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As I write this, my dog is napping next to me. 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.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why dogs twitch in their sleep, or if this seemingly benign behavior could be a problem?
Veterinarians and researchers have been studying animal sleep behavior for a while now, and some of the answers to your questions may surprise you.
Why Do Animals Twitch in Their Sleep?
Your dog is not the only one who twitches in his sleep. As it turns out, many animals experience this phenomenon.
Puppies and other infant animals are especially twitchy in their sleep. Like puppies, senior dogs also twitch more than middle-aged adult 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. Perhaps this part of the brain stem is underdeveloped in puppies and less efficient in old dogs.
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. These twitches are believed to be associated with dreams.
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.
A 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. 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.
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. 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.”
Coren suggests that you can determine when your dog is dreaming. About 20 minutes after an average-sized dog falls asleep, his first dream should start. 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 s as if they were real. When people are awakened during this rapid eye movement or REM sleep phase, they usually report that they were dreaming.
We can’t know exactly what dogs dream about, but researchers have observed that certain breeds of dogs tend to perform breed-specific behavior in their sleep when the pons is inactivated. Pointers, for instance, point, and English Springer Spaniels exhibit flushing behavior during REM sleep.
Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett, past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, suggests it’s likely that dogs dream about their everyday experiences, just like humans. “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,” she says.
What dogs are prone to seizures?
According to the American Kennel Club, there are several different breeds who are prone to idiopathic epilepsy, including:
However, it is important to note that any dog can have a seizure, whether they’re a pure or mixed breed, so be aware of the signs regardless of which breed belongs to your family.
What does a dog seizure look like while sleeping?
How can I tell if my dog is having a seizure while sleeping or just dreaming?
Dogs often make quite dramatic movements when they are asleep. They might be having a dream or they could be suffering a seizure.
If your dog is having a seizure, you will need to look out for these signs: