S1E4: Nosy Dogs

In episode four, Claudia Hirtenfelder reads an excerpt about dogs from Alexandra Horowitz’s “On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation” which marvels at dog’s smelling capacities and how it shapes their experiences of an urban block. The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast. Season 1 is focused on “Animals and The Urban.”  

 Featured: 

• Pests in the City by Dawn Day Biehler 
• On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation by Alexandra Horowitz
• The Animal Turn "Animal Highlights (Animals and The Urban)" Playlist on Youtube. 

Credits:

• Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host 
• Christiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer 
• Rebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)
• Gordon Clarke, bed music composer
• Learn more about the team here. 

 Support the podcast via: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn 
• Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn 
• Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ 

Sponsor:

• Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics sponsored the season of The Animal Turn Podcast where these highlights were originally aired. Originally Aired/Recorded: 31 March 2021.

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

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The Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.

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Transcript

00:00 - Introduction 

• This first season animals and the urban and is extracted from Season 3 of The Animal Turn Podcast.  
• In today’s highlight we are focusing on urban dogs. 

01:10 – An excerpt about dogs

• On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation by Alexandra Horowitz
• Has a chapter dedicated to how her dog walks around the block:  

 “Biologically, the human nose works in the same way as the dog’s. Odors are swept into the far reaches of the nose and land in receptors—a few million of them. But that is hundreds of millions fewer than the dog bears. The difference in number of cells translates into a difference in kind. Dogs detect odors at one or two parts per trillion, unimaginably more sensitive than we are. One part mustard, one trillion parts hot dog: dogs can detect the mustard.

To begin to understand what a city block really smells like, there seemed to be one clear course of action: ask a dog. So it happened that one day I set to taking a walk around the block for this book with Finnegan, the earnest, playful black dog in our home now. 

…

Finn pushed out into the fresh air with enthusiasm. I followed him. Then we . . . stopped. It had occurred to me to ask his preference in our walking route, so instead of pulling him left (parkward) or right (cityward) when we exited the building, I stopped on the steps. Finn, ever cooperative, stopped as well. He perched on the top step, projecting his snout proudly ahead of him. As a steady, light stream of people walked by, they pushed air out of the way as they passed, occasioning plenty of sniffing by Finn.

…”

04:02 – Facts about dog

• Dogs are considered to be the first animal humans domesticated, roughly 15,000 years ago. 
• It is estimated that there are roughly 9 million dogs in the world and, interestingly, only 20 percent of them live in human homes with most of them living as free-roaming dog. The larest population of dogs currently living in India. 
• Check out Moscow’s dogs and how they navigate the subway system.
• Also check out Elizabeth Lou’s “Stray”, looking at Istanbul’s free-living dogs. 

05:17 – Credits 

• “A huge thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring The Animal Turn Podcast, where these clips were taken from. To Christiaan Mentz for editing this episode. Thank you also goes to Rebecca Shen for designing the Animal Highlight logo and episode art work.”