While we see many websites and articles regarding human dreams and human sleep there are very few with regards to the sleeping habits of family pets. So what exactly do cats and dogs do when asleep? Do they dream?

Diary of a dreaming dog

My dog is a Labrador/collie cross and a much loved member of the family but at night time as the rest of us go to sleep my dog suddenly changes, when she is asleep!

Laying down to sleep

While my dog sleeps through the day it is only at night time that we start to see her strange nocturnal habits and her dreaming appear. After she has settled down, moved around in circles a number of times and repositioned her dog duvet she then begins to drift into her own world of sleep.

Stage one

When she is comfortable she will slowly but surely start to drift off into a sleep like state when her eyes slowly roll into the back of her head and her eyelashes start to fall. She will often try to fight this process but eventually she gives in, curls up and begins to drift into her own world.

Stage two

As she drops deeper and deeper into sleep she will then start to twitch her leg, stretch in her sleep and her paws will start to move as if she is walking or running. Then her eyes start to flicker and we know she is experiencing rapid eye movement (REM). This is when the fun starts!

Stage three

Slowly but surely her feet will start to move in the air, her paws will expand and retract and slowly her mouth will start to move. As she falls further and further asleep her mouth begins to tremble, her eyes flicker yet more and then suddenly she will yelp, bark and start to push air through her mouth, making her lips vibrate like a horse.

It is at this stage when her eyes begin to open yet there is nothing there and we know she is dreaming although we have no idea what she's dreaming about.

Wakey wakey

After her dream seems to fade she is often restless and wakes up, opens her eyes and looks around to see what is going on. If she is tired she will then settle down on her duvet and drift back to sleep although bizarrely the second time round she very rarely dreams as actively as she has the first time.

Conclusion

Dogs obviously dream as much a humans do but what they dream about is very much a mystery. So next time your dog is feeling sleepy why not hang around and see exactly how they react in their first phase of deep sleep. You will be surprised!