Man’s best friend? Author, dog owner and trainer Jon Katz says that the relationship between dogs and their owners has gone way beyond master and pet; that increasingly we’re treating them as family members and human surrogates.

Katz says that in America today we give our dogs human names, they sleep on our beds, we spoil them with gifts, and turn to them more and more for emotional support, helping us through loneliness, isolation, divorce and aging.

In his latest book, “The New Work of Dogs,” Katz looks at the relationships between 12 dogs and their owners in his hometown of Montclair, New Jersey, a town that he has dubbed “Dogsville, USA” to show just how much we’re asking of our dogs today for attachment and emotional support.

Guests:

Jon Katz, author of “A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me” and “The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love and Family”