Do Puppies Dream More Than Adult Dogs?
We just visited with a friend who has a 10-week old puppy at home. Puppies sure are cute at that age! Puppies have so much energy, they play hard and then rest hard too. It’s a true extreme of both play and rest.
Once my friend’s puppy fell asleep, you could tell she was dreaming as her cute little paws were wiggling as if she was chasing a toy or something.
This got me thinking about dog dreams and specifically puppy dreams . Thankfully, I remembered the article Lisa recently published about the topic, Do Dogs Dream Like Humans Do?
In her article, she answered the question about puppy dreams, and I thought I would share it with you here. Here’s what Lisa had to say about the topic of puppy vs. adult dog dreams:
Do Puppies Dream More Than Adult Dogs?
Do Puppies Dream More Than Adult Dogs? Yes, researchers have concluded that puppies do dream more than adult dogs. Not all dogs dream the same amount during sleep. Small dogs are believed to dream more than large dogs.
However, studies have found the larger breeds will dream longer than the small breeds and puppies. A toy breed may dream once every ten minutes with a dog from a larger breed experiencing dreaming only once every 90 minutes.
Let’s face it, if dreams are based upon the dog’s daily activity and experiences, it is easy to understand why puppies dream more frequently than older dogs.
The activity of a puppy is constant motion and curiosity, resulting in their need to process huge quantities of newly acquired experiences!
Additionally, with adult dogs sleeping an average of 12 to 14 hours a day, a puppy needs to sleep closer to 19 hours, thus allowing for more dream time.
We know our dog’s dream as we do, unfortunately, sometimes that means the dreaded dog nightmare can happen. Though we hate to see our fur babies experience a bad dream, it is a good idea, as mentioned in this article, to let nature take its course.
Remember to let your dog wake on its own, but be there to comfort him, reassuring him he is safe and loved. As mentioned above, there are many opportunities for sleep and positions in which your dog may choose to sleep.
Your dog can be a rambunctious dreamer or a quiet sleeper, the important thing to remember is we need to ensure our dogs have enough sleep, and rest, for mental and physical health.