When people are awakened during this rapid eye movement or REM sleep phase, they usually report that they were dreaming. His breathing will become shallow and irregular, there may be muscle twitches, and his eyes might move behind closed lids because the dog is looking at the dream images as if they were real. About 20 minutes after an average-sized dog falls asleep, his first dream should start. Also, during sleep, the brain wave patterns of dogs are similar to that of humans and go through the same stages of electrical activity observed in humans - all consistent with the idea that dogs are dreaming.”Ĭoren suggests that you can determine when your dog is dreaming. Stanley Coren, neuropsychological researcher, has studied the sleep cycles of dogs and says, “At the structural level, the brains of dogs are similar to those of humans. The data was so precise, in fact, that researchers could determine where in the maze the rat was dreaming about just by looking at the unique signature of the rat’s brain activity. Since we can’t exactly ask our dogs if they dream and what they dream about, science has come up with some interesting ways to determine if dogs and other animals dream.Ī 2001 study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that laboratory rats trained to run in a maze exhibited similar brain activity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep to that when they were actually in the maze, leading researchers to conclude that the rats were dreaming about the maze they ran in earlier.

These twitches are believed to be associated with dreams. Regardless of the reasoning, even middle-aged dogs twitch, which means there’s definitely something going on in your dog’s head when he’s asleep. Perhaps this part of the brain stem is underdeveloped in puppies and less efficient in old dogs. One theory is when the dog is asleep, his brain stem (especially the pons and medulla) sends signals to relax muscles, and this prevents your dog from actually jumping up to chase that dream squirrel. Like puppies, senior dogs also twitch more than middle-aged adult dogs. Puppies and other infant animals are especially twitchy in their sleep. As it turns out, many animals experience this phenomenon. Your dog is not the only one who twitches in his sleep. Veterinarians and researchers have been studying animal sleep behavior for a while now, and some of the answers to your questions may surprise you. Have you ever stopped to wonder why dogs twitch in their sleep, or if this seemingly benign behavior could be a problem? Every once in a while, she’ll twitch in her sleep her eyes, nose, lips, and feet moving as if she’s dreaming about chasing something. As I write this, my dog is napping next to me.

Does switch in sleep