Alexandra Horowitz Quotes & Sayings

Few celebrate a dog who jumps at people as they approach
but start with the premise that it is we who keep ourselves (and our faces) unbearably far away, and we can come to a mutual understanding. — Alexandra Horowitz

Part of what restricts us seeing things is that we have an expectation about what we will see, and we are actually perceptually restricted by that expectation. In a sense, expectation is the lost cousin of attention: both serve to reduce what we need to process of the world "out there". Attention is the more charismatic member, packaged and sold more effectively, but expectation is also a crucial part of what we see. Together they allow us to be functional, reducing the sensory chaos of the world into unbothersome and understandable units. — Alexandra Horowitz

The result of these walks on my head is tangible: they refined what I can see. — Alexandra Horowitz

Dogs also have a higher flicker-fusion rate than humans do: seventy or even eighty cycles per second. This provides an indication why dogs have not taken up a particular foible of persons: our constant gawking at the television screen. Like film, the image on your (non-digital) TV is really a sequence of still shots sent quickly enough to fool our eyes into seeing a continuous stream. But it's not fast enough for dog vision. They see the individual frames and the dark space between them too, as though stroboscopically. — Alexandra Horowitz

A life untrammeled by knowledge of its end is an enviable life. There — Alexandra Horowitz

Those canids such as foxes, who do not live in a social group, appear to have a much more limited range of things to say. Even the kinds of sounds foxes make are indicative of their more solitary nature: they make sounds that travel well over long distances. — Alexandra Horowitz

He was blessed with the ability to admire the unlovely. Or, I should say, he was blessed with the inability to feel there is a difference between lovely and un-. — Alexandra Horowitz

A walk is exploring surfaces and textures with finger, toe, and - yuck - tongue; standing still and seeing who or what comes by; trying out different forms of locomotion (among them running, marching, high-kicking, galloping, scooting, projectile falling, spinning, and noisy shuffling). It is archeology: exploring the bit of discarded candy wrapper; collecting a fistful of pebbles and a twig and a torn corner of a paperback; swishing dirt back and forth along the ground. It is stopping to admire the murmuring of the breeze in the trees; locating the source of the bird's song; pointing. Pointing! - using the arm to extend one's fallen gaze so someone else can see what you've seen. It is a time of sharing. On our block, — Alexandra Horowitz

When it comes to describing our potential physical and cognitive capacities, we are individuals first, and members of the human race second. — Alexandra Horowitz

Do not sag with exhaustion. There is no mandate; only opportunity. Our culture fosters inattention; we are all creatures of that culture. But by making your way through this book - by merely picking it up, perhaps - you, reader, are in a new culture, one that values looking. The unbelievable strata of trifling, tremendous things to observe are there for the observing. Look! — Alexandra Horowitz

how we act defines who we are. — Alexandra Horowitz

Part of seeing what is on an ordinary block is seeing that everything visible has a history. It arrived at the spot where you found it at some time, was crafted or whittled or forged at some time, filled a certain role or existed for a particular function. It was touched by someone (or no one), and touches someone (or no one) now. — Alexandra Horowitz

For me, walking has become less physical transit than mental transportation. It is engaging. I have become, I fear, a difficult walking companion, liable to slow down and point at things. I can turn this off, but I love to have it on: a sense of wonder that I, and we all, have a predisposition to but have forgotten to enjoy. — Alexandra Horowitz

The other part of seeing what is on the block is appreciating how limited our own view is. We are limited by our sensory abilities, by our species membership, by our narrow attention - at least the last of which can be overcome. — Alexandra Horowitz

I am I because my little dog knows me. - GERTRUDE STEIN — Alexandra Horowitz

Every dog that you name and bring home will also die. — Alexandra Horowitz

Many people's expectations, at least in this country, are fairly similar: be friendly, loyal, pettable; find me charming and lovable - but know that I am in charge; do not pee in the house; do not jump on guests; do not chew my dress shoes; do not get into the trash. Somehow, word hasn't gotten to the dogs. — Alexandra Horowitz

By standard intelligence texts, the dogs have failed at the puzzle. I believe, by contrast that they have succeeded magnificently. They have applied a novel tool to the task. We are that tool. Dogs have learned this
and they see us as fine general-purpose tools, too: useful for protection, acquiring food, providing companionship. We solve the puzzles of closed doors and empty water dishes. In the folk psychology of dogs, we humans are brilliant enough to extract hopelessly tangled leashes from around trees; we can conjure up an endless bounty of foodstuffs and things to chew. How savvy we are in dogs' eyes! It's a clever strategy to turn to us after all. The question of the cognitive abilities of dogs is thereby transformed; dogs are terrific at using humans to solve problems, but not as good at solving problems when we're not around. — Alexandra Horowitz

Our mortal knowledge may not be visible in all of our moves, but it shines through in some: we shrink back from the balcony's edge, from the animal with unknown intent; we buckle up for safety; we look both ways before crossing; we don't jump in the tiger cage; we refrain from the third serving of fried ice cream; we even entertain not swimming after eating. If dogs know about death, it might show in how they act. I — Alexandra Horowitz

In training a dog you must reward only those behaviors you desire the dog to repeat endlessly. — Alexandra Horowitz

The complement of remembering so thoroughly can be the strange inability to forget anything at all. — Alexandra Horowitz

Domestication is a variation of the process of evolution, where the selector has been not just natural forces but human ones, eventually intent on bringing dogs inside their homes. — Alexandra Horowitz