My dog has nightmares at night. Why is this?

Question

My Lab/Ret mix tries barking in her sleep at night. She sounds like a clucking chicken to be honest. It makes me wonder if this is normal just like humans dream or do I need to be aware of something that might have happened to her before my husband and I adopted her?

Answer 1

Just normal slumberland dreamtime.

If you look at her closely during these periods, you can see her eyes moving underneath her eyelids, indicating REM sleep (rapid eye movement) just like humans when they dream. (be careful as most dogs sleep lightly and she might be startled if she wakes up and you are inches away from her face.)

clucking chicken - lol. I love to watch dogs sleep and I often hear muted dream bark sounds and growls and snorts.

If it worries you, above advice to focus on xtra excercise sounds good. If you are worried about this being a sign of previous abuse, you're probably going to get more clues to that during her daytime behavior, in terms of how startled she gets, how she approaches strangers, how she reacts to stretched out hands and new scents, etc.

It would be cool if we could anaylize doggie dreams, but I think we just have to fondly hope they are dreaming happy dreams of endless squirrel chases, dog park romps and giant, wonderful bacon-scented bones.

Answer 2

Stop feeding your dog pepperoni pizza at night! ;) Yeah, my chow-x dreams and barks and moves her legs at night too. She is 14 and that is the only time she can catch that elusive squirrel she has been chasing for years! I don't think it is anything bad, dogs are very forgiving, and your dog is in a loving home now with only sweet memories.

Answer 3

Dogs do dream and can become quite active while dreaming. It is normal and can make one wonder what exactly the movement and noise is all about. If you think about it though,when a dog is awake and active-playing and barking-dreams do resemble normal activity.

Answer 4

All dogs dream, mine seems like he's chasing something or he will bark, whimper and howl. I don't know why he does this but I do know that he does it more if he doesn't get enough exercise. I would give him some more outside play time and try not to feed him to close to bed time.

Answer 5

I really wouldn't worry. It's normal for dog's to dream, just like we do. Every dog does it. When mine dream, they bark, growl, whine, run, have REM's {Rapid Eye Movements, and twitch. Sometimes, I wonder what they are dreaming about.

Answer 6

My Dobie does the same thing. He sometimes, whines, barks, whimpers, and tries to run in his sleep. We've had him since he was a pup, and I can't think of anything tramatic that has ever happened to him. He also snores alot!

Answer 7

I think it is normal. Dogs dream too just like humans!

Answer 8

Yeah our german short haired pointer does that some nights... we adopted him at 4 years old, had him for almost a year. I think its just part of their dreaming

Answer 9

my 5 month old puggle has them too, I usually wake her up...and ask her what's wrong, she never seems to have an answer but she goes back to sleep. It's no trouble since she insists on sleeping on the pillow, under the blankets between my husband and I....what's a doggie lover to do!!!!...d

Answer 10

My pug now and lower back has nightmares, and that i consistently gently wake him up. he's in no way been aggressive afterwards (many times merely scared), yet I consistently gently puppy and rub him and talk with him in a delicate tone of voice. speaking them out of it form of feels to help my canines, it we could him understand that his human is close to and he's advantageous. For yours it might permit him understand that there is not something he desires to snap at. now and lower back my pug is so deeply asleep I might desire to %. him as much as get him out of it, yet this is slightly risky for you in the journey that your undesirable pup is scared adequate to be aggressive upon waking. reliable success, i'm hoping this helped.