In keeping with the "sleep" theme of the last couple of posts...
For the last few mornings, I've woken up with clear memories of my dreams. I'm not taking any medication and I'm not having any trouble sleeping, so I'm not sure what's up with that.
I do know, however, that all my dreams are somewhat full of anxiety and they're all about my dogs.
The first one was simple. I was in front of a theater with the comedian Kathy Griffin, and asked her to hold my dog's leash while I ran to the ATM down the street. (I'm pretty sure it was Rawley, but you know how dreams are.)
As I walked away, my dog chewed through his leash to follow me, and ran out into the street. I was watching him dodge cars and feeling terrified, and then I woke up.
The next night I had a bizarre dream involving Maddie's Fund, my pet tiger (!) and the Mafia. We're not even going to get into what that was all about, but it involved laptop thefts, breaking and entering, and trying to save a toy dog's life. My own dogs played only a walk-on role at the end of this one, when I was attempting to get home after a Mafia shoot-out. Oddly, the most extreme anxiety in this dream centered on my lost laptop. Because tigers and the Mafia are just not enough.
Then there was last night's dream. In it, my mother was still alive and we were living with eight dogs on our old property in the country. There was an evacuation order for a wildfire, and we were trying to evacuate and having trouble locating all the dogs and getting them all into our vehicles.
I've had dreams like that last one for years. Sometimes they're pretty tame, with me wandering around a park looking for a dog who ran off after a squirrel, and sometimes they're full on nightmares, where I'm trying to save a beloved dog from some kind of supernatural horror. But the general theme of searching for my dogs, trying to round them up, trying to get them out of danger, is a recurrent one for me in dreams, mostly at times of my life when I'm under a certain amount of stress.
Are your pets frequent fliers in your dream world? Or do you stick with the human race?
What amazes me is that, with all the animals I've had through my home and all the email and phone and on-site consults I do for rabbit training (six in the past three days), I NEVER dream about them!
Posted by: Mary Mary | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
Cami and Harry are often present in, and even the subjects of my dreams (and my wife's, too, she's told me). Dogs I've known and loved previously sometimes make special cameo appearances as well. It's like a never-ending loop tape of important souls walking in and out of my subconscious.
On an unrelated note, the picture you used in this post? It's totally creeping me out. Seriously, if that picture gives rise to a nightmare tonight, I am SO blaming you.
Posted by: David S. Greene | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
Like Christie, I do have stress dreams about my dogs. Sometimes past dogs are included, sometimes not. What is a common thread is trying to recall/collect all of them and get them to safety from whatever is threatening us. Sometimes the threat is tangible, sometimes it's supernatural, often it's unseen in the dream. The worst is when I am attacking the perceived threat in my dream, and find it to be my Sirius! He likes to sleep as close to me as possible, in spite of the risks. Yes. I sleep with dogs. Six (6) to be precise.
Posted by: Deb | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I almost never have my pets in my dreams, but I frequently have animals. Oftentimes the animals are injured, or in need of one thing or another, and I'm stressed out trying to take care of them/get their needs met.
No rest for the wicked, I suppose...
Posted by: Vicky | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
Deb, sounds like you and me have VERY similar dreams!
Posted by: Christie Keith | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I don't usually remember my dreams, but one I've had more than once is of the dogs getting loose and running down a busy street, or one of them doing that and me having to decide what to do with Bella while I go chase down the escapee (even though Bella hasn't been on a walk near the street in months).
Posted by: Kim Thornton | 26 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I dreamt about greyhounds and corgis last night. I've never owned a corgi or a greyhound in my life, though my wife once had a greyhound mix and corgis are my dad's favorite breed, so I'm sure there's something Freudian afoot.
Posted by: David S. Greene | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
That picture is squicking me out. I will have to write a post as soon as I'm off deadline just to bump it down. :)
Posted by: Gina Spadafori | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
OMG Simba, I used to dream that my koi in my pond at my old house were starving or out of water or I'd forgotten about the pond... I forgot that!
Posted by: Christie Keith | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
It means it's time to start working on that novel!
I have horrible night mares. I usually don't remember them, but when I do, the dogs are always involved, both current dogs and former dogs. Sometimes other animals too.
Posted by: schnauzer | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I don't have animals in my dreams. Odd, because I remember my dreams and it seems like there should be animals in them. I do have 26 living with me (not including hubby and kids.) hmmm... maybe my brain needs a break at night from the pets.
Posted by: ericka | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I had a pet-sitting business for years. I would move in while people travelled.
I was haunted for a long time with nightmares that I'd forgotten about the dogs. It was Thursday and I was showing up to care for the dogs but I was supposed to have moved in the previous weekend ... I'm walking up to the door, afraid of what will be inside ...
Posted by: Mary Mary | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
When I was a kid I dreamt about my pets all the time- mostly nightmares. The dog had been taken away and replaced by a different, lighter-coloured dog, and no-one but me noticed so I had to go find him. The goldfish was on the floor flopping around and there was no water in the house- all that kind of stuff.
Posted by: Simba | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
My dogs are often in my dreams, sometimes they are in trouble and I have to save them, sometimes they're just there. Once I had a lucid dream (I knew I was dreaming and could decide what I wanted to do) and I decided to jump out the window and fly. My dog Lucy wanted to go, so I took her with me, but she didn't realize she could fly and I had to keep holding her up, which interfered with my flying. I made a mental note not to take Lucy with me the next time I decided to fly in a dream.
Mary, I am a pet sitter and have the same type of dream. It's horrible.
Posted by: Tina Clark | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
I've had dreams only of my very first dog. It's always at night and we are on the front porch and there's some type of danger lurking but I never know exactly what it is or if I do, I wake and can't remember.
Posted by: VJ | 27 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
A lot of nights I spend my dreamtime looking for lost cats I own or seeing other cats who need attention.
When I am especially overwhelmed, I will dream of having tanks of fish with the tops open. The fish will get out of the tank and go all over the place.
I did have a strange dream the other night. I dreamt I was considering buying fur (which I would never do in reality). I woke up to find my cat sleeping on top of me with her tail in my face--almost up my nose.
Posted by: Evelyn | 28 July 2010 at 08:00 PM
Dogs who have passed on feature more often in my dreams than the ones who I'm nudging over for bed space. We often have conversations in those dreams, but they are not much different from the fine conversations we had in life. Mel is often present.
I once had an anxiety dream about Lilly not coming when she was called that left me unhinged for weeks.
It was just about inconceivable that she would do that. It was the worst my unconscious could come up with. Seriously, this dream still bothers me 19 years later.
Dogs-in-peril dreams seem to come after difficult lost person searches, especially for a child or dependent person. Not much mystery there.
Posted by: H. Houlahan | 03 August 2010 at 08:00 PM
I just had a dream that my pet rabbit shrunk in size and passed away,then i found a similar rabbit in a box!its reall creeping me out !
Posted by: Karen Burt | 19 August 2010 at 08:00 PM