Psychologists Argue Dogs Dream about their Owners

Psychologists tend to believe that dogs dream about their owners. After a close analysis of the behavior of cats and dogs, Dr. Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, has attested that cats might dream about mice and dogs dream about their owners. She extrapolated her previous study about human’s sleep behavior.

Dr. Barrett claimed that people tend to dream about things that surround them or worry them on a daily basis, but at a different level, being more abstract and less logically. She firmly believes that animals may have the same behavior as we do. We all know that a dog is often known to be a man’s best friend.

In general, dogs are extremely fond of their owners. Probably dogs more often than not dream about their owners, their smell and how they treat them. Our canine friends can dream about pleasing us when playing in a park or annoying us by breaking something in the house. These are just a few examples that may determine the fact that dogs are more likely to express their feelings towards their owners than cats do.

Dr. Barrett argued that research developed on the behavior of cats demonstrates that they are less likely to dream about their human owners. They are usually believed to dream about stalking mice and getting food. The psychologist has evidence of this fact in her study.

Cats tend to lay restfully through all the sleep’s stages except REM. During this stage of sleep, they start hissing, arching their back, jumping, and bouncing. She obliterated the area in the cats’ brain responsible for movement when sleeping. Thus, cats looked as if they were chasing mice in their dreams.

Our brains are equipped with a mechanism meant to prevent our muscles from moving while asleep. However, sometimes when we are in the REM stage of sleep, the behavior may change, and some may become sleepwalkers.

If a dog moves his legs when sleeping, that indicates he dreams about running or chasing something. If dogs are unhappy in real life, that could reflect into their bad dreams which will disturb them.

Barrett asserted that the best way to have a healthy and quiet sleep, with happy dreams is to think positive and have pleasurable experiences every day.

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