Do Animals Dream?

So last night we were all getting ready to go to bed..the kids were in there rooms the dogs had gone out for the last time of the night, the cat made herself comfy on my oldest bed, and my youngest yet he fought me on getting into bed eventually settled down and off to dream land he went.. Ok so now its time to get my doggies into there beds so Bella took her place next to our bed and Bailey took his place on my bed. About 30 min later i hear a faint woof..a grunt followed by a whine! What ..its bella and shes out cold but making all this noise..Ohh and along with that the hubby is snoring away...Yes not the quietest night. so this morning i decided to look up if animals do dream, and this is what i came up with....I did not writ this i just found it interesting and i have put up the link if you would like to click on it, the author of this post is  Kaitlin Miller

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-01/do-animals-dream

Sleeping Dog Michael Cogliantry/Getty Images

Yes. Many pet owners have seen their sleeping dog or cat twitch or paw the air, as if dreaming of bones to bury or mice to chase. Stanley Coren, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and author of the book The Intelligence of Dogs, says that canines go through the same sleep stages as we do, only faster.

After about 20 minutes, a dog enters REM sleep, the stage in which most vivid dreams occur. Big dogs dream longer, Coren says, and little dogs dream quickly and frequently. He doesn’t know why, and neither does anyone else. Insects and fish don’t experience REM sleep, but some birds and all mammals do. Reptiles might also experience REM, and some scientists argue that our mammalian dreaming might be a holdover from our reptilian brains.

The purpose of dreaming remains a mystery, but infants (of all species) dream more often. This is probably because the sensory stimulation helps form new neural connections. In adults, the best working theory is that dreams stimulate the regions of the brain associated with memory. Finches replay the melody of their birdsong in their dreams, and lab rats retrace the mazes they have run.

peace love and doggie kisses

MOMMA