Some Dogs Hate Car Rides and Others Love Them: Here Are the Reasons Why
Despite what 'Homeward Bound' led us to believe, most dogs do not like to travel.
Hello. My dad says that dogs don’t like to travel. Is that true? - Ankush, India.
Most dogs don’t like to travel, and those that do have usually had to learn to like it.
In the wild, being too adventurous could get a dog killed, so dogs may have mostly evolved to be cautious and remain close to what is familiar. That said, dogs may see some kinds of travel as a chance to find things they want — like food or a mate.
Home Sweet Home
Many dogs are happiest in their home range.
It’s normal for dogs to value the territory they know well, where they know they can find food, water, and shelter easily.
It is also home to the thing most precious to them: their social group. That is, the other dogs or humans they know and like. Yes, dogs probably see the humans they live with as their social group.
Most dogs have what scientists call a “home range.” That’s the area in which they feel comfortable. At the core of the home range is its den (for example, your dog may see your home and garden as its den). Beyond that core, there’s what we call the periphery — that might be the neighbor’s front yard, the park down the road, and your street.
Dogs can recognize their home range by its smell. Have you ever noticed a dog peeing on trees and lampposts, or scraping his hind-paws against the ground? That’s how dogs mark their territory with their own scent.
Many humans love to travel, but for dogs, traveling too far from home comes with risks. Dogs that wander into another’s territory might be outnumbered by other dogs, or overpowered by a stronger individual. Or they may return to their home range only to discover that the social group changed while they were away, and they no longer fit in as well as they used to.
Traveling With Friends
For many dogs, a trip to the local park can be a fun and safe form of travel.
When we exercise dogs in unfamiliar areas, they may love the challenge of all those new places and smells to explore. Many dogs are clearly joyful as they explore all this with us, their social groups, but when alone, their response may be very different.
For domestic dogs, exercise beyond the den (the house and garden) is exciting because it offers so many opportunities: to play, pee, and poo in new places, to explore and eat food, to meet and greet new dogs, mark territory, and find a friend.
So some dogs will take the chance to wander if they really need to do any of those things.
Car Travel – a Mixed Blessing
For some dogs, cars can be a way for them to encounter a cascade of odors, see new dogs, or score a stimulating walk in a new territory.
Many puppies and dogs who are not used to cars will get carsick. But then again, cars can also be a way for dogs to encounter a cascade of odors, see new dogs, or score a stimulating walk in a new territory. Car rides can bring enormous joy to some dogs, once they get used to car travel.
For some dogs, hopping into the car is associated with a trip to the park or beach. For others, it reminds them too much of a trip to the vet, where they may have had a scary experience, like having an injection.
Dogs learn to mistrust the smell of the vet’s waiting room, and now some vets use calming pheromones in their clinics. Pheromones are special chemicals that can affect mood.
So, whether or not dogs like to travel might depend a lot on the individual dogs and their life experience. It may depend on whether travel reminds them of fun-filled trips or fear-filled ones.
Despite what some movies ask us to believe, very few dogs ever get the travel bug and want to explore the world. At the end of the day, they’re usually happiest at home.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Paul McGreevy. Read the original article here.
