POLAND — Most dogs like to ride in cars.

Wayne Milliken’s dogs like to go four-wheeling. When Milliken heads for his all-terrain vehicle, the ears of his two dogs pick up, their eyes follow his every move, tails wag in anticipation.

“Want to go for a ride?” Milliken asks.

Hunter, a 9-year-old golden retriever, promptly jumps into a trailer behind the ATV.

Jager, a 4-year-old mixed toy breed, jumps up on the runner board of the ATV begging to be picked up. Milliken scoops Jager up and puts him in a crate tied securely on the front. Jager sits calmly as if he owns the (dirt) road. Hunter stands in his trailer wagging his tail.

The four-wheeler starts up, away the three ride, Jager out front, Hunter wagging his tail in the trailer.

Milliken, 68, is retired from working in construction and for the Maine Department of Transportation. He said he and his son often ride the ATV on trails behind their home.

The larger dog used to run behind. Four years ago, the family got the smaller dog. Little Jager would run behind, too, keeping up for short distances.

Milliken started putting him in the crate basket he used to carry tools and gloves. That pleased Jager. “Oh, he loves it,” Milliken said.

The family got Hunter as a puppy when their son, Benjamin, was 10 years old. Hunter started riding the ATV with Benjamin, the father said, showing off a 2005 photo of Hunter behind the boy on the ATV seat as if the dog were a person.

Sometimes Hunter still runs behind, but these days Milliken takes the trailer. “He’s getting older. If he gets tired, he jumps in the trailer.”

Both dogs appear friendly, especially Hunter. On Saturday, Hunter placed his head in the lap of a visitor he’d just met and kept nudging a hand if it stopped petting him.

Typically, their four-wheel trips are on the trails, to a nearby orchard, a pond, or maybe the frozen custard stand up the road.

If Milliken would let them, “they’d ride all day,” he said.