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Do Dogs have night terrors?

6/16/2016

1 Comment

 
I know they have dreams so I can only imagine they can have nightmares but can they fear what they haven't experienced?

Skye has been with me for four months now, in fact she's turning one in just a few days. She came to me from a shelter were she was surrendered, supposedly because they lived in a condo and were being fined for her barking and because people accused her of being a pitbull (another can of worms for another day).

I don't doubt her barking was an issue in a condo but I'm sure her being a hearing impaired Catahoula Leopard Hound and the challenges that presents in her training and needed exercise level would have been strong factors as well. Not fully understanding what I was getting myself into, and I have a fair bit of resourceful friends and professionals helping me with her, I get this.

But I wonder just what she experienced in life before she came home with me that day in February. She was only in the shelter for two days and seemed very happy there with the staff. I realize that being deaf creates an extra need of constant reassurance that she's safe. When she sleeps she's always jumping awake from a deep sleep to run in search of me only then to flop back down in her deep sleep when I've been located. Except when she is in her crate (covered), she is always so happy to go in it and that's her safe den. When she goes in there at night, even if she's still full of energy, she's quiet. I don't hear from her again until morning when she may whine or bark if the bathroom is an urgent necessity. 

So imagine the wonder last night when after only maybe an hour in her crate, Quincy and I hear Skye barking her loudest, aggressive bark. Quincy started of with her low growl and low volume woof, much like when the racoons were trying to invade our truck while we were in the tent. Waiting to have access at the threat. We waited a short bit to see if Skye would realize that it was a bad dream and settle again. No go. After 30-60 seconds of the barking she was not giving up. Quincy stayed where she was when told as I went to check. I turned on the lights, lifted the kennel cover and poor Skye was glued to the back of her crate in fear. I gently opened the door and smiled, signing her to come. She came and buried her head in my chest  and hugged me with her grappling paw, there she stayed for a good minute. After a couple of minutes of cuddling her, keeping her in the crate, she settled again and remained quiet in her crate the rest of the night. 

All is back to normal this morning, but still I wonder......

1 Comment
Amanda Bost
5/21/2017 07:21:56 am

So we have a puppy about 16 weeks old. On mother's day, she was sound asleep and came out of it very violently yelping and howling like someone was hurting her. This episode lasted for 5 minutes or so and afterwards when she would finally let me pick her up she was literally crying. I've seen dogs dream before but this was really scary. I don't really know what to do for her or how to help. I'm not even really sure if K9 night terrors is like a real thing. Since the first incident, she has these same occurrences about every other night, not quite as bad as the first time, but my husband and I were noticing that she is actually still sleeping while it's happening. The only way we can get her out of it is by whistling very loudly and it takes her a bit to recover. Ironically, she is also a Catahoula mix. Would really appreciate hearing about any similar experiences or theories from anyone. Not sure how to handle it ~Amanda in Louisiana~

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    Quincy

    15 year old Nova Scotia Duck Toller (mx??) rescued by the SPCA and adopted by my human, Laurie. Now I'm the pretty face on this webpage that's meant to help you humans better keep us canines safe. (like we need help with that, whatever). 

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