I am going to brag once again about Toby the Puppy. Take a look at the face in this picture. It is the face of what I believe is the smartest dog on Earth. Hands down. No question.

I make this claim acknowledging how much we also love our grandpuppy, Madden. Today, though, Toby demonstrated a sort of canine intuition I didn’t know existed.

I’ll set the stage.

We were in my study. I was typing a blog entry. Normally, we hear vehicle noise outside all the time. All day and all evening long. It’s no big deal. Toby the Puppy might hear a honking horn. He doesn’t so much as twitch.

I was awaiting my son’s arrival around noon. I didn’t say a word about that pending arrival to Toby.

Then my son arrived. He parked his car outside; it’s important to note that we could not see him from the study. Then he hit his vehicle’s automatic door-locking fob, which produced a honk from his horn.

At the sound of my son’s horn, Toby jumped straight into the air and ran to the front door. His tail was wagging furiously. He was excited to see my son, who I’ll presume he knew would be knocking on the door at that moment.

My son knocked on the door, I opened it and Toby greeted him with tail wags and licks.

This was an amazing display of intuitive skill. For the life of me I do not know how he was able to discern that the sound of that particular horn meant we were about to have company.

They all sound alike to me.

It’s settled. Toby the Puppy has proven to me that he has deductive reasoning skills.

I’ll give you a case in point.

When my wife and I leave our new home for any length of time — and we keep the puppy at home by himself — we return and are greeted with tail wags and lots of love at the door by Toby.

He doesn’t make a sound. He just is happy to see his parents return.

Now … when we all are together — my wife, Toby the Puppy and yours truly — and someone knocks on the door, Toby goes nuts. He barks angrily with a bark that belies his diminutive size. In other words, he sounds much bigger than he is. My wife and I are grateful that he isn’t a yipper/yapper dog. He sounds tough.

My point? It is that Toby knows to bark when his mother and I are with him; when he’s alone, he presumes that we are on the other side of the door waiting to walk in.

Yes, Toby is one smart puppy. I keep telling you this. Please take my word for it. He knows many things.

Toby the Puppy joined our family not quite four years ago.

You know how smart he is. You know how sweet he is and you know that my wife and I fell in love with him quite nearly at very first sight.

He also is a comic. He’s a comedian.

Every single day since he became a member of our family has brought laughter to my wife and me. Toby the Puppy has made us laugh every day.

He gives us a look. When he wants either of us to throw one of his toys, he stands there shooting glances at me, then my wife, then back at me, then back at my wife. Back and forth he goes. We howl in laughter.

When he wants us to toss a toy, he brings it to our feet. He then stands there, crouched low on his front legs. It’s almost as if he’s toeing the starting line at a sprint. I grab the toy, toss it and off he goes. Again … we laugh.

He is relentless. His energy is unending. His ability to make us laugh knows no bounds.

We love to laugh with him. If laughter is the best medicine, then I don’t mind overdosing with Toby the Puppy.

Today is a big day in our immediate family. It’s not just because it’s Easter, the holiest day of the year for Christians. It’s because today is Toby the Puppy’s fourth birthday.

He turns 4 on this day, which we have celebrated as his birthday since the moment he joined our family.

I need to tell you that we don’t know with absolute certainty that he came into this world on April 1, 2014, but we have it on pretty good authority that this is close enough to that date to celebrate it.

That “pretty good authority” happened to be the veterinarian who examined him a few days after he showed up in our back yard.

Many of you know the story of how he arrived. Our great niece — who was spending some time with us in Amarillo — found him in an alley not far from where we lived. She eventually found Toby’s “owners” and then asked them if she could keep him; they said yes.

She didn’t tell it to us in quite that fashion when this was unfolding in real time. But that’s another story. The crux of it today is that he had found a new home and had adopted us — my wife and me — as his new parents.

We took him to the vet for his inoculations and to be neutered. Our first question to the doctor was, “How old is he?” She opened his mouth, peered inside and said, categorically, “He’s five months old.”

Well, now. That was in early September 2014; we backed it up five months and landed right on April Fool’s Day. How … about … that?

The joke was on us!

Do not misconstrue a single word here. We have been blessed by Toby’s presence every single day since the moment he arrived with our niece, which is saying quite a lot, since my wife and I have been unapologetic “cat people” for our entire life together.

The two kitties that we had at the time Toby the Puppy came along have since left us and we still mourn them. Toby, though, makes us smile — and, yes, laugh — every single day.

He has been a blast and a joy.

Happy birthday, Pup.