Laser Pointers Could Be Bad for your Dog
Written on 04/26/2013 by Brooke Arnoldoriginal post: http://dogingtonpost.com/laser-pointers-could-be-bad-for-your-dog/#.UYPiK0qyyM0
Dogs instinctively chase those bright red laser dots simply because they’re moving; stimulating their natural prey drive. The laser beam’s incessant moving taps into this prey drive and the dog can’t help himself – he has to chase it, according to Nicholas Dodman, a professor of animal behavior at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
But, according to Fox News:
…should you really be stimulating your dog’s prey drive when it won’t ever lead to triumph — the catching of light? Probably not such a good idea. “They can get so wound up and driven with prey drive that once they start chasing the light they can’t stop. It becomes a behavior problem,” Dodman said. “I’ve seen light chasing as a pathology where they will just constantly chase around a light or shadow and pounce upon it. They just spend their whole lives wishing and waiting.”If your dog loves to chase, Dodman recommends using more tangible toys that he can actually catch. Or if you must use a laser toy, one solution is to hide treats around the room and occasionally land the laser light on the treat to surprise your pup.
Never getting a reward for their vigilance “makes dogs loopy,” he explained. Along the same lines, trainers of bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs have found that their dogs become psychologically disturbed if they never find bombs or drugs, so they must occasionally be taken on dummy missions.
