do animals experience sleep paralysis
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do animals experience sleep paralysis
I used to share my Siberian Husky, Shaman's dreams sometimes when I was starting to fall asleep myself. But still aware of what was happening in the room. I'd hear his feet skitter and the funny noises he'd make while dreaming, and I'd start getting images of running along the street, fast and free, and I'd hear a car coming, and I'd look over my shoulder, and I'd suddenly realize my eyes were down at hubcap level! Or I'd dream I was on his favorite hiking trail at Bluff Point, which goes through the woods and to a beautiful beach. That is what dogs dream of! Being free and running along their favorite paths. He kept sending me dreams after his death... of being here, with me, and even coming back to me, which was an honor, and actually, I believe that my dog Lily is his reincarnation.
My Pomeranian, Lily, sends me messages in the morning when she wants out of her bed, an oversized pet carrier with a grate on the door. I'll suddenly see her (inside) sitting upright, looking impatient, at the grate, and the image fills my dream screen. If I don't get up, next she'll try a whimper, or scratch the door, but it's rarely necessary, and she knows perfectly well she doesn't need to make noise to get my attention. One day, I got this vision of her all squished in a box, and realized she was feeling cramped and really wanted to get out of there. She's such a sweetie. I think she just started sending me psychic smells of her poo when she needs to go... now if I just get her outside before she goes in the dining room, she will have accomplished her mission. We've had a bit of a problem finding a way for her to communicate that need, and seemingly, she solved it herself. I usually don't get what's going on, because I am not fully accepting yet of the idea of psychic smell, though I should be, as one son has an alcohol problem, and if he telephones inebriated, I smell it... over the phone!
Neither ever mentioned sleep paralysis though. I can't help with that one!
Wow, Iris, that's totally cool.
And for animals and self-awareness... what exactly do you mean? Because animals are aware of themselves. If you put a red dot on a monkey's forehead and then put him in front of a mirror, he will touch the dot on his head - in other words, he will recognize this image of a monkey, an image that is outside himself, as himself. To me this desplays a certain level of concept of self. Are animals capable of meta-cognition? I don't think so, and that ability seems to be the tip of the pyramid for Self-awareness. But even though they cannot think about thinking, it doesn't mean they aren't aware of themselves.
It is cool, I love it. You want to know why this happens, my psychic pets? Just before I got Shaman, back in 2000, I had seen a special on tv on one of the news magazine shows, maybe 20/20, not sure, but they had a segment about an animal psychic, who had been hired by a zoo to try to help an extremely upset elephant. The psychic spent some time with the elephant, and apparently learned from the elephant that another elephant had died recently, and the other elephants had not been allowed their usual mourning ritual, so she was very upset and depressed because of it. The zoo still had the deceased elephants skull, and they brought it out for the elephants, and the elephants danced around the skull, and then the depressed elephant got better! Apparently, elephants too mourn their dead.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanceledCzech
At the time, I was also a tad skeptical about this, you see, so what happens when I try to hang on to skepticism is I get a personal experience to show me. So I got this dog, and started seeing his dreams. LOL... well, then I understood how the psychic could see what the elephant was needing. I think it's a very interesting thing too that such a story could even be shown on a major network news-zine.
I love the monkey story. Lily is very nervous about mirrors, still, though getting better. I'm not sure what bothers her more... that she sees herself in there, or that she seems ME there too! She's cute though. I always spend a little time with her, pointing at her by name, and then at me as "Mommy." I'll have to try putting something on her first and see if she notices. :)
There was an article on AOL's front page yesterday about dogs having the intelligence of an two-year old human. I didn't read the whole article though, because sometimes, I think they only display that, perhaps, but there's more going on than we think.
Sometimes, I think there's an angel riding piggyback with the dogs, maybe. There are so many stories of dogs, and even cats, doing miraculous things to save a family member, things a dog or cat couldn't be expected to know how to do. Oh, like yowling into the baby monitor when an infant isn't breathing, which I read years ago about a cat. Or a dog more recently who knocked the receiver off a phone and dialed 911 when his owner fell unconscious. How else to explain that?
Or a more personal event involving a robin. I was at the computer for long, long hours over a period of days. During this time, every time I went to the kitchen, I would look out my window, and see the gargoyle in my back woods area, with the gazing ball between her wings. I would also see this crazed robin leaping back and forth between the wings, lost in gazing at it's own image in the mirror! This went on for several days, all the daylight hours, and I began to fear the robin was going to starve if it didn't stop. Another robin, a lovely lady I suspect, came and tried to woo him away, but he wasn't having any of it. He just kept hopping from one gargoyle wing to the other, gazing in the mirror. FINALLY, after a few days of this, it connected that *I* was spending too much time on the computer, gazing into the mirror of the screen! I was spending so much time, in fact, that I wasn't taking the time to fix proper meals, or get my exercise, or do much of anything else for myself at all. So I turned it off, and the robin was released to go on his way. Since then, I limit my computer time, and usually only have one forum or email list going at once. Lessons come in mysterious ways. I sent a silent thank you to my robin friend.
The Great Mystery is full of wonder, for sure...
Ha, there is always more going on than we think.Quote:
Originally Posted by IrisRavenstar
And that post was very moving, Iris, I enjoyed it a lot. I'm going to send you a youtube video of a young gentleman that I think you'll enjoy. He's really insightful, and I've learned a lot from watching his videos.
In addendum, your post makes me want to treat my dogs better. Not that I treat them poorly, it's just that no one in my family takes good care of the poor things.
There was another cool dog story on AOL yesterday, regarding a family with a son who has Downs Syndrome, and a stray dog came and moved into their home, and right afterwards, the mom was outside watering plants, and the dog came running to the sliding glass doors and kept throwing itself at the doors, and the woman came in, and the dog raced down the hallway to her son, who had fallen, and was bleeding from the mouth, apparently having a seizure. She picked up her son, and was told by the doctor that had she not gotten there so quickly, thanks to the dog, her son would have choked to death on the blood. The upshot was that they kept the dog, only the original owner came along and found him, but after they told him the story, he let them keep it, saying they obviously needed the dog more.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanceledCzech
Yes, dogs deserve good care, for sure! Mine gets totally pampered and I make sure I spend real time playing with her, because she loves it. Her favorite "toy" is a bath towel. The things that dog does with a bath towel astound me! We use it for tug of war. We use it to play "hiding Lily." We use it to play "hiding ball." We use it to play Princess Lily in her robes, which is hysterical, as she sort of parades around in it. We use it to play wrap Lily in a baby blankie and cuddle her. All this, and drying off after going out in the rain or having a bath. Who needs toys?
But she has those too. ;)
Wow, that is amazing; kind of like a lassie story.
Also, all those games sound adorable. I'd try that with my dogs, but I don't think they're smart enough to know to play with it...