Lasers and play growling

[pod]

LOL!! Prince got a laser the other day and he loves it. He will chase it until he falls over exhausted. I sat here and ran him all over the house. He can hear the keychain it's attached to rattle from across the house. What a funny and great toy. When he gets too boisterous, I just break out the laser and wear him out. Anybody else have a rotty that likes to play with the little red dot? I wonder what he thinks it is? Is it okay for prince to growl when we are playing? I just think some times he's a little too vocal.

[moondog]

Too funny! When Luna was in her frisky puppy days, I used to focus one of the big maglites to a narrow beam and stand on the patio while she chased it all over the yard! Such fun dogs :D She used to growl when she'd pounce on the beam, now she just pounces.

[lblax]

somewhere i seen a thread where the dog was like addicted to chasing the light and now is constantly staring at the ceiling and jumping on walls!!!!!!!!!

[ROTTNDAL]

Any kind of reflected light, flashlights & laser lights make my girl go wild. She will try to climb up the 6 foot block fence in the back yard if the light is just right and reflects on the wall. It is really hard to work on the plumbing under the sink with the flashlight. She thinks it's playtime and wants to crawl in with you. It is fun in moderation but she seems to get very frusterated and not being able to catch the light. I prefer to use a ball so that she can have the satisfaction of actually catching it and bringing it back to me. Plus I usually get more exercise too.

[waschull]

Hey all! We talked about this before, I was one of the ones who had a bad experience after "training" my dog to play with "light creatures" (as we called them). Sunny became so obesessed by light creatures she completed oriented her life toward finding them. For example, when company came over she would lay at their feet staring at the floor wagging wildly because she had seen reflections from the watch crystals of company before (my husband and I had already given up our watches). We could not take a CD out of it's case without her flying into the room searching frantically for "light creatures" caused by the reflections.

The whole thing started as a fun game but she became completely obsessed and continued to search for light creatures until her death, even though we had not purposely "played" llight creatures with her for years.

[moondog]

I surely agree it's not a good idea to encourage obsessive behavior. My dog plays with the flashlight beam maybe once every couple of months or so ... not on a daily or even weekly basis. She plays for a minute or two and then that's it. It's initiated by some other occasional use of the flashlight and not as a primary means of play, so she hasn't had an opportunity to develop an obsession over it. :)

[k&s]

One of my rotties also became obsessed with any kind of reflected light. It was as if an entirely new 'dimension' had opened up that was so fascinating to him -- at the expense of everything else! It really became obnoxious -- if there was the faintest shadow or flicker of light, he'd be completely focussed on it. We toughed it out and ignored it or tried to get him going on something else (e.g. playing with a rope, etc). It took MONTHS, but now he only looks for light and shadows when he is very, very bored.

So, my advice is this -- if your dog seems to have a good 'off' switch with this behavior, fine. But if she does not, and if there is any hint of developing obsessive behavior, throw the laser away!

[Judi W]

The biggest concern is that if laser light ever hits the eye it will burn the retina. Should not be sold or used as a toy.

[pod]

you'd have to have a 5mWatt laser, depending on the wave length, to do any kind of damage to tissue. Most lasers are in the .3 to .5 range.

[Judi W]

Oh, well that's OK then. I just know I have read several cautions in vet publications so I'd prefer the mag light. Whatever.

[pod]

No biggie. :-)

[Elijah's Mom]

Elijah and I have played a game with the laser light every night for the last year and a half. When he hears me pick up the light he comes racing into the kitchen in anticipation!:D We go in the living room and I move the light in circles while Elijah does spins chasing it.....Ithink this has helped him in agility because he can turn on a dime!:D After we do the circles each way with the light I tell Elijah "down-stay" and move the light around in front of him(a bit of obedience thrown into playtime!):D In about 30 seconds to a minute I say "jump!" and Elijah pounces on the light, chasing it back and forth until he will pounce and I say "you got it!"...that ends the game...which I have named "you got it!":D Once in awhile Elijah will catch a reflection of something on the ground and pounce on it or just show interest, but this laser game really doesn't seem to have caused him any problems and he so looks forward to it every night!:D

[rott60827]

What some of you are referring to is called "shadow chasing." It is a compulsive behavior and should be taken very seriously.

[bgardner]

Originally posted by Elijah's Mom
Elijah and I have played a game with the laser light every night for the last year and a half. When he hears me pick up the light he comes racing into the kitchen in anticipation!:D We go in the living room and I move the light in circles while Elijah does spins chasing it.....Ithink this has helped him in agility because he can turn on a dime!:D After we do the circles each way with the light I tell Elijah "down-stay" and move the light around in front of him(a bit of obedience thrown into playtime!):D In about 30 seconds to a minute I say "jump!" and Elijah pounces on the light, chasing it back and forth until he will pounce and I say "you got it!"...that ends the game...which I have named "you got it!":D Once in awhile Elijah will catch a reflection of something on the ground and pounce on it or just show interest, but this laser game really doesn't seem to have caused him any problems and he so looks forward to it every night!:D

Sound's like you have a great Rott. I'd like to play with Dixie like this, but I don't think she has very good eye sight. A wabbit almost has to run into Dixie for her to notice it and before she has to give it chase. And once the chase is under way she'll sometimes race head first into a chain link fence as the rabbit dart beneath. I'll have to try the mag light out tonight and see what happens.

[WorkinDogz]

What does this great game teach them? Seems like a ton of real training time is wasted and people are more interested in "wearing the dog out" instead of doing something constructive...

Why?