Is Your Dog A Door-Dasher?
About half of dogs that dash out of doors do so because they are frustrated by captivity. The others are often leader types and either trying to get into the house to socialize with their owners or to continue their social contact by attempting to leave with the owner. Whatever the basic motivation, the act can be both financially and emotionally costly. Such door-dashing has seriously injured children and elderly people, caused premature birth in pregnant women, resulted in injury and death of the dog and, in many cases, causes an automobile accident when a motorist swerves to miss the dog.
When the problem involves a dog that dashes merely to get out there to run about the neighborhood, avoiding its owners' pleas to return, the pet is usually unruly in other circumstances as well. These cases often involve an independent, self-oriented (spoiled) dog. Other factors may involve an early history of unrestricted outdoor activity, followed by restriction because of some problem that has arisen outside (fighting, car chasing, etc.).
Some cases involve continuous frustration relative to neighborhood activities, such as the dog's "fretting" behind a gate or at a window. Depending on the excitability of the animal, it may develop the same type of stereotyped behavior seen in fence-running dogs. Simple freedom-dashing may be tension relieving in itself, or the escaped dog may have a frustration target, such as passing cars, playing children, mail carrier or other animals.