Science says: dogs dream about their owners

Regularly, I wake up at night from Sjaan (my dog), who is next to me, flailing and growling in her sleep. Most of the time, I think she is having a nightmare at that moment, so I immediately turn on the lights to wake her up. As an overprotective mother, I then pet her for a moment and say something along the lines of: ’It was just a dream, Sjaan, go back to sleep.‘ I also always wonder what she dreamed about. Could she have just been chased by a big German shepherd? Or did a very annoying chihuahua take her bone?

So I always assume that Sjaan dreams about typical dog things, partly because of those flailing little paws that make it seem like she is running. That could of course really be the case, but according to clinical and evolutionary psychologist Deirdre Barrett, there is also a chance that Sjaan is just dreaming about me at that moment. https://people.com/pets/what-is-your-cat-or-dog-dreaming-about-a-harvard-expert-has-some-answers/ Dogs can indeed dream about their owners. I had never thought about this before, but the idea makes me incredibly happy.

According to Barrett, there is a logical explanation for this assumption. Mammals have a similar sleep cycle to humans, in which they enter the REM sleep phase, or ‘dream sleep’, after a phase of deep sleep. We humans dream in that phase about things that occupy us or that we experienced during the day, so why wouldn't that work the same way for a dog? Moreover, dogs are very attached to us. After all, we provide them with food, water, love, and a lot of attention. Viewed this way, it is not strange at all that your dog dreams at night about your face, scent, or your pleasant park walk.

Of course, it could still be that your dog does dream about the neighbor's cat if he/she had a confrontation with it that day. But if your furry child had a fantastic beach day with you and you both swam happily together? Then it could very well happen that your dog dreams peacefully about that at night. Isn't that really sweet?

Well, scientists don't know this for sure, because unfortunately, dogs can't tell us themselves. Let's just choose to believe it's true, because that makes us owners very happy. The next time I wake up from Sjaan's restless sleep, I will just turn around with a big smile on my face. Assuming she has a nice dream about me, I can also sleep wonderfully again.