Groucho's quip graces the opening page of "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know," a new book by cognitive scientist and psychologist Alexandra Horowitz that goes a long way to suggest what it's like to think with a dog's brain [1] -- to actually be a dog [2].
Combining new knowledge from hundreds of scientific and animal behavior studies, and mixing it in with a fine style guided by her own loving bemusement of dogs -- especially of her own Finnegan, rescued as a sick and needy pup from a shelter -- Horowitz gives us a fascinating picture of a dog's umwelt (OOM-velt) -- German for "their subjective or 'self-world'."
"Umwelt captures what life is like as the animal," she says.
We met Horowitz and Finnegan on a high plateau -- a grassy field hidden amid a circle of trees in New York's Central Park -- one day at 8 a.m.
adsonar_placementId=1280605;adsonar_pid=42753;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=165;adsonar_zh=220;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com';There was one hour to go before leash laws came into effect, so we were surrounded by some two dozen joyous dogs of every size, shape, color and pedigree -- or lack thereof -- and as many wakening humans.
Racing around, sniffing, forming little groups and making up games, the liberated dogs turned it into a scene much like any elementary school playground, brimming over with the invention of play -- but play on steroids.
We more static humans stood in their midst, wrapped for a while in dog time [6].
"Actually, dogs see faster than humans, so to speak," Horowitz, who teaches psychology at Columbia University [7], told ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-dog-dog/story?id=10494333&page=1 [11]
http://www.disclosureproject.com [14] TRUTH - EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Links:
[1] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dogs-great-frisbee-9080267
[2] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dogs-smell-time-9080306&tab=9482931&section=1206840&playlist=4806546&page=2
[3] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dogs-smell-time-9080306
[4] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dogs-hearing-humans-9080236
[5] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/moscows-stray-dogs-master-subways-10106879
[6] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/dogs-hearing-humans-9080236?tab=9482931&section=1206840&playlist=4806546
[7] http://topics.abcnews.go.com/topic/Columbia-University
[8] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-dog-dog/story?id=10494333&page=2
[9] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-dog-dog/story?id=10494333&page=3
[10] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-dog-dog/comments?type=story&id=10494333
[11] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/inside-dog-dog/story?id=10494333&page=1
[12] http://realneo.us/blogs/questministries
[13] http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/
[14] http://www.disclosureproject.com/