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My step bro watches 'The dog whisperer' and he said that laser pointers are bad for dogs, but my chiwawa loves it! When ever she hears the jingle noise of the key chain she is at my feet ready to run! When I put it up she goes about her merry way like nothing ever happend.

And I just got done playing with my aussie-mix, Pippy. I got to thinking. Can playing 'monkey in the middle' be bad for a dog? Me and my mum or friends will toss her toy back and forth for a minute, then let her catch it and tug on it and what not. She always brings it back too. I think she may enjoy it, but perhapes it could start something? I dont want to foster any bad behaviours!!

We also play 'keep away' where she will take a toy and run around and I will try to get it. Then sometimes I will be sitting on the floor and I will keep it away from her. She is pretty smart and immediatlly stands over my hand so i cant move it away again. She doesnt seem to be aggrivated by it, again, she seems to enjoy the mental work out.

If we are not playing and she trys to keep something away from me and I tell her to 'bring it' she will, although reluctanly! So far she hasnt shown any negitive problems from these games. But as I said before, I dont want to foster bad behaviours!

Lets make this a descusion too! What are your and your dogs favourite mentally active games? Mine also enjoys 'hide and seek'

Lol, Pippy always trys to get the squeeker out of her toys! xd The only time she starts the game is with a rawhide bone, she runs around like an idiot wanting me to chase her. Other than that, if she trys to keep something from me I make her give it to me then we play catch.

I don't know if it's "keep away" but I will hold onto a toy and have my terrier try to catch it, having him run around in circles (chasing after the toy in my hand) and etc. to get some of his energy out. I do give him the toy at times, and then I often will give him the toy and then ask for it back ("drop it") and then reward him by throwing the toy for him. This reinforces his training rather than being detrimental to it.

It really depends on the dog and the history, training, and personality. For example a lot of people would probably tell you it's a bad idea to play chase with your dog because it teaches them to run away from you. However I play this with my Golden and it's not a problem. I give a cue (say a certain thing) so she knows we are playing, and then I will pretend to chase her, then switch and have her chase me. Now I would not do this with many many dogs for various reasons, but it's not a problem with my dog because a) she has a VERY VERY strong recall (come command), b) I make it clear we are playing a game and she can tell the difference between our game and other situations and c) she does not have a strong prey drive so she does not get riled up or overexcited when chasing me.
I also play push-pull with my Golden which again there are a lot of dogs I would not play that type of game with but with her personality, training level, etc I will. She loves this game. What happens is I playfully push her away, and she wiggles/wags back over-- and repeat. Or sometimes she'll lay down and roll over towards me, I push/roll her back over away from me, she rolls back and so on... She gets a big grin on her face so you can tell she really enjoys it, but because of her temperament/personality she never gets overexcited or mouthy or etc. from the game.