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I have two completely unrelated questions....

First - my puppy is 4 1/2 months old and is lab/border collie/chow cross. His bark has gotten a bit better but is still quite a yappy little bark. He has a better bark when he is warning us of something outside than when he is playing with the other dog though. What age does a dog start to get a deeper bark? My old dog had a yappy bark when he was a puppy but I can't remember when it changed to the intimatating bark he has now..

Second - we brought out a laser pointer we had in the house tonite for my puppy to chase. It was his first time and he absolutely loved it! It completely wore him out and he had so much fun! After we finished playing with it (he's sleeping so soundly right now!) I decided to look it up online. Wow - talk about warnings about playing that with dogs! I had no idea to even suspect OCD problems if I use it! Especially with border collies? Should I be able to use it occasionally or should I completely never use it? I was told to show my puppy lots of new stuff at this age to properly socialize it and expose it to lots of new experiences so it isn't scared of everything later on. I can't imagine the puppy being scared of a light ever though so I guess this wouldn't count as a "new experience". Are lasers that bad or just to be used with caution?

Any thoughts on these questions?

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:49 am Post subject:

Not sure about voice changes.

But yes, lasers are that bad. Throw it out, or use it with cats only (no dogs even in the room), or give it to someone with a cat. A laser won't cause the same type of OCD-like problems in cats as it can in dogs. Laser pointers are not something a dog needs to be socialized to!

And good for you for doing your homework and asking about it!

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:26 am Post subject:

I learned something today too, actually. I have a laser pointer and used it on my cats at one point or another, but the dog didn't seem interested in it at all. Thanks for asking that question, I had one a while back and never thought any more about it until you just mentioned. Thanks for telling me, I didn't want to make a big mistake, either in the future. Good thing mine broke!

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:38 am Post subject:

WOW, I use a laser pointer with the dogs at work. They love to chase it. Can somone post some links? They say it causes OCD?

Thanks for the input.
As far as laser pointers: I kind of thought that a tiny bit of use shouldn't hurt him at all as a new "toy" but now I don't know if I'll use it anymore. I had Googled it to see what the general population thought....these are a couple of the sites I found -
http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Laser-Pointers-Safe-for-Your-Puppy-Dog?&id=292320 and
http://www.doglinks.co.nz/problems/barry_place/obsessive_compulsive_behavior.htm.

What do you think? There are so many sites that recommend it as part of a training process and so many that claim it can trigger OCD. How are you supposed to know what to do?

Voice changes: I know there are differences in a dogs bark between playing and warning. My older dog definitely has differences. But I guess I was speaking of just the warning bark. I can't remember when my old dog's voice got deeper. I am hoping it gets a bit deeper. I have no desire at all to have a mean guard dog. But I do want a dog that will alert me to any strangers or noises around the house when my husband isn't home! Sometimes just a deep bark will keep criminals away I would think!

My puppy is such a sweetie, I wouldn't want to change his personality at all. If you look at my little picture (avatar?) from before its amazing how much he's grown since then! He is only 4 1/2 months and weighs 49 lbs already! OMG! He's only about 3 inches shorter than my 11 year old dog and that one's WAY bigger than most dogs I know! I guess we've ended up with another large dog instead of medium dog. Thats ok, at least I know if I trip over him he won't be killed! Laughing

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject:

I think I will keep using it and keep an eye on the dogs. None of them have any of the things they say to watch for. I think that if you play with it all the time that might cause a problem, but I don't think an occasional game will hurt them. I would think that a dog that will become obessesive over a laser light will also have the same obsession with a ball or other object. Confused

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:28 pm Post subject:

The problem as I understand it is that if a dog develops OCD-type behaviors about balls, you can remove all balls from his environment. Problem solved.

A dog who develops OCD problems from laser pointers interprets certain types of light (or shadow) the same as the laser pointer. So you can end up with a dog who fly snaps (or exhibits some other OCD behavior) when light shines through the blinds at a certain angle, or when light is at a certain degree of brightness or a shadow hits the wall or floor, etc. You can't remove light and shadows from a dog's environment.

While I'm sure many, many dogs have been exposed to laser pointers with no problem at all, I just don't see the need to take the chance. There are so many other, safer toys that dogs are interested in.

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:27 pm Post subject:

I agree snuffles. We had that happen with a foster dog after only 2 sessions with the laser pointer. The light through the sun roof in the car and shadows on the wall started getting waaay too much attention. I sensed immediately that the pointer brought out some undesireable behaviors and it's been banished to a kitchen drawer.
Not worth finding out if it's going to cause a problem or not imo. By then the damage is done.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

I know dogs who chase shadows with being obsessive about it. I guess I feel if they are that bad about it there is more to the issue than just the laser pointer. Wink

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:11 am Post subject: Green Laser Pointer

Green laser pointers not red, blue or orange laser pointers are the main lasers pointed at aircraft because green is much more visible to the human eye than the other colors. The other reason is blue lasers and orange lasers are too expensive and relatively low powered to have wide spread use.

Laser Pointers|Green Laser Pointer

Posted Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:43 am:

In situations where lives are at stake, it is essential for the laser pointers to be effective.

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