We have all seen our dogs dreaming , the twitchy feet , rolling eyes etc . but can they suffer from bad dreams ? Last night , Nelly settled down as usual , she has always been good at bedtime , never tried to come in to us, happy to stay in her little basket . We woke at around 1.a.m to hear a pathetic wailing noise , she was in the hallway looking forlorn , panting and confused so into the bedroom she came whereupon she settled down and went to sleep, poor little thing x
I firmly believe they do. I have been woken up over the years with a dog showing all the signs of fear and just wanting a hug and reassurance. A calm voice until they settle seems to do the trick.
It certainly sounds as if Nelly had a nightmare. It's horrible that they don't understand and we can't explain to them. Glad she steeled with you and went to sleep.
Poor little Nell, maybe she was dreaming of her unhappy past life or missing Sam. Rourke was having a nightmare yesterday evening.
Poor Rourke , its horrible when we cant help them . Nelly has OCD issues which I will mention to the Vet tomorrow when she goes to have her knee evaluated . She is a happy little thing but many complex issues going on which manifest from time to time , fly snapping and floor licking being two of them . The noise she was making in the night was just awful , a real distressed cry x
I'm sure they do have nightmares. When Homer was a small puppy he was fast asleep next to us, all of a subbed he yelped and cried in his sleep. It was concerning that a little thing that had only ever had good experiences in his little life could be dreaming of something frightening. He's had a few more nightmares since then.
Poor Nelly. I’m sure too that dogs have nightmares. Every so often (actually probably as often as once a month) Molly will howl in her sleep at night. If she’s in with me I wake her up by talking gently, if she’s downstairs I go down to check she’s ok. (I let her choose where to sleep these days.) Goodness knows what Molly can be having nightmares about -must be next door’s cat invading the garden.
Poor Nelly. It's very likely that it was a nightmare, but good that she went to sleep again with no problems. Who knows what could have startled her from her earlier life.
Fred once woke up shaking like a leaf, after his morning walk nap and followed me everywhere that day. I think it must of been a bad dream because next day he was back to his normal self.
I think they do too. I've not seen anything like that but I have seen dogs who would never growl sound quite ferocious in their sleep. I'm very careful when I wake them up to soothe them. I've heard people wakened suddenly from a bad dream might hit out and I know I myself nearly slugged the OH once. In case dogs are the same I try soothing talk first, only get close enough to touch them if it doesn't work.
Poor little Nelly! I think the Pig has bad dreams - sometimes she will be growling and whining in her sleep and her heckles will go up. When she is having a nice dream she will sleep-bark and wag her tail I think I have caught her dream-eating a few times too! That must be an excellent dream for a Pig
Oh poor Nell. Mabel has the odd nightmare. She slept in our room the other night as she woke me up growling. I rushed downstairs as I thought it was a burglar but there was no one about and she looked so sad. She slept safe and sound in her bed next to me, even keeping me awake snoring
Poor Nell! It must be a comfort to know she feels safe with you though Kate! Stanley definitely dreams, he's never had a nightmare though I don't think. Actually thinking about it, I don't think I've ever seen Stanley frightened, he's completely unfazed by anything.
I'm sure dogs do have nightmares - and I agree with Snowshoe that you should be cautious when waking dogs out of a deep sleep. I was once with friends whose spaniel was clearly having a bad dream, and I gently patted her to wake her. She turned around and bit my hand really deeply, split my thumbnail in two!! Poor little Nelly, glad you were there and able to soothe her. Good luck at the vets tomorrow!
Wowchers!! Willow sometimes has nightmares. I stroke her firmly but gently and talk to her. She either settles down or wakes up. She's normally a really light sleeper, so if she doesn't wake when I stroke her, I know she's in really deep! I guess it had crossed my mind that she might come out of the dream and react to me, but it doesn't worry me enough to stop trying to comfort her. I love it when they wag in their sleep. Shadow doesn't often do it, but the girls do all the time
I know someone whose spaniel - yes, also a spaniel - appeared to be having a nightmare. He did similar - tried to reassure the spaniel and woke it up in the process, face was very close while doing this and the spaniel bit him on the nose and he also got two black eyes from the injury.
