Sleep with Caution & Duke’s Doggy Dreams

Every dog I have ever known has dreams when they sleep – it’s cute but I have had some crazy experiences in the early morning hours.

Duke has dreams every time he sleeps! His dreams make him shake, kick, breathe funny and have high-pitched barks. I am always curious what he dreams about after I watch him. Snook is just the same but he doesn’t usually kick in his dreams.

Duke sleeps in bed with me (sometimes Snook joins us too) and will wake me up to alert by laying on top of me and snuffing my face. He has assumed the night shift because Snook sleeps all night long and doesn’t alert.

As a result of Duke sleeping in my bed, he slowly takes over the bed but also gets up and turns around, eventually having his legs toward me. You guessed it – this means I am in the target area for being kicked! I have lost count as to how many times he had jabbed me in the ribs and stomach. The worst one that happened last week is when his tail wagged and hit me across the face! Needless to say I woke up, adrenaline pumping and knew that Duke was responsible.

Another time, I think it was a conversation between Snook and Duke because they were shaking and barking back and forth.

While we all think it’s cute when dogs dream, it is incredibly disruptive to sleeping!

My curiosity struck so here’s what I discovered in my research about doggy dreams:

According to the American Kennel Club, like people, dogs and other animals go through several sleep cycles. There are periods of wakefulness, followed by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid-eye-movement sleep. REM sleep is the period when the most memorable and vivid dreams happen. It’s also believed to be a part of how the body processes memory. Scientists can track sleep cycles in people and other animals, and their associated brain activity, using specialized equipment. “What we’ve basically found is that dogs dream doggy things … The dream pattern in dogs seems to be very similar to the dream pattern in humans,” according to the researchers.

People vary as to how often they dream and what they dream about. Researchers believe that is true of dogs, as well. Coren, a researcher, reports that small dogs have more frequent dreams than large dogs, but those small dog dreams are shorter in duration. Large dogs, on the other hand, have fewer, but longer dreams.

We can also hazard a guess that what your dog does all day determines his dreams. While we can’t yet be sure, the fact that Pointers point and Dobermans display guard behavior implies that breed-specific activities may take place during dreams, too. Your Labrador Retriever, for instance, is perhaps more likely to dream about chasing tennis balls than a Pug is.

There is no way for us to know exactly what makes up the stuff of our dogs’ dreams, but we might be able to guess.

Observe your dog during sleep to see what they do. REM sleep typically begins 20 minutes into a nap and lasts for 2 – 3 minutes. This is when you might notice your dog twitching or making sounds. Are there any similarities between your dog’s actions during REM sleep and their daily activities?