Do Dogs Dream? (Part One): The Signs of Dreaming

By Leslie Brown

The way dogs sleep is very much like how people sleep, and evidence supports the theory that dogs do dream. Although dogs can’t tell anyone about the dreams they are having, they do demonstrate signs of dreaming.

While dogs sleep, they sometimes moan, whimper, growl, and have involuntary body movements, such as twitching, tail wagging, shaking, and lip licking. They sometimes whine, squeak and even bark in their sleep, or they act like they’re chasing or catching something like rabbits The vocal sounds help convince people that dogs are dreaming but no one yet knows what's going on in their dreams.

Dogs are similar to humans with regard to their sleep patterns and their brain wave activity. Experiments that test the canine brain wave activity during sleep have been reproduced and measured by researchers using an electroencephalogram (EEG).

As they first fall asleep, dogs are in a “lighter” sleep mode where their breathing is very regular and they can be easily awakened. During this time, they enter the SWS (slow wave sleep) stage, or the “sleep of the mind.” In the next stage, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, dogs are relaxed but their minds race and their eyes dart rapidly. This stage also provides evidence that dogs have heightened mental activity, or dreams. They might breathe rapidly or hold their breath for several seconds, and their brain waves pick up pace.

Dogs think and they have memory. Perhaps they dream in order to purge and reorganize their memory. It is highly unlikely that we will ever be able to truly understand the inner workings of a dog’s mind. They are amazingly complicated creatures with a vast array of communication skills. As much as we would like to enter their world and understand their thoughts, the closer we might ever get to that is watching them in their dream states. It is a key to proving that they have some capability for thought processing.

Even if it seems like they are having a bad dream, it is best not to wake a sleeping dog. Dogs, like humans, need uninterrupted sleep for healthy mental activity.

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