detection) dogs are young mixed-breeds from shelters because that's where dogs with excessive energy and borderline-obsessive personalities wind up. A dog with what he calls, gently, "fixation with the ball," a strong play drive, and high energy is that classically motivated dog that all programs love.”

ScienceScentDogsRescue Dogs
Book:Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell
Create image

“Dogs are losing their noses. Other research has supported the odd and disturbing result that companion dogs are not only not using their smelling abilities to their capacity; they are forgetting how to be sniffers. In a human-defined, visual world, it seems that it does not pay to notice all the smells around the house, to sort their way through the world by smell. Instead, the typical owned dog gets a mound of food in a bowl once or twice a day whether he sniffs it out or not. He may be discouraged from sniffing the sidewalk, the lamppost, and even other dogs' rear ends as his owner walks with him—out of the person's disinterest, press for time, or horror. We talk to the dog in words and point at him with hands, but rarely give him smells to learn and live by. The sad result has been that pet dogs are letting their noses go dormant.”

ScienceScentDogsRescue Dogs
Book:Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell
Create image