mana11, I can think of one possible explanation for the experience with the dogs howling in a chain sequence.
Dogs will generally howl in response to any sound that they perceive as being similar to a howl. For example, you may have noticed that dogs will start howling in response to the sound of an ambulance siren. In their dog mind, the ambulance siren sounds like the strange howl of some strange dog. And since dogs are social creatures, when a dog hears a howl it usually howls back in response. So when we put these facts together a very plausible explanation arises for the chain howling phenomenon that you experienced. Here is what could have happened:
A dog some great distance away at "ground zero" (too far away to be in your hearing) heard the sound of an ambulance siren or some other sound produced by some kind of equipment or machinery. The sound of this equipment or machinery was interpreted by the dog as being the sound or howl produced by a very large and vicious alpha male threatening to attack. Or maybe it was interpreted by the dog as being the sound of an unidentified and unknown horrible creature - perhaps the sound of some now extinct predatory creature that terrorized dogs' ancestors in the past. (A fearful response to the sound of such a creature, leading the dogs to issue a warning howl and take evasive action, would have provided an evolutionary survival advantage and so that trait could have been selected for and passed down to modern dogs.)
So when this dog at ground zero some great distance away heard the sound it responded in terror with frightful howl. Now because of the social nature of dogs, the next dog within hearing hears this howl and howls in response then the next dog in the hearing of this other dog also hears and response - a domino effect is created and the howl travels from dog to dog all the way from the source sound - which was too far away for you to hear - all the way down to your neighborhood. And the domino effect of the howl gives you the illusion that something is traveling and disturbing each dog when it comes into proximity. In reality though, its just the howling equivalent of a "Mexican wave".