{"id":46348,"date":"2026-05-22T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/?p=46348"},"modified":"2026-06-11T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:00:33","slug":"how-do-dogs-see-the-world-ask-alexandra-horowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/how-do-dogs-see-the-world-ask-alexandra-horowitz\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Dogs See the World? Ask Alexandra Horowitz."},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>In this article:<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#do-dogs-see-the-world-through-their-noses\">Do dogs see the world through their noses?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#do-dogs-know-when-time-is-passing\">Do dogs know when time is passing?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#can-dogs-get-bored\">Can dogs get bored?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#do-dogs-understand-what-we-re-saying\">Do dogs understand what we&rsquo;re saying?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#do-dogs-see-us-as-family\">Do dogs see us as family?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><div style=\"height:19px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div><hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"><div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div><p>Recently, Alexandra Horowitz, PhD, who leads the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College and wrote <em>Inside of a Dog<\/em>, was a guest on <em>The Oprah Podcast. <\/em>The Farmer&rsquo;s Dog was proud to sponsor the episode.<\/p><p><em>Digest<\/em> has shared Dr. Horowitz&rsquo;s views on dogs many times over the years, because she&rsquo;s one of the world&rsquo;s leading experts on dog cognition&mdash;and her insights help us get closer to our dogs and take better care of them. You can read some of the most fascinating things she said on <em>The Oprah Podcast<\/em> below, and listen to the whole episode <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p8z-OTVEfuA&amp;t=4s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"responsive-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Secret Inner Life of Dogs: Scientist Alexandra Horowitz Reveals All to Oprah\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p8z-OTVEfuA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-dogs-see-the-world-through-their-noses\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p8z-OTVEfuA&amp;t=4s\"><br><\/a>Do dogs see the world through their noses?<\/h4><p>While humans may be more likely to map their reality through sight, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/the-science-behind-dogs-powerful-noses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dogs&rsquo; most important sense is smell<\/a>. &ldquo;When you start to understand it from their point of view,&rdquo; Dr. Horowitz said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a completely different world. It&rsquo;s a smelly universe.&rdquo; In the interview, Dr. Horowitz explained that &ldquo;there are dogs who can detect a picogram of explosives, which is a trillionth of a gram.&rdquo; They can also smell illnesses and human emotions (in fact, on <em>Digest<\/em>, we&rsquo;ve written about research showing that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/dogs-can-smell-our-stress-should-that-change-how-we-treat-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dogs can smell stress<\/a>). This applies even to dogs who haven&rsquo;t been specially trained.<\/p><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-dogs-know-when-time-is-passing\">Do dogs know when time is passing?<\/h4><p>One of the things dogs can smell, incredibly, is the passage of time. &ldquo;The longer you&rsquo;re gone,&rdquo; Dr. Horowitz explained, &ldquo;the less your space smells of you being there.&rdquo; In general, she said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/ask-digest-does-my-dog-know-how-long-im-away-from-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dogs know the difference between when you&rsquo;ve been gone for a few minutes, hours, or longer<\/a>&mdash;and research has shown that dogs react differently to the returns of people who have been absent for more time. &ldquo;The longer the people were gone,&rdquo; Horowitz said, &ldquo;the more tail wagging, licking, shaking, [and] intense of a greeting they got.&rdquo; Per Dr. Horowitz, dogs also remember the past and think about the future.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A bored-looking dog looks out a window; it's gloomy outdoors.\" class=\"wp-image-40775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/shutterstock_2270542335.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"can-dogs-get-bored\">Can dogs get bored?<\/h4><p>Because dogs don&rsquo;t live only in the moment, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/is-your-dog-bored-right-now-heres-how-to-help-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they, like us, can get bored<\/a>. &ldquo;If we give them nothing to do,&rdquo; Dr. Horowitz said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll find things to do. I think a lot of what we think of as misbehavior, pulling out our shoes and chewing on them and so forth, that&rsquo;s because they were bored. They didn&rsquo;t have anything to do.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s one of many reasons you should keep their lives interesting and fun.<\/p><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-dogs-understand-what-we-re-saying\">Do dogs understand what we&rsquo;re saying?<\/h4><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/heres-the-science-on-talking-dogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dogs can&rsquo;t talk<\/a>, but they are very good at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/does-my-dog-understand-what-im-saying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">picking up on what people are saying to them<\/a>. &ldquo;If we talk to them clearly,&rdquo; Dr. Horowitz said, &ldquo;most dogs will learn dozens of words. And there are some amazing dogs who have learned hundreds of words.&rdquo; Dr. Horowitz also said that there&rsquo;s a good reason we often use baby talk around our dogs (beyond the fact that they&rsquo;re so cute that it&rsquo;s hard not to). She said that scientists call this way of talking to a dog &ldquo;dog-directed speech,&rdquo; and that &ldquo;it lets the dog know that of all this bubbling speech around them, some of it is directed to them&mdash;and that&rsquo;s the part they should pay attention to.&rdquo;<\/p><h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-dogs-see-us-as-family\">Do dogs see us as family?<\/h4><p>Dr. Horowitz said that trainers who emphasize the need to dominate your dog have mistaken ideas about the way dogs actually think and behave. Dogs, she explained, are not competing for control of our households. &ldquo;They view us as parents, essentially,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And we control all aspects of their life already&hellip; we don&rsquo;t need to worry that they&rsquo;re going to try to threaten our leadership and boss them or bully them around for it.&rdquo; This is one reason that, when <em>Digest<\/em> asked Dr. Horowitz <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/should-you-let-your-dog-sleep-in-your-bed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">whether people should let dogs sleep in their beds<\/a>, she said it was fine to do so as long as the people and the dogs were both happy with the arrangement.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Oprah holding Alexandra Horowitz's book &quot;Inside of a Dog.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-46374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book-1025x1536.jpg 1025w, https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Oprah-With-Alexandra-Horowitz-Book.jpg 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure><p><em>For much more detail, listen to Dr. Horowitz&rsquo;s whole interview on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p8z-OTVEfuA&amp;t=4s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Oprah Podcast<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The dog-cognition expert recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast. Here\u2019s what she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":46373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,416,418,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dog-people","category-health-wellness","category-science-research","category-training-behavior"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46348"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46524,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46348\/revisions\/46524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}