Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

by Alexandra Horowitz

Undesired behavior gets no attention, no food: nothing that the dog wants from you. Good behavior gets it all.

our frustrations with dogs often arise from our extreme anthropomorphizing, which neglects the very animalness of dogs. A complex animal cannot be explained simply.

You write that we often misinterpret dogs’ behavior. Can you give an example of how we do so? Dogs are frequently treated as though all their behaviors map to human behavior. We call raising a paw “shaking hands”—this is tongue-in-cheek, of course, but it is still surprising to learn that “shaking” is a submissive behavior of dogs, done to show that they are not threatening, and to avoid an attack. I certainly don’t think that’s what people intend to have the dog say with a shake. My favorite example, one that is in the book, is of the dog “kiss”: a dog’s slobbering, rambunctious licking of our mouths when we return from being away is often considered to be a sign of his affection for us. But if we look at the behavior of their cousins and ancestors, wolves, we get a far different impression. When a wolf returns to the pack from a hunt, he or she is mobbed by his packmates—who all lick madly at his mouth. What they are trying to do is to get the returning wolf to regurgitate some of the freshly killed meat he has eaten (which they often do). So when your dog licks your mouth, he is probably doing something similar: seeing what you’ve eaten, and encouraging you to spit some of it up (they will never be unhappy if you do . . . unlike the others in your life who may kiss you on the mouth). On the other hand, it is still fair to call this behavior a “greeting” behavior, one that despite its gory past is also indication of recognition, familiarity, and—perhaps!—affection.

You write “dogs are anthropologists among us.” What do they know about us? Based on smell alone, they seem to know a lot about individuals. They can tell if you’ve recently had sex, smoked a cigarette, had a bath; they know if you’ve just eaten, or gone for a run, or petted another dog. They can smell your emotions: dogs have the ability to sense the hormones we exude when we are scared; they can most likely detect other emotions too. Smell is not their only source of information about us. Dog owners are sometimes impressed with how dogs know when they are packing for a trip, or getting ready for a walk. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Humans are creatures of habit, tending to act similarly when we get dressed, get ready to go out, prepare dinner, and so on. Dogs are very good at observing the series of events that leads to a consequence of interest (like a walk), and remembering the chain of events that preceded it. Sometimes it seems that dogs know our intent before even we do.