Do dogs have nightmares?

Have you ever wondered if dogs have nightmares ? Surely if you have lived with one of these loyal animals your answer is affirmative, and if you have not yet done so, then it is easy for you to be curious at some point. Dogs, like us, have nightmares. In fact, the specialist Stanley Cohen explains that they can dream and that, in reality, the brain waves of these animals while they sleep are very similar to ours. Therefore, it is normal to do like humans when we have nightmares and move a lot and make noises.

In we are aware of how agonizing it can be to see your dog moan and growl in dreams, without knowing, if it is having a nightmare and what should be done in that situation. Learn what those movements of his legs mean while he sleeps, why his eyelids tremble and what his moans mean when he is asleep, among others. Next, we'll talk in more depth about whether dogs have nightmares and we'll show you how to know if your dog is suffering from one and how to help it go away.

Do dogs have nightmares? - the answer

Dogs, like human beings, dream. Likewise, dogs can also have nightmares or unpleasant dreams. This is not intuitive, but there are numerous studies of brain waves that confirm the fact.

A good example of this are the studies carried out by Stanley Cohen, an expert on dog behavior, as well as the study carried out in 2001 by researchers Matthew Wilson and Kenway Louie of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was published in the magazine Neuron in that same year.

Through a prolonged series of encephalograms, they came to the conclusion that dogs travel the same states of electrical activity during sleep as we do. The dogs dream experiences two phases :

  • Slow phase or Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) : at first sight the hairy one will seem to be completely asleep. However, any minimal external stimulus will suffice to end your rest. It is the colloquially called "duermevela", in which the cerebral waves are relaxed, but the muscular tone is maintained.
  • Deep phase or Rapid Eyes Movement (REM): in this phase of sleep, brain waves are active, but muscle relaxation is maximum. It is here when they have dreams, like ours, and also where they can suffer the dreaded nightmares.

How to know if my dog ​​has a nightmare

There is no foolproof method to know 100% if your pet is having a nightmare or not, but it is easy to deduce that you may be having one. So, if you wonder how to know if your dog is having a nightmare, first of all you must learn to detect when your dog is dreaming . Here are three very accurate clues:

  • Have a good time sleeping. Keep in mind that the REM phase is not reached in 30 seconds and that, therefore, after a few seconds or a few minutes the animal will not be having any sleep and may not be having a nightmare.
  • While you sleep, your dog has spasms on its legs and eyelids, it shakes and even makes some sound, like a cry or moans.
  • Apart from his eyelids trembling, he also has one or both eyes partially open.

Differentiate if a dog has a nightmare or a dream

One thing is a pleasant dream in which your dog is calmer remembering something that pleases him and breathing placidly, or an active but positive dream, which you can also detect by movements such as spasms but softer and because it emits fewer sounds than in a nightmare, and another thing that catches more attention and worries those who live with dogs, are the nightmares in which these movements are more exaggerated and in general the animal is agitated, even his whole body, and emits more moans and moans, like whining and barking.

Here comes your intuition. If you see your dog especially agitated, if he moans or even barks or cries while sleeping, it is likely that he is going through a bad dream or a nightmare.

What do I do if my dog ​​has nightmares

But, once you know that your dog can have nightmares and you are able to detect the moment when he is living a bad dream, how should you act?

There are several opinions on this; however, there is a resounding consensus in the statement that you never wake your dog abruptly when you are suffering from a nightmare, although it is something you should never do, even if you are quietly asleep, because no one likes to wake up scared or alerted and if it is after a nightmare the reaction can be worse.

Since we recommend you follow these tips on what to do if a dog has a nightmare :

  • Wait a few seconds to see if it calms down. It is possible that it is a very short nightmare and it is not worth bothering you in that case.
  • If it does not improve, caress it very gently and talk to it in a very low and affectionate voice.
  • Wait until it calms down and once it does, let it be. The normal thing is that he wants to continue sleeping, because the dogs sleep many hours a day.

In any case, keep in mind that the fact that a dog has nightmares from time to time is the most normal thing in the world. As we said at the beginning of the article, science has shown that it is something as specific to them as it is to human beings, so it should not generate any uneasiness. On the other hand, if it becomes frequent, we advise you to consult your trusted veterinarian.

The next time your hairy little one is moving his paws and making noises while he sleeps, try to wake him up gently and lovingly. You will be avoiding that he continues suffering that unpleasant nightmare.

If it has been interesting to know if dogs can have nightmares and what their dream is like, as well as find out what is more advisable to do in case you see that ours is having one, then it is likely that you will also be interested in this other article in the that we give you the answer to another common question about these faithful companions: Is it bad to sleep with the dog or not?