If dogs do have dreams, they could be thinking of their owner when they sleep, an expert at Harvard Medical School said.
"Anything about what animals dream, or even if they dream, is speculative," Dr. Deirdre Barrett, a teacher and a Clinical and Evolutionary Psychologist at Harvard Medical School, who has studied dreams in humans, told People.
Most mammals have similar sleep patterns as humans, which includes Rapid Eye Movement, the time when dreams occur in humans, she said.
"That certainly makes it the best guess that other mammals are dreaming, too," she said. "Since dogs are generally extremely attached to their human owners, it's likely your dog is dreaming of your face, your smell and of pleasing or annoying you."
When a sleeping dog starts kicking its legs, it very well could be dreaming of running.
As it turns out, cats dream too.
"Cats lay quietly through the other stages of sleep, and when REM began, they leaped up, stalked, pounced, arched their backs and hissed," Barrett said. "They looked like they were hunting mice in their dreams."
Either way, she said the best way to ensure good dreams are positive experiences when animals are awake, as well as offering them comfortable, safe places to sleep.
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