(There are some good examples of low frequency canine growling on my DVD, Lost in Translation. Two male cats threatening each other sound nothing like a thunder, but rather the high-pitched shrieking in a horror movie. Cats growl too, but the more agitated they get, the higher the frequency. It also correlates with house-rattling booms and crashes that make even the best of us jump out of our beds. Thunder sounds like canine threats of violence, the loud, low frequencies blanketing a dog as being attacked by the entire universe. That’s about as good a summary as one can make. Early in my career I had the opportunity to ask John Paul Scott just that, and he answered “Because God is growling.” It’s reasonable to ask why dogs are so frightened of thunder. It often takes years to develop, but can be traumatic and dangerous for dogs, and exhausting for their owners. It’s irrelevant whether dogs or cats are “more intelligent.” (Even those terms are somewhat meaningless–intelligent about what?) Here’s what we do know: We of course know that lots and lots of dogs are afraid of thunder. What I want to talk about this week is the less complicated assumption that both the reader and a “highest IQ ever” columnist make about more intelligence leading to less fear. (Summary: It’s a bit more complicated than that.) You are welcome to jump in here on this one, but I’ll save my own comments on this issue for another day. First is the issue about the intelligence of dogs and cats. There are two roads I could go down here. In the column, a reader asks why dogs are more afraid of thunder than cats, given that “dogs seem more intelligent.” Marilyn’s response was that, indeed, cats are far more intelligent than dogs, and being smarter, have learned that thunder won’t hurt them. I always have several lists of potential topics, scattered hither and yon, one usually tucked under the To Do list that begins “Be More Organized.” Almost done with the newspaper, skimming through the Parade section, I came across Marilyn vos Savant’s column, Ask Marilyn, and Presto Chango, a new topic was chosen. I was finishing up reading the Sunday paper yesterday, while thinking about which topic to choose for today’s blog.

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