I love leading my dog around the room with a laser pointer. Not shining it in his eye, mind you, but just pointing it at the ground, then shifting it five feet, watching him chase it and paw at it, then moving it another five feet, etc…etc…etc. Then I point it at the ceiling and watch as he stands on his hind legs, raises his paws and starts to try and reach the ceiling. Cutest thing ever.
Anyway, one of my friends tells me that this is being cruel to the dog, I just thought I was playing with him…you know, like the old trick where you throw the ball, but really hold onto it?
I have a Shiba Inu, by the way, the most ferocious dog I know. =\ The little bugger confronted a Rottie with absolutely no fear and sent him whimpering.
That’s the thing. He tends to growl and bark when he’s both playing and genuinely aggressive/threatened, so that’s why I’m kinda cautious. Sometimes I think he really thinks it’s some creature invading his master’s territory.
Our dog and cats all love the laser pointer. It’s a fun game everyone can play together, and as has already been pointed out, it’s exercise. I don’t think it’s cruel at all. What does your friend think is so cruel about playing with your dog?
Also, the laser pointer has worked great on a couple of occasions when our dog has gotten out by accident with no leash/chain. Without the laser pointer, it’s a game of “You can’t catch me!” but with the laser pointer, I can lure him over to me or even right in the door. Works like a charm.
The laser pointer is probably my cat Luna’s favorite toy. She loves to chase the laser “bug”. She gets all excited when she hears me picking up the laser pointer.
I never quite knew why it was cruel either…I guess they thought that since they could never actually CATCH the laser bug, it wasn’t fair to trick them into running after it?
All of my cats, with one exception, love the laser pointer - I always get tired of playing before they do. Of the 8 cats, the largest (Mr. Spock - 28 lbs) is terrified of the little red dot and will run and hide from it.
Several of the vets I have worked for recommend them as a way to help an overweight cat exercise.
Ummmmmmmmm - maybe that’s why Mr. Spock doesn’t like it?
Interestingly, one of my two dogs is frantic for the laser pointer, the other couldn’t care less. If it has no smell, it doesn’t exist apparently. The pointer lover can also intertain himself for hours chasing butterfly shadows when they are in season.
Well for god sake what do dogs when when they have caught the ball? They run back to you so you can throw it again. It’s obviously the Thrill off the Hunt that’s the point. Although I suppose after you’ve run him ragged you could throw him a bone (literally and metaphorically I guess) so he has a sense of closure.
I used to take my puppy to Doggy Day Care to get her properly socialized. Lazer Pointer Time was one of the scheduled daily activites. The employees would stand in the giant playroom, turn off the lights, and flash them all over the ground. They loved it.
My dog will never catch the squirrel which inhabits our back yard, either, but she seems to have fun trying.
I wish my ferrets would play chase with the little laser dot. Instead they look at the dot, then swivel their heads to follow the path of the beam inerringly up towards my hand, and finally look at me as if disgusted at my attempt at a trick. They then ignore it completely.
In my experience you can generally tell the difference between an excited “Hey this is fun!” bark/growl and a “Oh, you’d better back off right now” growl. Check the body language, too.
I saw an episode of the Dog Whisperer where a dog grew up to be kind of neurotic after spending a lot of time chasing a laser when he was a puppy. He’d paw at every beam of light that he saw, in the house and outside and his owners couldn’t distract him from it long enough to do much else. Maybe your friend saw the same show, and is afraid you’re slowly driving him crazy.
I can tell the difference generally, the playful bark is general sharper and shorter, while the growling, aggressive bark is generally longer and with a growl. He seems to have adopted a mix between the two though.
As well, he lowers his front down a bit and brings his head back, as if he’s about to pounce.
When my daughter was younger, she used to do the same thing with the cats and a flashlight. She’d say, “Go on, get the fairy!” They’d dive all over the room after it. I told her she’d better make sure she had her door closed the next time she lost a tooth.
