Eerie Howling whilst asleep

Our 1 yr old black lab has this very strange habit every now and again when he's asleep all of a sudden he lets out this very scary eerie howl. The first time he did this it freaked me and my wife out as it just sounded so buzzard and in such a very still quiet night. We've since checked with some friends who have his brothers and they don't do thus howling thing. I'd googled to try and understand this as he's very well loved and happy and gets a lot of attention. Can anyone with expertise in this behaviour explain please why he's doing this? Kind regards Tony and Caron, North Devon, England UK, ps Our Arthur probably would need to know too woof

 

Apologies spelling meant to say ( bizarre) (this)

 

I would say he's having a dream.

What's his usual routine? How often has he had the howling episodes?

And welcome to the forum

 

My dog did this once in his sleep - I rushed to him, thinking something must be dreadfully wrong, and found him flat on his back, snoring....

 

Sounds like a dream to me. My two sometimes bark in their sleep.

 

I think dream too, as long as there's no thrashing around that might seem like a seizure with it? We used to laugh at our rescue girl. She who never barked let alone growled when awake would growl ferociously in her sleep.

You folks in England don't celebrate Halloween like we do in Canada? Lucky if you don't, it's getting to be way too much of a production, ads popping up for kids costumes all over and they're not even back to school yet. But, if you do, what about recording it and playing it back around your house? Some people here go all out, decorate the house, sound effects, the whole bit. Not for little kids I guess.

 

Mine barks in his sleep sometimes but I figure he is dreaming! He also wags his tail sometimes....must be having a happy dream!!!

 

I read a summary of a study on feeding dogs, beagles, and it was noted that they only wagged their tails when a human put the food down for them. If food was delivered by some mechanical means they didn't wag. So, I choose to believe that if your dog is wagging in his dreams it's because he's happy because YOU are in the dream with him.

 

Aaaaw, love that.....I am in the dream with him! That made my day!

 

Thanks for all your kind comments and as we had a girl black lab boogie whom we lost 4 years ago and who would the dreaming bit and legs going as if she was chasing something. Thou with Arthur we've never anything quite like it almost something like out of hammer house of horrors so perhaps I shall stRt sleeping with the iPad on ready to record !

 

A few months ago my old dog Midge Sat up a howled mournfully in her sleep I used to dogs barking running growling and making weird almost barks but never seen anything like before it was freaky. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end . Shes happy and well adjusted. Never done it again phew . Hi and welcome from Rory midge and me

 

Lucan did this howling in his sleep a few nights ago, scared the living daylights out of me! The peculiar thing was I had just been dreaming of my Pointer who we'd lost a few weeks earlier at the same time....Freaky!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum. Harley occasionally makes weird noises in her sleep, usually with all 4 paws going up in the air

 

Scooby did the frightful howl in his sleep a few times. He was a big dreamer, running & barking, as was Belle - she ran, barked and squeaked a lot. Coco much less so - he occasionally twitches but not much noise.

 

Pongo does this quite often. A really spooky howling noise! It is dreams, for sure.

He also snarls in his sleep - and I have NEVER heard him snarl (or even curl his lip) while awake. And he barks, although it is a funny sort of wuff rather than a proper woof. And he runsandrunsandrunsandrunsandruns. And does Great...Big....Wags with his tail. And in his very best dreams he is chewing and swallowing and wagging all at once.

He obviously has a very full dream-life!

 

Tatze doesn't howl but she eats in her sleep!

...

 

Oh yes, my two are always eating in their sleep. And the big wags, I love those

 

Charlie bangs his tail on the rug all the time when he's asleep. It's hilarious.

 

Mine make suckling noises. So sweet the dream of being with their mums.

 

I too have a dream howler. She rarely does it during the day, usually in the wee small hours, and it is very loud and very creepy. Mostly it doesn't last more than a few seconds, but occasionally it will go on for the best part of a minute, at which point all the other dogs, convinced Martians are invading will join in.