Since you can’t observe another creature’s dreams directly, there’s really no way to know for sure if it’s dreaming. But – according to Dr. Walter Wilczynski of the University of Texas at Austin – there’s some pretty convincing, though indirect, evidence that many other mammals do indeed dream.
This evidence stems from the fact that for humans, a stage of sleep known as Rapid Eye Movement sleep – or REM sleep seems to correspond with being in a dream state.
During REM sleep, your eyes dart back and forth, you can’t move much, and there’s lots of electrical activity going on in your brain. Almost all mammals that have been studied – from dogs and cats to duck-billed platypuses – seem to go into this stage of Rapid Eye Movement sleep. The patterns of electrical activity in the animals’ brains during this stage are similar to those of humans.
So, if these patterns show that humans are dreaming, then it seems to be that these animals are dreaming, too.
Studies have shown that cats who were altered to move during REM sleep ran around, swatted their paws and bit at imaginary objects. So, not only do we have evidence that cats dream, but we have some idea of what they might dream about!
Our thanks to:
Walter Wilczynski
Department of Psychology
University of Texas at Austin
As a veterinarian and dog owner, from listening to our dogs, “woof” and watching them paddle their legs as if running during REM sleep, it seems certain that they are, “chasing the bunnies” in their dreams.
I think my dog dreams because she barks in her sleep at nothing and kicks like crazy.
i love the stuffed animal i want one!
In several books by Dr. Stanely Coren,Univ of British Columbia, he addresses this issue. Indirect evidence based on dog behavior observations indicate dreaming does occur, but not exactly like how humans dream. Personally, not only does my dog dream, but he keeps a journal for later interpretation by his shrink! ;o)
YES! dogs do dream. I know cause I talk in in sleep! People have filmed doing it. And when my sister’s dog Zuma used to sleep on my bed I used to watch him….Howl and growl in his sleep. Not loud, but definetly recognizable.
yah dogs do dream