In a new book, The Year of the Puppy, Alexandra Horowitz describes what scientists like her are learning about the first year of dog life.
You’ve studied and written about a variety of dog-related topics over the years. Why puppies this time?I’ve lived with many dogs, but I’ve never known a dog from the time of her birth. Every dog adopter wonders about those early weeks and months of their dog’s life: about what happened to them to make them the dog they are. In this case, I thought I could talk about the research into the early development of puppies while also raising a puppy. Bonus: we got to adopt a puppy.
with teenaged behavior to match. The key to getting through this, for me, was simply the realization that it’s just a phase. TOne surprise of my own was how little her early life predicted who she would become. I met Quiddity right after she was born, watched her with her mom and littermates, and observed her continuously through her first year. Sure, there were some early environmental exposures which might explain how she behaved later.