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It's both cute and confusing. But what does that whimpering, twitching and imaginary tennis ball chasing really mean? Here's the answer you've been dreaming of...
Well, thankfully you’re not alone in wanting this question answered. Scientists studied the brain activity of dogs as they fall asleep and made a remarkable discovery. Their brain activity is almost identical to ours.
After reaching deep sleep, both pets and people enter something called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM sleep is the stage where we dream. So yes, it is possible!
So is the twitching dreaming?
Own a pet and chances are you’ve seen and heard it all; everything from running, to barking and even whimpering. Basically, all the research says that this ‘rabbit chasing’ is actually a dream spilling over into real life.
Just as it does with us, their brain NORMALLY paralyses their body so they don’t actually act out their dream. But importantly it’s not always 100% successful. So when those actions and words (or little whimpers) spill over into real life, that’s when they’re almost certainly running after those rabbits or scoring the ultimate job as ball-dog at the Australian Open tennis. Maybe dreams can come true…
