The Power of a Dream?

[mrdreamjeans]

"Dreaming"... one of my favorite pastimes. I use the word often ... I experience dreams frequently ... mostly "to dream" is a positive, inspirational experience for me. My long time Live Journal name is MrDreamJeans (my older friends get the references); my blog is called "Dreams in a Drawer". Last evening, in an hour+ conversation with bearfuz, Chip Prince, we talked about the necessity of continuing to pursue our dreams, our passions, to never give them up.

Following that conversation, overnight, I dreamt I adopted a homeless family. I had befriended two children, a young girl, her brother, then their mother and moved them into my home. It was a mostly happy dream, though there was an underlying sadness to it. But, it was also comforting. Perhaps, a subconscious wish for family? Or for me to be rescued?

Do animals dream? Have nightmares? The next morning, Georgie, who had been soundly asleep for a couple of hours suddenly ... and I mean suddenly ... sprang like a rocket to his feet and ran to the kitchen! I followed quickly thinking it was an emergency bathroom. Nope!

Instead, he'd run to his crate and was cowering in the back corner. When I knelt and reached in to pet him, he recoiled from my hand. As I continued to speak reassuringly to him, I slowly and gently resumed petting him. He offered what I can only characterize as a grateful look and calmed down. Post-traumatic puppy mill syndrome? The power of a dream?

Comments

[jkusters]

Dogs do indeed dream, and flashbacks to prior difficult times seem to be among their dreams. They can also suffer from depression, anxiety, and dementia. My last dog, as she became very senior, would occasionally get in a state where she continually paced around the bedroom, looking for escape. If we let her out, she would go to the door to the back yard and want to be let out. If we let her out, she'd head directly to a little doghouse we built her on the side of the house and settle down there, shaking. We never figured out what was causing it, but figured it was some form of doggie dementia. Our current dog has definitely had dreams that left her in an insecure mood.

You did the right thing by showing patience and concern. You helped your pup re-find the security you're providing. I expect because of your kindness and patience, this will happen less and less frequently.

[mrdreamjeans]

Thanks, John. I really appreciate your response. The episode left me bewildered as it was unexpected and incongruent to my experience with Georgie so far. There are days, with his increasing blindness and deafness, that he bumps into furniture or my legs, where I call to him and he hurries in the wrong direction, where I wonder what I will do when these senses fail him altogether, especially when winter arrives.

You are a kind man ...