Is it, or is it not, safe to play with laser pointers with dogs?
Laser lights seem innocent enough, right? As long as you don’t shine the light directly in the dog’s eyes it shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Well, this is not necessarily the case. Besides the possibility of a cruciate ligament or other soft tissue injury from sharp turns on questionable surfaces, laser chase may not be a good choice for your dog’s mental health. Chasing the laser light can activate their prey drive, so they are looking to chase and then catch the light, but they are never able to catch their prey. As you can quickly see, this can be really frustrating for dogs. For dogs that are very driven, this can lead to obsessive compulsive behaviors such as light and shadow chasing, or staring at the last place they saw the light. Therefore, it is best to play a game such as fetch where they can catch and retrieve, or you can hide food or treats inside of a box that they can work at getting out.
