Rev. Vicky's Message April 16, 2026

I don't know about all of you - but I'm guessing that, like me, you could use something light-hearted right about now. So I thought I would share this column* about our beloved four-legged companions. (*NYT The Morning by Sam Sifton, 4-16-26)

Here’s to dense dogs

Is your dog smart? One of mine is as dumb as a box of rocks. The other’s about 7 cents short of a dollar. (I love them both.) Yet many people, my colleague Emily Anthes reports, have dogs of exceptional intellect. Or so they think.

Earlier this year, Emily wrote about “canine prodigies” that know the names for dozens, even hundreds, of different toys. Afterward, she heard from many readers who said that their dogs were lexical masterminds, too.

She realized she was experiencing what scientists call the better-than-average effect. That’s a cognitive bias in which people overestimate their own abilities — and their dogs’ abilities — in comparison with those of other people (or dogs). A lot of people have it. In a 2025 YouGov survey, two-thirds of dog owners said that their animals were smarter than the average dog. It’s statistically impossible.

And that’s just fine. Watson, Emily’s dog, isn’t a genius. But he is “everything we could want in a dog: sweet, gentle, goofy, loving. I don’t need him to help me with the crossword — I just want him to curl up next to me while I do it. And at this, he excels.”

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Recently my own (now 9-year-old) rescue pup, Tohbi, had been suffering from some sort of PTSD evidently from an unknown trauma over the past month, which had him afraid to go through [some] doorways or entryways. The vet said that his eyesight was fine and this was likely a behavioral response to something that scared him. She suggested I try using treats to get him over the "trauma" (that didn't work).

Then last Friday I had him groomed - which means the hair around his eyes was trimmed; and I just realized this morning, with the hair gone, so was the "trauma!" Evidently, the hair was creating some kind of shadows or something that were spooking him. So now that I know, I will keep his facial hair trimmed between groomings, which will have the added benefit of letting me see his big beautiful trusting brown eyes all the time. And, as DOG is GOD spelled backward - it will also serve to as a reminder of where to focus my attention during these troublesome times! (See how I brought this back to Dalia's talk topic?!)

Namasté – Rev. Vicky

#unity #unityofmontereybay #tohbi #grooming #smartdogs