CHENNAI: Hi Anju,
Dogs dream like humans do and experts believe they have the sleep patterns comparable to us. However, dogs appear to be more expressive of their dreams; yelping, growling, twitching and running might as well make you think they are in a wild west gun fight movie. However, should you wake them up? The answer is it depends and probably not.Dogs, unlike humans, don’t get psychologically affected by nightmares and they usually wake up immediately afterwards. Since this is their deepest phase of sleep, they are usually relaxed. They don’t dwell much on their dream’s events afterwards. They live in the moment and their dream episode is mostly forgotten once they wake up.
Enjoy the secret super hero life of your pets in their dreams. If you do need to wake up your dog in a situation where he is about to get hurt, do so only with the sound of your voice. Do not touch him or shake him awake, as he might end up involuntarily biting you or getting hurt himself.
Some dogs do tend to have after effects where they act scared or even have physiological displays like shivering, vomiting and uncontrolled bladder or bowel movements. In such cases, they may require medical attention where the vet may prescribe some anti-anxiety meds for your dog to have regularly till he overcomes the nightmare issues. Take a video of the dream state of your dog to show to your vet or a professional trainer so that they can evaluate the situation better.
Nonetheless, if you are sure he is just having one of his usual dreams let him be. Do not wake him up and molly-coddle him as you might unknowingly nurture his fears. He will then associate acting fearful or post sleep bad behaviour as an act that will be rewarded and will learn that as accepted behaviour. Treat your dog normally even if he comes to you seeking attention after a violent nightmare and let him slowly get back to reality where everything is safe and sound and nothing unusual around him.
Do you worry about your pet’s sleeping and eating patterns? Write in to your expert at
pet.faqs@gmail.com