Every pet owner at some point in their life has wished they had the ability to know what their dog was thinking. Similar to that, theres the age old question- do dogs dream? If they do, do they dream about us? We’ve seen viral videos of puppies whimpering in their sleep, and dogs that run or kick their feet as if they’re chasing the mailman, but what are they really dreaming about?

A psychologist at Harvard by the name of Dr. Deirdre Barrett says that canines are likely dreaming about their human caretakers. Considering their owners are the ones that fill up most of their days and the ones they interact with the most, it makes sense that owners would occupy the subconscious thoughts of canines as well as their daytime thoughts. Barrett can’t be 100% percent sure of this since her focus in of study in psychology is people, their subconscious and their dreams, but we’re all animals after all, so why wouldn’t we be similar?

One thing that is certain, is that most mammals have a similar sleep cycle to humans. They move through cycles of deep sleep and light sleep, entering in and out of each one smoothly. Then they move on to the Rapid Eye Movement stage, or REM sleep, the last phase of the cycle where humans dream. Since we are dreaming in that stage, theres a good chance other animals do too. “That certainly makes it the best guess that other mammals are dreaming too,” said Barrett in an interview.

That still doesn’t answer the question of what the animals are dreaming about, though. For this answer Barrett again, looks to humans. “Humans dream about the same things they are interested in by day, though more visually and less logically,” Barrett goes on to say. “Theres no reason to think animals are any different. Since dogs are generally extremely attached to their human owners, it’s likely your dog is dreaming of your face, your smell, and of pleasing or annoying you.” And yes, the common occurrence of dogs kicking their legs in their sleep really does mean that they’re acting out their dreams.

Just like children, Barrett says that though we won’t know for sure that we influence out pets dreams, the best that we can do is give them happy day time experiences and provide comfortable and safe sleep environments for them to have positive dreams, even if that doesn’t involve the owners.

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Source: mymodernmet.com