What If Your Dog Barks Only in Their Sleep?
Most dogs who are vocal while awake may also be vocal at night—but some dogs only bark when they are sleeping. We don’t understand why this happens—it could be related to their particular dreams. Perhaps in their dreams, your dog is bold and fearless and barks a lot. Whatever the reason, this is also normal behavior and shouldn’t raise any red flags.
You hear Rover frequently making yipping and yapping sounds at night. Then it progresses into a bark. When you get out of bed to check on him, he’s sound asleep on his side. You go back to bed thinking you were just hearing things. A few nights later, it happens again, but this time when you check on him, he’s lying down in his bed; his ears twitch and paws are moving like he’s running. It might seem peculiar, but it’s actually very normal. If you try to wake your pup, you’re going to interrupt his deep sleep where he is dreaming of chasing squirrels, playing with other dogs, or getting a rewarding belly rub.
All of this might sound a little strange, seeing that dogs cannot tell us that they, in fact, are dreaming. But this behavior of barking and moving in their sleep prompted researchers to study a dog’s brain activity during sleep. When a dog sleeps, the brain waves are like a human’s. Just like you, your furry friend falls asleep, enters a deep REM cycle, and starts to dream. However, unlike most of us, he may begin to speak, or bark, while he is dreaming.
If he is barking like he is the host of a daytime talk show, some action might need to be taken. Your pup’s sleep is important, but so is yours. If the barking becomes excessive, move his bed to a room farther from yours. Do not wake him up, though, And if it gets to be too much, take him to the vet.
His barking at night could be a nuisance, but it can also be sweet to watch his ears twitch and hear him let out little yelps of joy. However, monitoring his behavior is important. If you check on your noisy friend and notice his body is moving uncontrollably, he’s panting or can’t catch his breath, whimpering to indicate pain, you should wake him up. If he did these while awake, you know something is wrong, so the same thing goes if it happens in his sleep. Call your vet right away if you’re concerned something is severe or life-threatening.
Similar to humans, your dog will most likely dream about things that happened during the day. Make sure you play with your pup often, give lots of belly rubs, and take him on walks so he can sniff everything. That will not only make his day better, but it will provide him with something fun to dream about at night.
Can you wake a dog running in its sleep?
However, if you are worried about your dog’s current state, you can always call its name to wake it up. Try to avoid shaking your dog, as this could arouse it and it may react unpredictably. If you wake them up while they are running by shaking them, this may trigger your dog to snap at you. Whereas by using your voice, you can maintain a certain level of calmness, comfort, and safety.