When a wiggly little bead of light catches a dog's eye,
nothing in the world matters more than capturing it. Unfortunately,
"it" is just an ungraspable bundle of massless photons. The lack of
closure in laser-beam chasing could be messing with your dog's head.
Dogs (and some cats) instinctively chase these bright-red
dots simply because the dots move, said Nicholas Dodman, a professor of animal
behavior at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Movement
automatically stimulates their innate prey drive , which explains why
lower-on-the-food-chain animals such as rodents and rabbits often freeze in
place as a survival strategy. Although dogs aren't so discerning when it comes
to color , their eyes contain a high preponderance of light-sensitive cells
called rods for top-notch motion detection.
A laser beam's incessant movement keys into this predatory system. "They can't help themselves; they are obliged to chase it," Dodman told Life's Little Mysteries.
'They can't help themselves, they're obliged to chase
it.'
- Nicholas Dodman, professor of animal behavior
But should you really be stimulating your dog's prey
drive when it won't ever lead to triumph — the catching of light? Probably not
such a good idea. "They can get so wound up and driven with prey drive
that once they start chasing the light they can't stop. It becomes a behavior
problem," Dodman said. "I've seen light chasing as a pathology where
they will just constantly chase around a light or shadow and pounce upon it.
They just spend their whole lives wishing and waiting." [How Did Dogs Get
to Be Dogs? ]
Never getting a reward for their vigilance "makes
dogs loopy," he explained. Along the same lines, trainers of bomb- and
drug-sniffing dogs have found that their dogs become psychologically disturbed
if they never find bombs or drugs, so they must occasionally be taken on dummy
missions.
For pets who love to chase, more tangible toys pose a
solution. Dodman recommends "Talk to Me Treat Ball" products, a line
of motion-activated balls that play owner-recorded messages and kick out food
treats through slits as the dog plays. "It's about as near to real prey as
you can get, other than tipping open a box of mice in your living room,"
he said.
If you insist on dancing a laser beam across the floor
instead, one option is to hide treats in nooks and crannies around the room,
and occasionally surprise your pet by landing the light upon them