 Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
#295854 - 09/11/2010 01:50 PM |
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From another thread about a caption on using laser pointers as toys on the Paw It Forward site:
.... Maybe if there is a book available for trainers to read on the dangers of laser lights... 
Here ya go. First book I pulled off the shelf: Handbook of Applied Dog
Behavior and Training, Volume 1: Adaptation and Learning, By Steven R. Lindsay
http://leerburg.com/952.htm
Page 251:
" .... the origins of such compulsions ... often traced to .... games involving flashlights or laser pointers."
This three-volume work, twenty-five years in the making, has been hailed by experts in the field.
"The most valuable publication about dogs since Scott and Fuller's classic text, Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog, published in 1965," said V. L. Voith, the president of the American Vetirinary Society of Animal Behavior.
"The objective of giving a scientific account of all aspects of learning in dogs has been accomplished to a very high degree. ... No other comparable scientific texts are available," said A. Luescher, the director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine.
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Re: Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#295856 - 09/11/2010 01:55 PM |
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.... I never knew it was bad for the eyes, course common sense says so...They use lasers to get rid of cancer. (I have never used one) I suppose the same would be for cats?
I don't know ... I'm thinking they are very different, and that herding instincts might be a big part of the potential dangers for some dogs ..... and I have never seen any authoritative warnings about cats and laser toys.
I'm thinking that it's not necessarily true that it would have the same potential for problems with cats that it has for some dogs.
But I don't know. Anyone?
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Re: Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#295858 - 09/11/2010 02:07 PM |
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Cats are fine with lasers toys as far as I know. Their minds work a bit different from dogs!!
But for dogs even when you put it away, the dog is still looking for light - and finding it in sources other than the laser pointer. They don't know where it comes from (no scent) they don't know how to find it. And they start chasing random sources - flecks on the wall that come from the sun throuhg the leaves, headlights, water relections, etc, etc. They can get so the are never truly at rest becasue they've got to hunt for it.
Even with my cat obessed dog when we were away from the cats, his nose told him so and they were out of his mind. With the light, there is no scent so in the dogs mind it could be anywhere and they looked for it anywhere.
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Potential dangers of laser lights as dog "toys"
[Re: Mara Jessup ]
#295860 - 09/11/2010 02:08 PM |
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Doesn't Cesar Millan have an episode of a dog being obsessed with a laser light? That was the only reason how I knew and why we did not get it for our dogs.
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Re: Potential dangers of laser lights as dog "toys"
[Re: Linda West ]
#295867 - 09/11/2010 03:01 PM |
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Yes, I think the thing that is so insidious about lasers is that it isn't very intuitive that they would be harmful to dogs. (ie create an obsession in finding the light source)
I never would have given a second thought to playing with a laser light with my dog if I had not read what an awful obsession can be created by just a time or two of playing with them.
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Re: Potential dangers of laser lights as dog "toys"
[Re: Lynne Barrows ]
#295870 - 09/11/2010 03:40 PM |
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The wiki for Laser Pointers has a specific section titled Pet toys. It mentions cats, reptiles, birds and fish, but does not mention dogs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_pointer
Since wiki's are so widely read, it might be worthwhile if someone that is knowledgeable could edit the wiki and include a section for dogs that describes the harmful effects.
Brodie
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 Re: Potential dangers of laser lights as dog "toys"
[Re: Tim Curtis ]
#295871 - 09/11/2010 04:11 PM |
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I know that cats do really like them, and I've never noticed any side effects in previous cats I've lived with, and used the laser toys.
On a side note, when I was a kid, maybe 3 or 4, my grandmother used the "original" laser toy - a mirror and sunlight against the wall, to keep me occupied while visiting at times! 
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 Re: Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#295898 - 09/11/2010 08:23 PM |
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In the military, lasers pose enough risks to soldiers eye sight that they are placing a laser reflective coating/ and or filters on many of the styles of binoculars nowadays.
Fortunately, the military cares more about its soldiers them some dog trainers care about their dogs.
I'm just saying.......
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Re: Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
[Re: Will Rambeau ]
#295901 - 09/11/2010 08:37 PM |
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You know Will, I'm just not sure you've taken the right correspondence courses.
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Re: Dangers of laser lights as "toys"
[Re: steve strom ]
#295902 - 09/11/2010 08:45 PM |
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You know Will, I'm just not sure you've taken the right correspondence courses.
Steve,
I laughed so hard I nearly spit soda all over my keyboard - you're an evil man!!
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