Living with Freddie

How a dog taught me to be human

By: Anna Heyward

An extraordinary memoir about learning to see the world through a dog's eyes, by a New Yorker writer and animal behaviour expert

When Anna Heyward adopted Freddie, a rescued Italian greyhound, she was thrilled to bring a dog into her life. But Freddie, she quickly realised, had severe separation anxiety, unable to be left alone for more than thirty seconds without crying uncontrollably or injuring himself. Some would have given him back, but Anna dedicated herself to entering the mind of her dog, putting her relationship, social life and job at risk. As Anna observed Freddie's behaviour, she began to experience the world as he did, and she changed - but not in the way you might expect.

Living with Freddie is a meditation on what it means to be bad or good, on how much we can - or should - try to alter another being's behaviour, and what is possible to know about another mind. But at its heart, this is a beautiful, heart-wrenching portrait of the relationship between a human and a dog. And at the end of Freddie's story, you, too, may find yourself changed.©2026 Anna Heyward (P)2026 Penguin Random House Audio