Back when dogs chased cars


As I was browsing the Duke University site today, which has lot of cool old images of historic billboards, I noticed one for the Ford V-8 in 1935, and was reminded that dogs haven't chased cars for a long time, so this may be difficult for young people to understand.


I wasn't around in the 1930s, but I can explain. These two dogs (one of which is a greyhound, a very fast dog) weren't going to bother chasing the new Ford V-8 because it was so fast. Of course, all cars were too fast for dogs to catch, but the Ford V-8 became famous for its speed, and was the car of choice of criminals running away from the police.

But let's talk about dogs. The reason that dogs chased cars is that they wandered around. There were no leash laws, no rules about cleaning up after your dog, nothing. Dogs roamed around towns, often in packs, and it was considered perfectly normal. I distinctly remember my neighbor's dogs in Tempe, Arizona in the 1980s that just cruised around the town. The dogs roamed around all day, and came back home at night. At that time, the cats roamed the town. Cats still roam, but dogs don't.

Being chased by dogs, and bitten by them, was just considered one of the hazards of a kid's life when I was little. I liked to ride my bike, and I never knew if I would be attacked. But mostly the dogs just chased you for a while, the way that they chased cars. It was still pretty frightening, and I'm glad that kids don't have to deal with that anymore.

I'm glad to see dogs under control nowadays. I was never bitten by a dog, but a neighbor kid was, and the grownups just laughed it off. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but I really don't want them wandering around uncontrolled, especially around kids.

Images from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.
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