Do Dogs Dream?
Ever see your dog napping peacefully and suddenly they're kicking their legs wildly on the floor as though they are sprinting after a squirrel? Is your dog dreaming? Science says they probably are!
Through clinical observation, scientists confirmed that dogs exhibit the classic behaviors caused by dreaming. These include deeper, more regular breathing accompanied by twitching, eye movements, and vocalizations. These behaviors indicate that dogs are visualizing something while in their deepest phases of sleep.
As much as we wish our dogs could talk, we can’t flat out ask them what they saw in their dreams. Eye and body movements during the REM sleep stage, which is generally very still, are a pretty good indication that they are certainly seeing something.
During REM, information gathered during the day is processed and often relived. So it’s not unlikely that when you see your dog “sleep-run,” they’re dreaming of their romp in the park a couple of hours earlier.
Some dogs dream more than others. Puppies tend to have more dreams than older dogs because they take in a lot of new information throughout the day that they process at night.
It’s important to note that you should never wake a dreaming dog. Although it can be alarming to see them thrashing or whining in the middle of a dream, rest assured that they are completely safe. Waking a dog during a dream can be very disorienting for them and it also puts you at risk of being bitten.
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DOG PERSON🐶
Pets: My dog Benji is mixed Yorkie, Poodle, Chihuahua, and MaltiPom (YorkiPooChiMaltiPom?), yet he mysteriously bears no resemblance to any of these breeds.
Fun stuff: I love to cook!
