When a dog is sleeping, it will sometimes twitch, twist, and turn amid its dreams. What do dogs dream about, do they have nightmares, and is there anyway for us to help them?

While it's ultimately something completely innocuous, many dog owners struggle to keep themselves from waking up their canine companion when it's seemingly in the throes of a bad dream.

It's pretty clear that dogs dream, but what do dogs actually dream about, and do they have nightmares? If so, is there anything that we, as human helpers, can assist them with?

Yes, dogs do dream, but their dreams likely take on vastly different shapes when compared to human dreams. As dreams are defined by the sleep in which they inhabit, it's important to understand how they occur in the first place. The most important note to make is that while sleep plays a similar role in dogs, cats, and humans, animal sleep is quite different.

Doggos don't sleep as deeply or for as long as humans do in any one sleeping cycle. While they still reduce their movement to a near stillness other than voluntary activity, and their brain also slows down, they are still far more conscious of their surroundings than we humans are.

While your dog will enter deeper periods of REM sleep, these more awake and surface-level periods are far longer and more concentrated than they are in humans and make up a larger percentage of your doggo's rest time. It's worth noting as well that during this consciousness, they may exhibit behaviors such as twitching and moving.

Once a dog enters its relatively brief REM stage, it will dream quite vividly. It won't, however, move as much – so the twitching you have noticed is unlikely to be reactions to dreams.

There is, of course, no way to tell for sure what a dog is dreaming about. In fact, there may likely never be a way to find out the true answer to this question. Still, we have our theories, and they are not as outlandish or unusual as one might expect. They are mammals, relatively similar in many ways to humans, so we can make some educated guesses.

It is generally accepted that dogs will dream about very similar things to what we humans dream about, whether that be about fear, relationships, food, or whatever it might be that's weighing on your mind at any given time. There are many possibilities, no definitive answers, and a ton of theories.

Here's what dogs might dream about:

• Chasing squirrels and birds
• Playing and interacting with other dogs
• Cuddles and companionship
• Hunting
• Being hunted by another creature
• Food and water
• Its favorite activities and games
• Other everyday activities

If you see your dog dreaming, don't assume that it's having a bad dream. It could be thinking about its favorite stick, or cuddles with its favorite human. Stay calm and don't worry so much!

Yes, while it is far less common than it is in humans, dogs can have both nightmares and night terrors. In some cases, these fearful dreams will produce quite scary results, with dogs thrashing around in their sleep and sometimes even crying or barking in fear.

These situations might be scary for you to witness, but they are completely normal and not actually anything to worry about. It is more important that your dog gets a reasonable amount of uninterrupted sleep than if it is or isn't having a nightmare. Leave them be, it will all be fine.

Important: If your dog is having increasingly violent and loud nightmares, or is sleeping very rough every night, it might be time to take it to the vet and have it checked out just in case.

There is nothing to worry about or do when a dog is dreaming, even if it is a nightmare. As we previously mentioned, dogs need a decent amount of uninterrupted sleep, and, as a result, it is almost always better to leave them be than to scare them even further by waking them up and simultaneously ruining their sleep cycle and making them groggy and unwell.

As a result, there are no tips or tricks on how to look after or help a dreaming dog. Simply leave them alone, stay close by, and be comforting and calm when they wake up and want your attention. It's not the end of the world, but you don't have to be heartless, either.

Here are a few things, though, that you can do to help a dreaming dog:

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• Make sure that your dog has plenty of comfortable places to sleep
• So that your doggo can peacefully enter REM sleep, make sure that it has a few hidden spots to sleep in
• Keep your dog well-fed and watered
• Have plenty of dog-friendly pillows, cushions, and blankets around the house
• Let sleeping dogs lie

Dreaming dogs don't need to be woken up. While they might shift and stumble in their snooze, they don't dream like we do and won't have the same terror. Instead of waking your dog, relax and have a nice cup of tea.