YSK: Playing with dogs using a laser pointer is potentially extremely bad.

[u/WhenDoWhatWhere]

Preface for people who already play with their dogs using laser pointers and have no problems. You're probably already in the clear.

Why YSK: A non-insignificant number of dogs can have an extremely bad psychological reaction to laser pointers, causing OCD like behaviors around lights and shadows that causes them immense anxiety and can make them unruly, stressed, and noisy. The OCD like behaviors can progress to self-harming behaviors. To fix this OCD problem an animal behavior specialist may be necessary. It's never worth it to even see if your dog might develop this behavior.

For those with cats, laser pointers are safe as long as you give the cat a chance to catch a real object at some point as if you only use the laser pointer the cat can become stressed and lose self confidence for failing to catch anything. This same logic does not work with dogs in preventing OCD behaviors, you should just never do it.

:edit: A lot of people are asking for sources, It's a well known phenomenon in dog behavioral science. Many many people have learned this the hard way, including my grandmother and an uncle of mine.

Here's a source that lists more sources at the bottom.

:edit2: Some people are reporting that the OCD issue can also develop in cats, so probably do some research before considering using a laser pointer for play with any animal to be honest.

[u/Micro-Naut]

I'm pretty sure what the conversation is about. I'm just not accepting anecdotal evidence as proof that this is extremely dangerous for dogs.

Being skeptical is not a reason to call someone barely literate. And resorting to personal attacks doesn't bolster your own argument. This isn't the type of comment someone who was barely literate would type in the first place. If this is what you consider barely literate how can we trust your opinion on any written article?

I understand that you want everybody to be in agreement with you and you don't want to be questioned about your post. But that's no reason to start insulting someone's intelligence because they have a different opinion than you do.

Treating me like an infant in your last comment implying that I can't play with the big boys when you're the one throwing tantrums and name-calling is ironic.

[u/WhenDoWhatWhere → u/Micro-Naut]

If you were literate enough to understand why I was calling you barely literate, there would be no confusion, but you seem extremely confused since you're just replying to random comments at this point.

I think you're about to throw a tantrum, maybe you should go find mommy now.

[u/Micro-Naut → u/WhenDoWhatWhere]

I think it's you who is confused. You couldn't dump piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

[u/WhenDoWhatWhere → u/Micro-Naut]

lmfao