Chasing laser pointer.
 

Is there any harm in Toby chasing a laser pointer? He seems to like it. This sounds dumb to me but my wife is afraid he will develop a complex because he can't catch it.:rolleyes:

And she may have a point :D!

I had a Westie who went absolutely neurotic over the light. She'd chew walls to get at it. One night, my hubby ran the light under the pillows on the couch. Woofie didn't tear up the pillows, but she waited, tense as a clockspring for an hour for it to "come out" again. Then we shut off the lights and went to bed, she reluctantly joined us. The next morning, the first thing she did before even going potty, was to jump back on the couch and resume the position :rolleyes:

So, whereas the dogs will chase everything from flashlights to laser dots, we don't do it often or for long.

They DO like it though, don't they? ;)

I had a friend who did this with her lil maltese. Well, I just read an article the other day about this and discouraging it because it has caused problem behavior in dogs. Now, I can't remember where that article was, but I found this:

PLEASE dont use laser lights with your dogs. They do cause OCD and its not good.

Springers come into rescue everyday because the owners cant handle them and their OCD from laser lights.

To the Editor;

Just recently I went into a local pet store and saw a prominent display of laser lights as toys for dogs. iPods also has a laser beam dog toy called the iBeam. I volunteer for New England Springer Rescue, Inc. (www.essrecue.org) and over the years we have had several dogs relinquished due to obsessions with lights that resulted in destructive behavior (both to property and to the dogs themselves). It turns out that this obsession started when their owners began playing with laser lights. I know there are a lot of good pet owners out there that may not be aware of the potential problems with these toys so I would like to share what some experts say about laser lights as toys for pets.

Kathy Diamond, author of Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others, said in a recent article in VeterinaryPartner.com, “Laser lights and flashlight games need special mention. Don’t! These games commonly lead to obsessive behaviors. A laser light can also damage a dog’s eyes. When an obsession with light-chasing becomes full-blown, the dog may require lifelong medication to control ceaseless searching for any beam of light or shadow to follow.”

I bought one, used it, they were entertained for all of 10 mins the first night... never looked at it again after that! LOL I have no idea if it's bad for them or not, they don't care about it. haha
Whats more ironically funny about that is my Fletcher is already totally OCD... I have said that from almost day1. He obsesses over toys big time. The one he brings you is the ONLY one he'll play with all night. No other toy will distract him. Yet, he has no interest in chasing the laser light at all! LOL

Thanks for this info. I only did it about 10 times for under a minute so i don't think it harmed him. Actually the last few times I did it he seemed to realize the dot was coming from something Dad was holding because instead of chasing the dot he was jumping up trying to get the pointer out of my hand. I will stop using it.

My friend's lil maltese just goes nuts over it and will run himself to death chasing it. I thought it was cute. But, like I said, I read that article this week and it was saying not to do it. Anyway, I was going to get one and now I'm glad I didn't. I sure don't want to damage her eyes, nor do I want an OCD yorkie.:D

Yes, it's important not to let the light shine in their eyes ... or ANYthing's eyes! Some of the dogs DO go OCD on ya with chasing it; others could give a flying fig. I've always had at least 3 dogs at a time, and there's always been one who just doesn't seem to understand what the fuss is all about :rolleyes:

I won't use those or flashlights to entertain Roxy. Have seen a few dogs on It's Me or The Dog & Dog Whisperer who were obsessed with anything shiny as the result of being entertained by them. It wasn't pretty or funny... really sad. Yes, laser lights are damaging to people's & animals eyes.