Chases the light...

Hello :)
I have to rant a little... & I'll form it in a question...
(Could use a professional to answer, too!) :)
Is it ok to take a flash light & let my dog (Coleman (http://360.yahoo.com/harleydogs597)) chase the light? My husband thinks it's "messing" with his brain. (cleaning up his words!) :laughing:
Anyway, I feel it is not hurting him because he acts like he loves it! Plus it's exercising him. He's a Border Collie & we live in the city, so he has to run some how. ;)
(Now, my hubby would say... then take him to your mom's farm. Only problem with that there are other dogs & Coleman just has a hard time making friends with them. & other reasons too.)
Anyway, I took a video of Coleman chasing the light tonight. & soon as I can figure out how to post it to the blog (http://360.yahoo.com/harleydogs597) I have for them... you can all see how happy he gets when we get the flash light out! :dog:
In the meantime... opinions quite welcome... especially from any vets or professional trainers! :thumbs up:
P.S. Was this the right forum to place this post? Just curious! :)

I'm neither a vet or trainer. But I know lots of people do this with their cats or dogs. Never heard about a dog going bananas over this.

Yes it's ok to post it here. :)

We had a setter that loved chasing a light. He'd do it inside or outside and never tired of it. We discovered his love of the game by accident--the light reflected off the face of my watch onto the side of the house and it attracted his instant attention! When I tired of the game, he'd sometimes sit for minutes on end, waiting to see if his buddy, the light, would come back and play some more! :D

I think it's a great way to keep a dog occupied! :thumbs up

Just be careful if you're using a laser pointer for them to chase--I've heard reports that the laser can hurt their eyes...

Our old dog used to do this all the time and it became a really bad habit (we adopted him when he was 14). If the sun shone in the window and there was a spot on the floor, he would start to dig uncontrollably. We could not get him to stop without closing the blinds. I guess for him, it became an obsession.

Yes, Border Collies can need many hours of exercise (work) each day. Have you considered an agility class? Because you live in the city, does he get a lot of exercise?

I don't like the idea of it. Some animals love to run around and play for fun and don't care about "catching" anything, but others really enjoy that reward. To appease your husband and to avoid having an insane dog ;) why not let him chase the light for a few minutes and THEN reward him with his favourite toy or treat so that he feels like he won the chase?

Could cause a dog to end up with ocd issues over light. There are a lot of warnings on laser pointers doing that. I've known 3 dogs that the laser pointer game ended up translating into them trying to chase cars at night.

I created a light chasing moron with Laser pointers, Kita has so far attacked out satellite reciever ( theres a little red light there) and our christmas tree ( mini lights)
I see no problem with playing this game sometimes, but not daily. I had to wean her off the laser pointer, she was going a little nuts and never being able to catch that light, sorta ticked her off too. When she grabbed our reciever, she went to town on it. FInally something physical to the red dot.
:shrug:

:eek: Holy cow! We were really lucky with Gauge, then--he loved to chase the light, but if it wasn't moving, he had no interest in it. In retrospect, I think that was a very good thing! :o

I wonder if breed has anything to do with it--Gauge was a setter...which means he pointed. Although it's possible for a pointing dog to catch something (Cass is fast enough and jumps high enough to snag stuff out of the air now and then), usually they point and the human gets the joy of flushing whatever the dog is pointing...if all goes well, the dog will never get to catch it. So for Gauge, not ever catching the light was not a big deal. He just liked to stalk it. :shrug: :o whew! :D

The other option could always be to LET the dog/cat GET the light sometimes. I do it with my boys and they haven't started any wierd OCD-ness...nor have they gone obsessive over it or mad at it either.

Actually my two got smart and start attacking my HAND instead of the dot. Kind of funny to see :D

Megan

Actually my two got smart and start attacking my HAND instead of the dot. Kind of funny to see :D

Megan

OUCH! :eek: he he Who says that furry critters aren't smart? :D

I would be very very careful doing this to a border collie. They can get hyper-focused and obsessed, and you could end up with an dog who obsessively chases, lights/shadows/etc, which I have seen (people started it by encouraging the dog to chase a light) and it is a very sad condition. OCD in dogs can be hard to treat, usually you have to put the dogs on anti-anxiety meds and do intensive behavioural work. I personally wouldn't do it with a herding breed.

As others have warned, ocd issues are very real and quite a huge risk with having dogs chase lights. In fact, I attended a seminar featuring this topic and the footage of the dogs was just downright depressing and horrifying. It's sure not something I'd do after attending that seminar. Quite often, these dogs end up having to go on prozac or similar drugs because they can't stop chasing whatever light becomes available. Breeds with obsessive personality traits like border collies would be highly at risk, IMO.

I don't like the idea of it. Some animals love to run around and play for fun and don't care about "catching" anything, but others really enjoy that reward. To appease your husband and to avoid having an insane dog ;) why not let him chase the light for a few minutes and THEN reward him with his favourite toy or treat so that he feels like he won the chase?

Good idea Glitterless... :thumbs up & I am thankful to the rest with opinions about the OCD part. :thumbs up
He does get a little obsessive with sunlight & etc... but it's not a problem.. yet! We just distract him if he gets to barking at other flashing light. & No, I do not use a laser pointer, but we have one & I'll remember not to use it on him! :)
As for agility course... Coleman is a scared doggie... I don't think we could get him to go thru the weave poles or jump or go through the tunnel. Besides, we're tight on money & unless someone knows of a free place or ?? then we're stuck with just taking him to my mom's farm (where I grew up) & letting him run around there.
Though I just can't do that often because he has not learned how to make friends with the other dogs at the farm... However, we went yesterday & he did stop barking at them long enough to chase some cats & go exploring. (I guess I should update their blog! LOL)
Anyway, I'll be posting again later about his "scaredy cat" syndrome :)
Thanks again everyone! Stay tuned for more Coleman & Sunny questions & stories! :dog: