Why Dogs Ignore Low-Flying Planes — Readers Weigh In — SkimNews
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- Guy Cox of Sydney reports his daughter's kelpie/spaniel cross Guffy hides from both distant thunder and low-flying planes, mistaking plane rumble for thunder without looking up.
- Harry Olund of Newport, Oregon says his four Labradors over 60 years all briefly looked up at overhead planes for 4-5 seconds before losing interest.
- Ron Bennett of Yorkshire recalls a rescue collie that chased planes, echoing a West Yorkshire dog named Blu referenced in the column's 1 August entry.
- The column suggests dogs' far longer evolutionary history with thunder versus planes may explain why some route plane sounds through a thunder-fear response.
Why it matters: Reader responses span the full behavioral spectrum — fear-based hiding linked to a thunder association, brief visual curiosity, and active chasing — suggesting dog reactions to low-flying planes are shaped by individual temperament and prior sound associations rather than a single species-wide trait.
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