There are cute little moments when we catch our dogs twitching and barking while they sleep. This begs the question, do dogs dream? And when they do, what do they dream about?
According to research, there is scientific evidence that strongly suggests dogs can dream. And when you see their legs twitching in their dreams, this is probably because they are dreaming about activities they had done while they were awake.
Just like us humans, our furry little friends also have different sleep cycles which consists of different stages. These stages include wakefulness, rapid eye movement or REM, and non-rapid eye movement.
According to scientists in the Journal of Physiological Behavior in 1977, dogs spend 44 percent of their time sleeping alert, 21 percent drowsy, and 12 percent in REM sleep. Additionally, they also spend 23 percent of their time sleeping in the deepest stage of non-REM sleep, which is called a slow-wave sleep.
It was also noted that dogs enter REM sleep around 20 minutes after they fall asleep. Dogs might stay in that sleeping stage for 2 or 3 minutes. If you find your dogs’ muscle twitching while they are sleeping, there is a very good chance that they are dreaming.
Dogs dream of the usual dog activities. For instance, Pointer dogs will likely dream of birds, while protective dogs dream about chasing bad guys. The bottom line is that our furry little friends’ dream patterns are very similar to our dream patterns when we sleep.
We tend to wonder if our pets dream about getting treats and kisses, too. It is highly possible. After all, it is every dog’s dream.
There you have it, another wonderful thing we have in common with our furry little friends. It’s a pretty cool fact to know.
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