Dog dreams

Every dog person asks the same question at some point. As you relax with your dog napping next to you, you notice paws start to twitch, little “wufs” coming from them, then more actively almost running in their sleep. Do dogs dream?

Just like us

It turns out that dogs do dream. Dogs hooked up to instruments to measure their brain activity show the same sleep patterns as people. That includes periods of REM (rapid eye movement), when dreaming occurs, and phases of non-REM sleep. 

Brains are more active during REM sleep. Next time you’re watching your dog twitching, or vocalizing during a nap, check to see if it’s accompanied by eye twitches. It’s kind of unsettling to see, but it’s normal.

What’s it all about

And researchers speculate that dog dreams reflect their days, just as ours do. So if your dog saw a squirrel in the yard, it’s entirely possible that his dream adventure has him chasing squirrels in dreamland, too. When you see them smacking their lips and dream-chewing, chances are their dog dreams are of yummy snacks. If you play training games with your dog, sleep is when all the stuff they learn is processed and solidified. Sleep is essential to learning, for dogs as well as people.

A Boston Terrier and French Bulldog sleep together in a tan bed, dreaming dog dreams

Of course no one has access to the actual content of dog dreams, so scientists are extrapolating based on the similarities to human findings. Considering how people’s dreams tend to be disjointed and, sometimes bizarre, it can be unsettling. The part that makes us a bit sad is knowing that dogs have nightmares, too.

We can only imagine what the stuff of dog nightmares might be. Based on what we know of dogs, their nightmares probably involve being alone. Dogs aren’t really good at alone. We know that when our dogs have a particularly severe episode, softly stroking them and talking gently seems to soothe them. 

Let sleeping dogs lie

Most dogs sleep about 18 hours a day, According to the sleep studies, they go through the phases of non-REM and REM sleep several times during the night. And there seems to be a difference in the sleep cycles of small vs. large dogs. Smaller dogs cycles are shorter.

It’s complete speculation on our part, but it makes sense to us that small dogs have to be more alert than large ones. Large dogs seem to be less wary of their surroundings than little dogs. There are so many things in the world that could harm small creatures. It makes sense they need to be more cautious.

Dog dreams

Research on dogs always seems to result in conclusions that they’re similar to people. Is anyone surprised?

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