Comic # 15 - Barking Up The Wrong Tree
Written by Cristina Byrne | Illustration by Sarah JL Mapes
What is up with Dogs chasing squirrels and not just squirrels but birds, bunnies, and even tires (Growing up my dogs would chase after car tires), but what is also up with squirrels taunting dogs?
Its only natural that dogs would be chasing squirrels, birds, and bunnies (and tire wheels) because dogs are prey-driven animals (or in case of the tires moving objects).
Over 14,000 years ago, before the domesticated dog, wild wolves lived near human settlements. These friendly wolves eventually evolved into early dogs. That means dogs of today, despite all our efforts to breed them for various purposes, still maintain some of that wolf heritage. And of course, wolves are predators, chasing and killing other critters for their survival.
The origins of this behavior is explained when we take look at the history of certain breeds because many dogs were bred specifically to aid humans in hunting related tasks.
Let's take the Beagle for example, which is known for being a hunting dog. There is this term called “beagling” which refers to the hunting of hares! Other breeds, such as the Labrador Retriever, were initially bred to aid fishers in retrieving fish and other waterfowl that escaped rope nets.
So basically, dogs have pretty much been chasing down prey since the beginning of their existence. Dogs are naturally drawn toward moving objects as the part that, so the desire to chase a squirrel around the park, should hardly come as a surprise!
This is the culmination of the previous two factors. "A strong prey drive, combined with the strong sense of smell to realize those hunter instincts (as well as a generous serving of curiosity!), means that the desire to chase squirrels is essentially baked into your dog’s DNA."
Plus, it’s also easy to see the similarities between fetch and a rapid squirrel chase.
We tend to view the animal world as very black-and-white:
Dogs hate squirrels! They want to kill them!
Actually, no. That is a projection of how we’ve been conditioned to perceive other species: as confrontational, aggressive, one-dimensional creatures. But they are much more complicated than that.
Now, on the other hand, squirrels seem to enjoy this game of “dog and squirrel.”
Have you ever walked your dog, and a squirrel was there, and the dog doesn’t chase the squirrel, so the squirrel starts getting closer to the dog…? I feel like the squirrel is asking for the attention to be chased.
Maybe it is a simple game of dog and squirrel-like cat and mouse.
