Are cats smarter than dogs? Are dogs smarter than cats? It can be an amusing argument to engage it as a joke, but trying to compare the two is like comparing apples to oranges, cupcakes to ice cream, pizza to tacos … you get the idea. We love dogs for reasons that don’t even apply to cats, and vice versa. To each her own — we think they’re all adorable.

That being said, we think we’ve got to give this round to a particularly clever kitten who manages to outsmart a dog in hot pursuit.

The cat in this video already seems to have the advantage, outrunning the dog on a long, elegant, gazelle-like lope. When the cat approaches a tree, she sees her opportunity and leaps up onto its trunk, the maneuver so swiftly and so skillfully executed that the dog has absolutely no idea what just happened.

As the cat leaps from her perch after the dog runs past, we can imagine her laughing to herself with evil satisfaction.

Or maybe — just maybe — both the cat and dog have outsmarted us and orchestrated the entire comedic chase just to get a laugh.

What we don’t see is the dog and cat high-five each other.

Photo: Cat and big dog sniffing noses by Shutterstock

Via Cute Dog Thing