Basically dogs think humans are nuts.

In his travel memoir about a 1960 road trip around the United States with his poodle Charley, Steinbeck reflects on the contrast between canine perception and human behavior. In a passage comparing dogs and humans, he suggests dogs sometimes seem to regard people with brief, disdainful surprise, as if human conduct is irrational.

The line is a humorous critique of human inconsistency and self-destructive tendencies. Steinbeck implies that from a dog’s simpler, more direct perspective, human actions can look illogical or absurd.

I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.