What Do Dogs Dream About?

Many people watch their dog move its paws, nose, bark while sleeping, and wonder  what dogs dream about.  They try to imagine that they dream of chasing something, playing with the boss to catch the ball or simply running in the park.

The discussion is still open on whether dogs dream or not, since dreams are the result of a very complex mental process.  

By doing neurological examinations and encephalograms on several dogs it was shown that 

dogs appear to have brain activity very similar to ours when they are asleep.

Everything seems to indicate that our little friends also spend a REM period (fast eye movement, English abbreviations) during sleep, which is precisely the period in which we dream.

With similar studies, it was possible to verify that

small dogs

they have a tendency to have longer and more frequent dreams than

big dogs,

However, it is very difficult to determine if dogs have the same kinds of dreams as people. Even though many of the things we dream about don’t seem to make a lot of sense, these  are the result of a mental process, in which our brain tries to create a coherent story, using elements we know supported by our knowledge and experience.

Canine intelligence and dreams

Dogs can remember 100 to 500 words, depending on the breed, and have the ability to associate words with objects and actions. This is evident when we ask the dog to look for a specific thing and he does, (after having received some training, of course). Therefore, if we refer to their ability to learn and their extraordinary memory, we can think that they dream like us with the experiences they have had through social contact.

But what does their learning ability have to do with dreams? An important part of the scientific community agrees that all mammals dream to assimilate what they have learned. Therefore what a dog has experienced during his life will be decisive in his dreams.

Dogs, as memory animals, take periods to reorganize the information  they have accumulated, to integrate or dispose of it, and this process occurs precisely during sleep cycles.

In fact, once a dog enters a period of light sleep (which is the one in which he can wake up easily) he begins to show slight brain activity, such as moans or makes small involuntary movements.  However, the dream as such occurs during the REM period, which is the period characterized by a deeper sleep (it is more difficult to wake up), where brain activity increases.

This period can occur several times during the night, so dogs can have different dreams over the course of a few hours, and according to scholars, it is a period in which images pass before the eyes.

It is during the period of REM sleep that strong involuntary movements occur,  however it is not advisable to wake up the dog who is sleeping soundly, even when it seems to be having a nightmare, it is better

let him sleep

so that he can have a full sleep cycle and thus enjoy healthy mental activity.

So to answer the original question on this article… what do dogs dream about? There is no way to know with absolute certainty, but if we consider that their mental process is very similar to ours, we can surely say that they dream with elements that are familiar to them,  such as the cuddles of their owners, walks, games, and an exquisite snack.