Turns Out When Sleeping Dogs Lie, They Dream About Their Owners
Cats, however, are less clingy and probably dream about anything but humans, like catching delicious mice or walking through the middle of your family’s board game to remind you who’s really in charge around here.
By Gabe Herman · June 26, 2024
Disclaimer: While this article is based on bone-a-fido facts, it does also exist in a pretty weird dream-state of satire.
Research shows that dogs likely have sleep cycles similar to humans, scientists say, and so they probably dream about everyday activities just as we do. For dogs, these daily doings can include cute things like playing with their human companions or eating trash on the street and then throwing up later in the house, which you have to clean up just as you finally sit down to watch TV and rest.
Scientists note that they can’t be fully certain what dogs dream about since they don’t speak our languages. Of course, many dog owners would disagree with this, especially the annoying ones who constantly talk to their dogs in baby voices while walking them, much to the chagrin of people nearby who feel a combination of annoyance and embarrassment at belonging to the same species as these types of people.
“While we can’t know for sure what dogs dream about,” one scientist said, “we can take an educated guess that they seem to have the same sleep cycles as humans, including REM sleep, and thus probably have similar types of dreams. And we all know that the best science is not about proving something, but just taking your best guess and hoping that no one really questions it.” Hopefully, this scientist only deals with theories about dreams, and it isn’t involved in engineering or medicine of any kind.
"If dogs have dreams similar to people, maybe one day we can teach them to talk with us. They would probably say, 'I love you... as long as you keep feeding me.'"
The news media is calling this research about dog dreams a major scientific discovery, especially if it means getting to publish stories that shamelessly include lots of cute photos and videos of dogs sleeping.