• I know laser pointers can create OCD like habits for dogs, but i've used them with two dogs for years without any problems. It helps them get exercise indoors when its painfully cold outside in the winter.

    Anyways… I bought a laser pointer for Kananga the other week and he seems to really enjoy it. He's been able to be more active indoors with this around. He doesn't go through much energy doing anything else. Now I have never really seen Kananga wag his tail and from what i've read, that's quite typical.

    But when I shake the keychain with the laser pointer, I can see his tail wagging. It simply makes me chuckle. 😃

    Anyone else get these kind of reactions with laser pointers?


  • Yes!! Lexi will only wag her tail for the laser pointer and rolls from Logan's Roadhouse. lol
    It is SOOOO cute!!


  • Mine's kinda the opposite. Medjai loves the laser at first, but then he outsmarts it. He'll figure out within 10 minutes that the light is coming from my hand, and will just try to get at my hand 'till I'm done.


  • Be aware that there is a move afoot to ban laser pointers because of the serious problems with airplanes (someone always has to ruin things).
    You can make an inexpensive "laser pointer" by making a pinhole cutout cover for a small flashlight (torch for you Brits :)). I think this is way safer since its light and the Maglight brand is powerful enough. It works with Gossy (but then she'll chase anything, even the rainbow from a prism)


  • I think the laser pointers they're trying to ban are the green laser ones, as they can go a lot further. They might also just only allow the laser pointers that would be sufficient for use, which only got about 200 ft. instead of high enough to bother pilots.


  • @etzbseder:

    I think the laser pointers they're trying to ban are the green laser ones, as they can go a lot further. They might also just only allow the laser pointers that would be sufficient for use, which only got about 200 ft. instead of high enough to bother pilots.

    That's correct. The green ones do in fact have a much larger distance.


  • Being as I've had a dog (Doberman) who developed OCD behavior (which is heartbreaking to watch and know you've caused) and another who, I felt, would have developed the behavior, I feel I have to caution people to be very careful using laser pointers.

    I'm not saying the laser pointer caused the OCD behavior; he may have had a predisposition to OCD before that, but I do believe it was the catalyst.

    IMHO, if, when playing with a laser pointer, your dog continues to look for the point for awhile after you're done playing, never use the laser pointer again.


  • I have tried the laser pointer. Blaze looked down, tried to get it, then looked at me with that 'you must think I'm so stupid' look. He walked away, and promptly destroyed my backpack. I have never attempted the laser pointer again.


  • Mickii's entire litter was "nuts" over laser pointers… and then when I bred Mickii's daughter, Fatia, all of her pups were also nuts over laser pointers... Crystal is so nuts over them that she even goes after sun spots... or reflections from a watch crystal!!!!


  • @tanza:

    Mickii's entire litter was "nuts" over laser pointers… and then when I bred Mickii's daughter, Fatia, all of her pups were also nuts over laser pointers... Crystal is so nuts over them that she even goes after sun spots... or reflections from a watch crystal!!!!

    Kananga goes after everything as well. Always… always goes after the reflection from my watch.

    He has impeccable eyesight (Better than mine). He'll see birds way up in the sky and get excited.


  • @gbroxon:

    Being as I've had a dog (Doberman) who developed OCD behavior (which is heartbreaking to watch and know you've caused) and another who, I felt, would have developed the behavior, I feel I have to caution people to be very careful using laser pointers.

    QUOTE]

    What exactly is the lasting affect it's had on your Dobie?


  • I tried Topper on a laser pointer years ago, he chased the light spot around the room, across the floor, then looked right at it and followed it to my hand. Sniffed the little pointer. Game over. Never was interested in it again.


  • @BDawg:

    @gbroxon:

    Being as I've had a dog (Doberman) who developed OCD behavior (which is heartbreaking to watch and know you've caused) and another who, I felt, would have developed the behavior, I feel I have to caution people to be very careful using laser pointers.

    QUOTE]

    What exactly is the lasting affect it's had on your Dobie?

    My Dobie has been on the Rainbow Bridge for 11 years now (RIP, my Big Boy Caesar). After playing with him with a laser pointer a few times. We noticed that he would continue to look for the dot for awhile after putting it away. He never seemed to realize that it was something that he couldn't catch. He began exhibiting this same behavior with ANY reflection. Finally, he began, at times and for extended periods of time, without any catalyst we could determine, snapping at the air around him, as if he saw things no one else could see. It was very anxiety-provoking to watch him while he was in the midst of one of his episodes. He would exhaust himself trying to catch…something.

    I notice that my boy, Magnum, also has an inordinate interest in reflections. I'm so afraid that he'll develop something similar to what Caesar had, that as soon as I notice him noticing a reflection, I distract him in some way.

    Interesting note: Both Caesar and Magnum had SA. Caesar to a much greater degree than Magnum. Magnum's is now very mild. I had never even heard of SA at the time I had Caesar, so we just accepted his SA behavior without being able to do anything about it...we just thought that was the way he was and dealt with it as best we could. Whether that fact played into Caesar's OCD in some way, I can't say.


  • My Garrett loves the lazer pointer but only for a few minutes. Then the game is old and its on to new things. I really do get the feeling he understands that its an object in my hand almost as if he will play with it to amuse me with how cute he looks running around.

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