I use a laser light for my cat, birds and dog! They are perfectly safe, just don't shin it into their eyes!

 

Some dogs have been developed OCD behaviors from laser lights. So I would think twice about using one with your dog.

 

I totally agree with this. And by the way, you won't KNOW your dog is obsessed until it's too late. Kody pulled a drawer out of the cabinets and moved his nose around so much it BLED looking for the laser after my ex played with it for 10 minutes.

I was at the DP the other day and a lady broke out a laser pointer and started making ALL the dogs chase it. They were ALL going crazy. I left. First of all- 15 dogs chasing ONE thing that they ALL want... how STUPID can she be? Second of all, how dare she assume I want MY dog chasing a light he will never catch? I hate being so nonconfrontational... what would you say to someone at the DP that has one politely?

 

Toby doesn't care about them. My sister uses one for her dog ocassionaly and she tried it w/ Toby and he just looked at her like she was dumb.

And no offense to whomever bought that raincoat, but I can't blame your dog for hating it!!!

 

I wouldn't use it. A lot of dogs go crazy (in the head) when you do. After a while it will always be looking for that light. Everything small like that it sees it will go after. Every time it sees something out of the corner of it's eye it will jump for it. When it is sitting around bored it will be on the hunt for it.

The other problem, it is something it cant catch. It is constantly chasing something for no reward. This is why it will always hunt for it. It will drive the dog insane and it will be hard to break him of that when you're finished using the laser.
Dont use it.

 

I had one and do not use it anymore... it does seem to give them some mental issues!!! I've had the same experience with my dog as chrisn66104 mentioned above.
I would NOT recommend it at all!!!

 

I wouldn't use it with a dog that has a high prey/chase drive. It will very likely develop obsessive behavior that would be extremely difficult to break. It's a pretty mean thing to do to a dog, actually. It might be okay to use with a dog that doesn't ever get too excited about anything, but I'd still proceed with caution.

 

There was an episode of The Dog Whisperer a few days ago (no, I don't like the guy) with a dog that had developed problems from his owners playing with him with a laser light. That dog could in no way be happy, he was constantly looking for that light and even when they want on walks he couldn't relax enough. He was always searching.

My friend's dog is obsessed with lights too, they adopted him when he was 9 months old, so they're not the ones that played with him like this... but I can only guess that his previous owners played with laser lights. He'll run into walls if that's where the light goes, he'll chase them around or just sit and stare if it's not moving. It's like his mind is totally somewhere else when he sees lights (or even shadows), we were at the dog park at night once, and someone was walking with a flashlight, and he was off and following that person because of the light.

I'm sure not all dogs are damaged from it, but I'd certainly never use one to play with my dogs.

 

Just to play devil's advocate...

My parents have a SCWT that loves to chase the flashlight beam. We only play with it occasionally (maybe once every few weeks) but she has never developed any problems or obsessions.

 

Just to play devil's advocate...

It's true that some dogs don't develop obsessions about lights. On the other side of the coin, my Rott puppy was well on his way to doing so before laser pointers were readily available. As a pup he became fixated on the reflection from a cup of tea or a glass of water placed in the sun. If the reflection shimmered on a wall, he might climb on the back of the couch and claw at it and bark like mad. This was, of course, totally unacceptable, and we worked on it before he demolished the house.

My rule is: if the dog is interested enough to chase the laser beam, stick the unit right back in your pocket and keep it there. YMMV.

 

My dogs just don't care. We used it with the cats but lost it. The cats were already insane though.

 

My wifes Guide could care less about the light. The cats, though.......you got that right!

 

I use one with my pup every once in awhile. But I also whatched the episode of the Dog Wisper and that makes me nervous to use it all the time bc my pup gets obsessed with it as well and will look for it for 20 mins after we are done. Needless to say now he gets excited when he sees any lights so we hardly ever use it any more...Just once in a while

 

If you're worried he's developing an obsession and it makes you nervous, why are you still using it at all? That doesn't make sense. Find a new game!

 

My dog loves it but I haven't played with her much with it. She hasn't seemed to develop any issues about it (but I haven't used it much with her and I keep getting hte luck that the ones I buy die quickly, never got around to buying another).

The cats you can only play with so long before they realize they can't catch it and will get bored and refuse to chase it anymore (You have to give them some time, like a month or so, to forget and then they will get re interested). I always figured a dog would be the same way. Guess cats just don't have as long attention span .

 

An alternative to the laser light is bubbles! My dog LOVES when I blow bubbles for him. It's a good workout for him too. I have not heard anything about bubbles causing OCD behavior, have any of you???

The only issue with bubbles that I have found is that a very enthusiastic dog can bite at the bubbles and you have to keep your fingers away from the bubbles and the dog's mouth

 

An alternative to the laser light is bubbles! My dog LOVES when I blow bubbles for him. It's a good workout for him too. I have not heard anything about bubbles causing OCD behavior, have any of you???

That's a good suggestion... I've not heard of any strange behavior linked to bubbles.

 

I think eating a lot of bubbles (detergent + glycerin) could give a dog a powerful case of the runs.

 

My dog loves bubbles but, I could never do them inside!

We have done the laser pointer from time to time and he forgets about it if I turn it off. He sees me pick it up and gets excited, then he looks for the light when he hears the click it makes. When I say all done and put it away, he has never looked for it again.

Thinking about this further....his main focus when we run in the woods is chasing chipmunks into their holes. Maybe he thinks the light has gone into a "hole" in the floor and he is happy to have it stay there?

 

Huh. We've played with one when cats were about, and Smalls got really into it, but with no adverse affects. She gets bored with it and stops chasing it and then all is forgotten.

 

I have used a laser pointer twice with Libby, and both times she thought it was the bee's knees.

However, I will never use it more than a couple times a year, at most...

A friend of mine has a terrier mix that actually became obsessed about the laser (though my friend didn't exactly help the situation either...)

It got to the point that he would not eat without the laser pointer, wouldn't play... he would just constantly bark at the drawer where they kept it.

They eventually went cold turkey, and the dog has been a nutjob since.

 

A friend of mine adopted a Labrador x Shar Pei. He was obsessed by lights and shadows when they first got him. He was getting better when she happened to turn on a flashlight to see if the batteries were alright and it got him started all over again. When he is in the room and you have the TV on, he used to spend all his time staring and bouncing onto the lights and shadows from the TV. I am quite sure someone has teased him with a laser light the way he acts. It must be very frustrating for them to chase the light and never catch it. I think it is much better to let them chase a ball or toy.

 

Years ago I used one on my cat Mugsy. I pulled it out one time a few weeks ago and Mugsy chased it for a bit. Lola seen what was going on so she jumped in on the action. Mugsy then left it alone and let Lola be the one chasing it. Last week I pulled it out and was shining it and Mugsy and Lola just sat there looking at me like I was an idiot. Mugsy is 16 years old so I guess he is wise to my tricks and Lola is just to smart to be fooled by a laser light anymore.

Had she continued to chase it though I would have stopped as I don't want her to go nuts.

 

Last week we just happened to find one...
needless to say out of 3 dogs and 3 cats, not one even cared about it. Each animal would look at it for a second then look at us as if to say "What? Are you serious? You think I'm that stupid? You really truly think I'm stupid enought to chase a light?".

 

Wally showed an interest in one for a while (I used the dot from an instant read thermometer) kinda sniffed the dot followed/looked at it for a while, then said "eh, screw it" and looked at me for some food.

 

I used to use a laser light with mydog and kitten. I've stopped because of stuff I've read about OCD. I don't think my dog would develop it. But my kitten, while he doesn't look for the laser light, I used to have a magnifying mirror I used to use for various things and sometimes the light would get reflected onto the ceiling. So my kitten would chase that. Now he looks at the ceiling sometimes to look for the light. Not all the time but sometimes. Strange.

I would try another thing to keep your dog occupied.

 

Great advice everybody! My ex-housemate had a laser pointer that he liked to use with Kit. It was pretty freaking hilarious how wound-up she'd get over it. He moved out recently and it was on my list to pick one up. Never occurred to me that it might make her insane. After reading this thread, I think we'll skip that. Maybe try some bubbles instead.

 

Update: The bubbles were an utter failure. She looked at me as if to say "Well, I already knew you were crazy, but now I have proof!" Oh well, it was worth $1 to try.