Dogs are most likely dreaming about your face and how to make you happy
Ever wondered what your dog dreams about when it’s getting its forty winks? Well sleep experts are hedging their bets that you feature heavily.
Dr Deirdre Barrett, a Clinical and Evolutionary Psychologist at Harvard Medical School, looked into similarities between how humans and dogs dream since both have similar sleep patterns involving periods of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) which is when dreams occur.
“Humans dream about the same things they’re interested in by day, though more visually and less logically,” Barrett stated. “There’s 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.”
While it’s not proven that dogs actually have the ability to dream, the movements dogs can make when sleeping, together with similar sleep patterns to humans, indicate that they can.
“That certainly makes it the best guess that other mammals are dreaming, too,” stated Barrett.
And for all the cat lovers out there, it seems our feline friends are also capable of dreaming but don’t get too excited about them being all about you. It seems they are more likely to dream about catching mice.
“We actually know more about cats dreams, because one of the earliest sleep researchers, Michel Jouvet, destroyed the tiny area in cat brains that inhibits movements during REM sleep,” explained Barrett. “Cats lay quietly through the other stages of sleep, and when REM began, they leapt up, stalked, pounced, arched their backs and hissed. They looked like they were hunting mice in their dreams.”