Do Dogs Have Nightmares?

Do dogs get nightmares? My mixed breed puppy, sox, sometimes get dreams and starts twitching and moves her paw a lot and sometimes it takes me awhile to wake her up. (Amanda Lone - Texas)

Accepted wisdom says dogs dream just like people so yes they inevitably have some nightmares. People only tend to remember dreams or nightmares when they wake up during REM sleep, so waking your dog during this kind of episode is not necessarily the best solution - especially since he may be confused when woken.

Dogs tend to dream with more action and for shorter times than people. Sometimes dogs exhibit so much movement during a dream that people have in the past mistaken them for seizures. However, you can easily wake a dreaming dog, but you could not halt a seizure in the same way.

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