Alexandra Horowitz

Overview

Dr. Alexandra Horowitz is a Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor within the English and Psychology Departments at Barnard College. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.

Early Life and Education

Horowitz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father was a practicing attorney and her mother was a trained lawyer. In her early childhood, Horowitz and her family moved to Golden, Colorado, where she completed her primary and secondary education. She received her B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Later, Horowitz completed her post-baccalaureate training at Columbia University, where she pursued her interest in animal cognition. Horowitz had a sensitivity toward animals from an early age, but her academic curiosity flourished during her time at Columbia.

During her post-baccalaureate training, she was inspired by Herb Terrace, an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, and Diana Reiss to study animal cognition. Horowitz briefly worked in Terrace’s laboratory studying memories in macaque monkeys, which she cites as having immense influence on her scientific interests. Horowitz went on to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the University of California at San Diego. While studying animal cognition, she was inspired to study play behavior in dogs by observing her dog, Pumpernickel. She worked closely with Marc Bekoff from the University of Colorado Boulder and took inspiration from his work with philosopher Colin Allen in her decision to study communication through dog play.

Research and Career

Prior to her graduate education, Horowitz worked as a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster. She contributed as a definer for Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, which was published in 1991. Horowitz then began work as a fact checker at The New Yorker in New York City. She credits her work fact-checking books by the neuroscientist and author Oliver Sacks for influencing her decision to study cognitive science.

Horowitz is an instructor of dog cognition, nonfiction writing, and verbal storytelling. In addition to being a professor, Horowitz is also the PI of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard with a focus on analyzing the behavior and psychology of owned dogs. Her research has provided insight into dogs’ sense of self, their sense of space, and the way they use their olfactory system to make sense of the world around them. Horowitz provides insight to dog owners on how to improve their relationships with their dogs, advising owners to tailor certain kinds of play to the dog and allow dogs to explore their olfactory worlds.

Outside of her work in the lecture hall and the lab, Horowitz has published many works on dog cognition. Her most recent work, The Year of the Puppy, follows a dog throughout the first year of life, a year which Horowitz describes as an especially pivotal time in development. She aims to create books that are accessible to a younger audience to foster a sense of curiosity and empathy toward non-human animals in the younger generation. She also created the podcast, Off-Leash, with episodes that highlighted conversations about dog behavior and cognition shared between Horowitz and a notable guest as they took their dogs for a walk.

Publications

• The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves (2022). Viking, New York, NY. ISBN: 978-0593298008.
• Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond (2019). Scribner, New York, NY. ISBN: 978-1501175008.
• Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell (2016). Scribner, New York, NY. ISBN: 978-1476796024.
• Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know -- Young readers edition (2016). Simon & Schuster, New York, NY. ISBN: 978-1481450942.
• Domestic Dog Cognition and Behavior: The Scientific Study of Canis familiaris (2014). Editor. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN: 978-3642539930.
• On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes (2013). Scribner's: New York, NY. ISBN: 978-1439191255.
• Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (2009). Scribner, New York, NY. ISBN: 978-1416583431.

Selected Works

• Horowitz, A. (2023, in press). Dignity in dogs. In M. Challenger (Ed.), Animal Dignity: Philosophical reflections on nonhuman life. Bloomsbury.
• Volsche, S., Root-Gutteridge, H., Korzeniowska, A.T., Horowitz, A. (2022). Centering individual animals to improve research and citation practices. Biological Reviews.
• Horowitz, A. (2021). Naming and looking. In M. DeMello (Ed.), Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies, 2nd ed. Columbia University Press.
• Duranton, C., Horowitz, A. (2019). Let me sniff! Nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 211, 61-66.
• Hecht, J., Horowitz, A. (2015). Seeing animals: Human preferences for dog physical attributes. Anthrozoos, 28, 153-163.
• Horowitz, A., Hecht, J., & Dedrick, A. (2013). Smelling more or less: Investigating the olfactory experience of the domestic dog. Learning and Motivation, 44, 207-217.
• Horowitz, A. (2009). Disambiguating the "guilty look": Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour. Behavioural Processes, 81, 447-452.
• Horowitz, A. C., and Bekoff, M. (2007). Naturalizing anthropomorphism: Behavioral prompts to our humanizing of animals. Anthrozoös, 20, 23-35.
• Horowitz, A. C. (2003). Do humans ape? Or do apes human? Imitation and intention in humans and other animals. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 117, 325–336.

Honors and Awards

Horowitz’ debut book, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, was a #1 New York Times Bestseller in 2009, and it remained on the list for 64 weeks. In 2014, she received a William James Book Award of recognition for On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes. Horowitz’ titles geared toward children have won various awards including the 2017 NSTA award for Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12 and the 2020 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Gold Award.