Curious as to whether your furrever friend dreams? According to Dr. Deirdre Barrett, Clinical and Evolutionary Psychologist at Harvard Medical School, they do and they’re likely dreaming of you.
According to Dr. Barrett “Humans dream about the same things they’re interested in by day, though more visually and less logically. There’s no reason to think animals are any different. 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.”
While she is a strong supporter of the idea, Dr. Barrett does add that anything animals dream of, or even if they dream, is speculative.
“The only two animals even suggested to have ever told their dreams to a human are the signing gorillas Koko and Michael. Researcher Penny Patterson reports that Koko occasionally signs about fantastic events, people and places she has not seen recently only upon awakening. Michael, who is known to have been captured when poachers killed his entire family, sometimes wakes up and signs “Bad people kill gorillas.”
That being said, it still is highly likely dogs (and most mammals) experience a dream-like state.
“What we do know for sure is that most mammals have a similar sleep cycle to humans, going into a deep sleep stage, in which the brain is much less active, and then into periods of activity called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, in which dreams occur for humans. That certainly makes it the best guess that other mammals are dreaming, too.”
Original source: http://thechive.com/2017/11/01/what-do-doggies-dream-of-when-they-take-a-little-doggy-snooze-15-gifs/