[1] The film also features reflections on life and death, including Anderson's experiences in downtown New York after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

[8] The score was composed and performed entirely by her,[9] and incorporated excerpts from her previous projects, including "Beautiful Pea Green Boat" (from the 1994 album Bright Red), "Rhumba Club" (from 2001's Life on a String), and Landfall (2011) with Kronos Quartet.

[11] Reviewing Heart of Dog for AllMusic, Mark Deming gave it four out of five stars and said it is "an album only Laurie Anderson could make, even as its sense of joy and tragedy set it apart from her best-known work".

[11] Andy Gill from The Independent found Anderson's observations on a variety of themes "by turns whimsical, sinister, sad and funny as well as surprisingly educational" on what was "a deeply moving soundtrack".

[12] Writing for Vice, Robert Christgau gave the record an "A+" and deemed it her best work yet because it "accrues power and complexity" with repeated listens, "75 minutes of sparsely but gorgeously and aptly orchestrated tales ... about life and death and what comes in the middle when you do them right, which is love.