What Do Dogs Dream About?

Pet owners believe that dogs are just like us humans!

They dream the same way a human dreams.

If you own a dog, you must have noticed how your dog quivers, twitches in sleep — giving the impression that he is chasing after someone in his dream.

Dogs sleep more than humans do; however, their sleep structure is quite similar.

But what do dogs dream about is the question and how did we find out that they dream like we do?

1. Do Dogs Dream?

In 2001, a study was conducted on rats brains to find out that they have the same brain activity as us. The study confirmed that rats do in fact dream in their non-REM sleep. This study helped confirm that mammals do have the ability to dream.

Dogs too, go through three stages of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM), and short-wave sleep (SWS).

Because at structural level our brains are similar to that of dogs. Therefore, they go through the same stages and have the same brain wave pattern.

If you find your emotional support dog breathing heavily while sleeping, he is in the short-wave sleep stage (SWS).

Theories have shown that when dogs dream, they are in the rapid eye movement (REM) cycle of sleep and the twitching or moving their paws is a sign of dreaming.

2. What Do Dogs Dream About?

Let's take a look at what your four-legged companion's dreams are like?

We know that the electrical activity in the brain causes dreams; this also holds true for dogs. Their dreams are a succession of images too.

While this can occur during any stage of sleep, vivid dreams, however, occur when dogs enter a deep stage sleep where they start breathing heavily and have other involuntary movements such as rapid eye movements, moving all four of their paws.

This stage is also called rapid eye movement (REM) stage for this matter.

Now that we have established that dogs dream too, the nature of these dreams is not known to man.

Obviously, we can't have a dog explain and tell us the details of his dreams. So, we can only assume that their dreams consist of their daily activities such as chasing after a bird or something, playing and eating.

Similar to how our dreams are centered around our daily activities.

Are you wondering if your dog ever dreams of you?

It is possible because dogs relive the moments that happened while they were awake. So, whatever they saw or did can come up while they are dreaming. This explains the twitching and other movements they make while dreaming.

Human, dogs have another similarity that is a part of the brain stem called the pons. It paralyzes the large muscle in both humans and dogs during sleep. This stops them to act out their dreams.

There have been studies when they temporarily deactivated the muscle-paralyzing part of the brain, to get a closer look at what dogs dream about. As they start acting out their dreams with the offline pons. this condition is humans is called a REM sleep disorder.

3. Understanding a Dog's Sleep Cycle

For the longest time, people have believed that only humans are capable of dreaming.

But that is not true; studies have shown that dreaming is common in most of the vertebrates.

3.1 How Long do Dogs Sleep For?

How does my dog sleep so much?

Do you envy your dogs, watching them sleep peacefully all the time?

This is because we have different sleep cycles; us humans can sleep for long uninterrupted hours. While dogs do sleep longer than us, but they don't sleep at a long stretch. Their sleep is broken down into several short intervals.

Mostly, dogs copy our sleeping pattern, but often we find them sleeping through the day because they don't get enough sleep at night.

3.2 Do All Dogs Dream the Same?

The frequency and duration of the dream depends on their size and age.

Research shows that young and small dogs dream more frequently as compared to larger and older ones since they take naps more often.

But smaller dogs don't dream for much longer. Their dreams don't last as long as an older dogs would. For example, a Maltese may dream every 10 to 20 minutes which will last for almost five minutes whereas, a German Shepherd dreams every two hours which lasts for a longer time period.

4. Do Dogs Have Nightmares Too?

While this hasn't been scientifically proven yet, but you can tell when your canine companions are having a bad dream. Probably when they are screaming and kicking in their sleep.

4.1 Should You Wake a Sleeping Dog?

Remember, to not wake them up abruptly when they are having a bad dream as it can cause more damage and scare them even further.

However, if you want to help your dog and calm them down; use CBD treats and oil. They have been proven beneficial by many dog owners and veterinarians.

CBD dog treats and CBD oil can help calm an anxious dog.

4.2 Do Cats Dream?

Is your emotional support animal a cat? Are you wondering if it dreams too?

The answer is yes, cats too are similar to humans in this aspect. If you find your furry friends whiskers twitching, paws moving they are chasing after an insect or bird in their sleep.

Does your pet also take frequent naps, making sudden movements and sounds? Do you think they are dreaming of you?