My two dogs charged out into the yard barking like their lives depended on it. I went running out to be sure they weren’t thinking of taking on a moose that might have wandered into the back yard only to find them hysterically screeching at a cat sitting on just the other side of the fence. The cat never moved and never flinched despite their best efforts to intimidate. In fact, the cat merely sat there un-moving, staring at them as though they were some lower class of being that had accidentally caught its eye.
Eventually the cat grew bored and sauntered away. My dogs came back in, satisfied that it was their barking that had scared the intruder away. I won’t disillusion them with the truth.