Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Wally's Umwelt

This review of Inside a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know has been near the top of the NYT Most E-mailed stories all week. And why not? Who doesn't want to know what's going on between our ears? For some of us it is a theme park of thinkerating. For others, grey space. (Ahem, OBST.)

There was interesting stuff like this

A dog’s vision affects its sense of time, too. Dogs have a higher “flicker fusion” rate than we do, which is the rate at which retinal cells can process incoming light, or “the number of snapshots of the world that the eye takes in every second.” ... This is more than a game of fetch; it is a profound, existential realization: “One could say that dogs see the world faster than we do, but what they really do is see just a bit more world in every second.”

Or this:

Countering the currently fashionable alpha dog “pack theories” of dog training, Horowitz notes that “in the wild, wolf packs consist almost entirely of related or mated animals. They are families, not groups of peers vying for the top spot. . . . Behaviors seen as ‘dominant’ or ‘submissive’ are used not in a scramble for power; they are used to maintain social unity.”

So let's see how much you have learned. Below you must study my pictures and guess what my expression tells you about what is going on in my noggin...

A. Robert Reich's column in the NYT was an informative defense of a single payer system, though I do believe he is overly optimistic about the political possibilities for passing said legislation.
B. Mmmmm.....bacon.
C. I should recite a little Seamus Heaney, ahem,:
Up, black, striped and damasked like the chasuble
At a funeral mass, the skunk's tail
Paraded the skunk. Night after night
I expected her like a visitor.

D. Oscar's looking at my butt, isn't he?
E. I wonder if I'm taller than Robert Reich. And also, he's looking at my butt again, isn't he?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Match 'em!

Labels: , , ,

11 Comments:

Blogger NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

All of the above
YET
None of the above

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

8:17 PM  
Blogger Sally Ann and Andy said...

Well said.
Mack

8:56 PM  
Blogger Gus said...

Way beyond my doggy brain, but you look pawticularly handsome in the final photo. And muzzer says you are definitely taller than Robert Reich. Hell, she is taller than Robert Reich!


gussie

9:11 PM  
Blogger Joe Stains said...

I kind of think they are all D honestly.

9:49 PM  
Blogger Patience-please said...

Oh we got 'em. We're SURE. Here goes:
1 - B
2 - C
3 - D
4 - A
5 - E

What do we win!!!!!

wags from the totally winning whippets

9:59 PM  
Blogger Emily and Ike said...

Here goes:
1.B
2.B
3.B
4.B
5.B
Ike

10:38 PM  
Blogger Moco said...

None of those. You are thinking: when is Grammie coming in her space ship to take me for a spin and does she have bacon onboard?

10:56 PM  
Blogger Dexter said...

That is very hard for the Mango. I think perhaps in all of them you are really saying, "I am Wally! Hear me roar!"

Slobbers,
Mango

5:49 AM  
Blogger Sophie Brador said...

Wally, Why don't you just admit it.

1. Sophie
2. Sophie
3. Sophie
4. Sophie
5. Sophie

xo
SB

P.S. Ike called you a dirty old man on my blog. You should not let such great compliments go unthanked.

9:15 AM  
Blogger Jake of Florida said...

Mom and Dogdad actually saw Robert Reich when they were at West Side Story in NYC a few months ago. He was sitting a few seats away in the row next to theirs.

And yes, you are taller. His build is like yours -- short legs attached to a full torso.

But as you are the one and only Wally the Corgador, we do believe you were thinking all of those thoughts at the very same time -- with a minor butt sniffing distraction.

Wirey love,

Jake and Just Harry

11:25 AM  
Blogger Patience-please said...

Wally, our idiot servant left your ma ape and award on our blog. Yes, we realize the ramifications of this:
- not YOU, your human (sigh)
- awards are a pain unless they are steak
- we already told you our servant is an idiot.

embarrassed wags from the whippets

1:04 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home