So What Exactly Is Going On In There?
I think that it would be a fair assumption that most animal lovers would agree that it is heart warming to observe their pets showing outward signs that they are dreaming. While watching my dog "run in place" while sleeping on her side, I get a fuzzy feeling inside. What I love to do, since I can't leave well enough alone, is to tune in and find out what she is actually dreaming about.
One might ask why it is possible to tune into an animals' dreams? Dreaming is just another state of consciousness so if we can connect with a person or animal when awake, then it should not be a surprise that we can do the same while sleeping.
Meesha, my Collie mix, was dreaming recently and making little doggie whimpering sounds. When I tuned into her dream I saw her running after a smallish to medium sized black figure. The animal was about the size of a rabbit but it's image was blurry. It was interesting to me that in the dream she didn't actually show me a specific type of prey in site. It was just the excitement of this "thing" running away that was so stimulating to her and so that it seemed, was what was important..the fun of the "chase."
Please Don't Wake Me
Unless we are tuned in and at at least relatively sure that the dream has turned into a "nightmare," I do not think that we should not wake our pets from their dreams. The reason being is that animals, like humans, go through various stages of dreaming. Therefore, to awaken an animal from a dream means that we are interrupting their sleep cycle as well as their processing of the days events, etc. Animals are have their own psychology, feelings and thoughts that, like us, they utilize dreams to process.
A study on animals' dream states conducted by MIT's Center for Learning and Memory-http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/dreaming.html-indicates that dreams seem to serve a purpose for animals in many ways that are similar to humans. For example, on outcome of the study reveals that animals' dreams, similar to humans, helps to cement memories.
This is all something to consider as far as the impact on, for example, behavior training. If animals are processing while sleeping and solidifying what they have learned, a good, sound, uninterrupted sleep might make all the difference in a successful training outcome.