She bravely confronts the uncomfortable truth that neutering our pets is an easy out for humans we don’t have to think about, much less manage, our dogs’ reproductive lives. Horowitz dispels many myths surrounding spay and neuter, from the impact on euthanasia rates (negligible) to a long list of the health problems it causes in our pets, including the risks of the actual surgery. “Against Sex” lays bare the harms we do to dogs by “de-sexing” them, especially at very young - prepubescent - ages.Another is many humans’ tendency to choose a breed that looks appealing to them - without considering “genetic tendencies” that, for example mean that border collies are miserable spending their lives as pets of busy, apartment-dwelling humans.

One example is breed-specific laws that fail to account for individual dogs’ differences or for actual behavior. “The Trouble with Breeds” spells out the history and harms humans have caused through generations of selective inbreeding.Horowitz clearly articulates how and why that’s wrong and at odds with how we think of dogs - spelling out the need for a status between “property” and “person.” Her vision of a “living property” status requires attention to dogs’ welfare as well as enabling “full dogness” - opportunities to do truly doggy things, like sniffing, digging, chasing, and chewing. “Owning Dogs” examines dogs’ status as property.These chapters, in my opinion, redeem the book: While much of the book reads like a collection of blog posts or short essays, a couple of chapters explore larger, more serious issues. Mostly, her life with her dogs, with a few broader forays into the lives of the rest of us and our dogs - or at least the dog-owners she encounters in her New York City life with dogs. It also shares little of her fascinating and groundbreaking work in dog cognition. Our Dogs, Ourselves lacks the insights into dog-focused science I hope for from Horowitz. Her best work so far - aside from her academic papers - is Being a Dog, with its deep dive into the world of scent and how dogs experience it. She’s the person I want to be when I grow up, after all … But, though I enjoyed it, I was also a little bit disappointed. I was excited about reading Alexandra Horowitz’s latest dog book.

Our dogs ourselves