Off Leash, a New Podcast About Dogs and the Humans Who Live with Them, Out Today from Freakonomics Radio Network

Canine cognition expert Alexandra Horowitz explores the relationship between humans and dogs on walks with dog-loving public figures from Isabella Rossellini to Soledad O’Brien

In the new podcast Off Leash, whose first two episodes debut today, dog-cognition expert and bestselling author Alexandra Horowitz takes us on a walk into the scruffy, playful, and curious world of dogs. Each episode opens with a walking interview with a public figure – everyone from actress Isabella Rossellini to broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien to writer Susan Orlean – and, naturally, their dog.

Each conversation leads to an essential question that Horowitz explores in the episode with the help of fellow researchers. For instance: Do dogs care what you name them? Is the concept of a “hero dog” a myth? How can a dog’s keen sense of smell help us understand our own olfactory powers?

“I’m all about dogs, and I never run out of questions about these joyful, mysterious animals,” Horowitz says in the trailer. “But Off Leash is also about the people at the other end of the leash — and the nature of the relationship between us and the dogs who walk by our sides. It’s about living with and among all animals, and the curiosity and reverence that they can inspire in us.”

The first two episodes debut on all podcast platforms today. In episode one, “Smell,” Horowitz walks with New York Times California restaurant critic Tejal Rao and her dog Lulu, talks to a trainer who works with professional poop-detection dogs, and tests the olfactory powers of her fellow Freakonomics Radio Network hosts Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth. In episode two, “Names,” Horowitz joins Isabella Rossellini on her farm to meet a dog named Pinocchio and a sheep named Frida Kahlo, and asks: What do dogs know about their own names, and can science tell us what names to give them?

Find Off Leash at https://freakonomics.com/series/off-leash/ and on all podcast platforms.

About Alexandra Horowitz

Alexandra Horowitz heads the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she also teaches seminars in canine cognition, creative nonfiction writing, and audio storytelling. She has long been interested in understanding the umwelt of another animal, and her research and writing is aimed to answer the question of what it is like to be a dog. She has written five books, including Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, a New York Times bestseller, Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell, Our Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond, and, most recently The Year of the Puppy, which will be published in September. She earned her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego, and her Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

About Freakonomics Radio Network

The Freakonomics Radio Network produces Freakonomics Radio, No Stupid Questions, People I (Mostly) Admire, Freakonomics M.D., and Off Leash. Freakonomics Radio is one of the most enduring and popular podcasts in the world, with over 10 million downloads per month and an archive going back 12-plus years. No Stupid Questions launched in May of 2020, People I (Mostly) Admirelaunched in August of 2020, Freakonomics M.D. launched in August of 2021, and Off Leash launched in May of 2022. In total in 2021, podcasts from the Freakonomics Radio Network had over 160 million downloads. Freakonomics Radio Network will announce additional podcasts in 2022.

For more information about the Freakonomics Radio Network, please contact Ray Padgett (raypadgett@shorefire.com) or Mark Satlof (msatlof@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media.