Dogs running behind vehicles at night

Question
Hi,

I am from India. I have noticed that dogs like to run behind moving vehicles - in a very aggressive and violent fashion, especially at night. Why is that so? Do they feel threatened by cars?

Swati

Answer
Hi, Swati,

Thanks for the question.

One of the chief features of canine evolution is their ability to hunt large prey animals by forming packs. For dogs a moving car triggers those ancient predatory emotions that in the wild are reserved for herd animals with hooves and horns. Since these types of animals can also kill or seriously injure a wolf, the instinct to chase and kill a large moving animal also has a lot of fear mixed into it.

I hope that answers your question.

LCK