Dog Training Cartoons: Why do dogs chase squirrels?

I love having fun with the dog chasing squirrel trope. I’ve never had a true squirrel chaser. Weezy gets a little excited when she sees one running along the fence but that’s about it. When I was a kid, I used to see squirrels chucking acorns at my dog, Toby. He never chased them, they were just really angry squirrels. Might be a New England thing.