Thread: Dog dreams??

dogs have dreams to i seen it on the news to other day i if theres a way to tell if the dog havin a bad dream or a good 1 does n e 1 kno

What? That was news?

Some animals dream too, it's not new.. I don't know if all animals dream, but dogs and cats certainly do. You just watch them while they are sleeping and you can usually tell.

I had a cat once who used to sleep stretched out along the back of the sofa with one foreleg and one hind led dangling down. She would have dreams in which she was running, and her legs would go like the blazes. They also move their mouths around sometimes, I assume this is dreaming about food.

I don't know if pets can have very bad dreams... They don't have the same kind of subconcious as humans. They might dream about having to defend their territory or that a possible predator is chasing them, but I doubt if they actually have any deep psychological "nightmares".

I really wouldn't worry about it.



I heard somewhere that they found that birds dream too. I haven't read anything on it though.

Personally, I think they are quite similar to us in terms of their subconscious. We simply have had a greater range of experiece in our lives, and therefore are probably capable of imagining more horrific things.....

Man, it's hard for me to elaborate more on what I mean than that...

Anyways, as for how to tell.... I think you may just have to guess. Look for what you'd see in a human who's having a bad dream!

Ya sam! Sometimes when my dogs sleep, their feet twich and they make little howling noises every now and then. I tihnk they are dreaming about chasing rabbits in a field or something . . . probably something far more sophisticated tho . . . I feel we underestimate animals' mental range.

My dog used to have nightmares. I would wake him and reassure him everything was ok. After about a year old he stopped being restless and it appears the bad dreams are gone.

Originally posted by kafine


I don't know if pets can have very bad dreams... They don't have the same kind of subconcious as humans. They might dream about having to defend their territory or that a possible predator is chasing them, but I doubt if they actually have any deep psychological \"nightmares\". *

Well I've got four dogs so I'm pretty well versed in this. We treat our dogs great, and they have a happy home to live in with us. we've never abused or mistreated our dogs, but each of my dogs comes from a different background and I find the coincidences disturbing.

One dog, I got when he was three months old. My roomate brought him home. The previous owner was going to take him to the pound and left him in the back yard for days, maybe weeks at a time. I cannot say if they beat him or not, but when we got him his stomach was swollen from lack of food. After a few days of regular eating, the swelling in his stomach subsided and he was a relatively normal puppy--He has some nightmares occasionally and if he begins to whimper in his sleep or something, I just wake him up and he's fine.

The other dog that I have, is an 80lb pure bread pit bull that my GF got from a shelter. He was being trained to fight, or had started being trained from various clues we've seen and we know he wasn't treated very well at all. We're guessing that he was probably discarded because although he's big and strong, he's just too gentle to be a fighting dog. I don't know exactly what these monsters do to these poor dogs to "train" them, but I can only guess what he's been through--I'll tell you this dog has nightmares like nothing I've ever seen before. He'll cry and howl so loud that it will wake us up from sleeping in the next room over. His legs flicker in place and his breathing gets heavy. His whole body shakes and twitches, almost like a convulsion and he howls like he's terrified, or been shot, or something horrible like that. We usually have to rush over to wake him up because he doesn't always respond when we call his name to wake him. Sometimes it takes 2-3 trys before he falls asleep again comfortably. He usually sneaks into bed with us and even though he's a big as a moose, we don't have the heart to tell him no because we know how bad his dreams get.

The other two dogs that we have: One we got from a licensed breeder when she was five weeks old. And the fourth is her daughter so we've basically had them since birth.

As I mentioned before, we try to provide a great home for all our our dogs and they get plenty of love and attention from us. The thing is that the two dogs we've had since birth never have any nightmares. Only the ones that had it rough when they were puppies, have nightmares.

So I believe their dreams are similiar to ours in the sense that it's derived from experiences and memories.

Originally posted by mroberge

He usually sneaks into bed with us and even though he's a big as a moose, we don't have the heart to tell him no because we know how bad his dreams get.

Aww, love his socks. I hope he gets over them

Aha, abuse didn't occur to me. Thinking about it, your right. That'd give anybody bad dreams.

I am pretty sure all mammals have the capacity to dream. Seems to be something unique in our brains.

I've never caught my lizards dreaming. When they sleep, it is just like they are dead.

Yeah, I knew this already too. But I have a dog so... Yeah she dreams/nightmares. What happens is once she's been asleep for a while she'll start making whiphering noises, she'll start squirming, around, and if you let her stay that way she'll either wake herself up or the dream will pass. It's actually kind of funny to watch, but then again I bet watching people dream is pretty funny too.

ahah my dog has bad dreams i can tell because she starts whimpering alot and i feel bad and wake her up ......... fun subject

Thor! infrequently has what I would define as nightmares. I gently wake him. They differ from what I'd define as regular dreaming in the patterns I observe: Labored "panting" through the nose. Very short muscle twitches. Sometimes whimpering.

Regular dreaming seems to have longer deeper breaths, no whimpering, longer muscle movements, slightly less rapid eye movement.

Interestingly enough, when he was a puppy and had them more often, I'd wake him by nuzzling with him. (He was force-weened very early when mom dried-up). Now, years later, when I'm having one of my infrequent nightmares, I'll awaken very quickly to him licking my face and nuzzling me with his cold and wet nose. So clearly he also had the capacity to differ between "good and bad" dreams, and to learn similar signs in me, and to reason-out that he should perform a similar service.

Fascinating, really.

I've had one or two night-terrors since I've had Thor!. He seems to sense the elevated flight-or-fight response in that after awakening me, he'll go to guard (a trained defensive posture) and remain at guard the entire night - I've videoed it, and have also woken up to find him still standing at the foot of the bed, leaning forward aggressively, and scenting the air.

So that said, with a rather small sample-set, I will draw the tentative hypothesis that he doesn't experience night-terrors, and associates my response as being a real-world threat.