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There are many dimensions to dog-human relationships, and Anna Heyward covers many of them in a new book.

A big theme of the book is seeing things from a point of view that’s not your own.

Imagining the life of another animal can end up making you more human, not less. 

Books about dog-human relationships are a dime a dozen, and it's not surprising that they vary greatly in quality for any number of reasons. However, when I started reading Anna Heyward's beautifully written new book, Living with Freddie: How a Dog Taught Me to Be Human, I knew I was in for a special treat.

In her outstanding book, Heyward writes about her special relationship with Freddie, and the trials and tribulations of separation anxiety, from his point of view. She craftily places the science and history of our relationship with dogs within a deeply personal story about the joy and the pain of living with, and trying to relate to, a nonhuman animal; a stunning meditation on the bond between beasts and humans.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Living with Freddie?

Anna Heyward: When I was in my twenties, I went out and got a dog without really knowing what I was doing. I thought it would be a fun addition to my life, and I thought I was grown-up enough to handle something as simple as having a dog. But there was nothing easy or simple about Freddie. He had some severe behavior problems that I had never heard of, thought about, or anticipated. I was living an exciting life in New York City working in art and magazine publishing, and I had never spent much time at all thinking about nonhuman animal life or........

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