When you launch an application, its dock icon will bounce until the application appears. If you find this annoying, you can easily get rid of it and be done with this distraction.
1. Click the Apple menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Mouseover Dock and select Dock Preferences.
2. Go to the bottom of the Preferences window and uncheck the Animate opening applications checkbox.
3. Close the Preferences window.
The application icons will no longer bounce on the dock. The bright dot below the icon will pulse until the application finishes launching.