Email us, You can also join the conversation on our Web site, that's at npr.org. How do you know what's you dog is thinking or what he or she wants? Tell us your story. The address is But first, inside of a dog. Later in the program, we want you to share the story about somebody who will not be around the table with you today. Well, that's because he loves you, right? Well, probably not - says cognitive scientist Alexandra Horowitz in her new book, �Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.� Horowitz explores what we really do know about dogs, what we think we know and why we're so often wrong. If you live with a dog, you probably think you know your pooch pretty well -the guilty face when you catch her snacking from the garbage can or chewing up your shoes, the sad face when you head out the door to work, and those wet sloppy kisses when you get home. This book is as close as you can get to knowing about dogs without being a dog yourself.This is TALK OF THE NATION and Happy Thanksgiving. With a light touch and the weight of science behind her, Alexandra Horowitz examines the animal we think we know best but may actually understand the least. Although not a formal training guide, Inside of a Dog has practical application for dog lovers interested in understanding why their dogs do what they do. Inside of a Dog also contains up-to-the-minute research-on dogs’ detection of disease, the secrets of their tails, and their skill at reading our attention-that Horowitz puts into useful context. The answers can be surprising-once we set aside our natural inclination to anthropomorphize dogs. Inside of a Dog explains these things and much more. What’s it like to be able to smell not just every bit of open food in the house but also to smell sadness in humans, or even the passage of time? How does a tiny dog manage to play successfully with a Great Dane? What is it like to hear the bodily vibrations of insects or the hum of a fluorescent light? Why must a person on a bicycle be chased? What’s it like to use your mouth as a hand? In short, what is it like for a dog to experience life from two feet off the ground, amidst the smells of the sidewalk, gazing at our ankles or knees? Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs’ perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draws a picture of what it might be like to be a dog.

The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. The #1 New York Times bestselling book from the author of The Year of the Puppy that asks what dogs know and how they think.

Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz