I think my dog is having a bad dream :(

[DorisIsALittleBitPartial]

We've had a busy day and he's crashed out on the sofa, fast asleep. He's got our attention because he wimpered a couple of times and watching him his breathing is fast, paws twitching and his eyes keep opening, his eyes are rolling and his brow is furrowed. DH said he thinks he's having a bad dream, which was what I was thinking.
Poor boy had a terrible life before we adopted him. He's come on such a long way with trust issues and training, even though he's an older boy.
I guess it's to be expected that he remembers his past and that it would come out in his dreams. Has anyone else experienced this and what can we do? He's just woken up and is very subdued, but I guess that could be because he is tired.

My dog does that. I've never thought he was having a bad dream just that he was dreaming of chasing cats, rabbits or doing some other exciting doggy thing! What a shame your dog had such a rotten start but great that he now has a home where he is obviously loved.

Thanks for your message Whoosh He does dream and usually think the same, it's just tonight he was wimpering and his eyes were rolling, and he looked so distressed which was different. He is very loved though, and spoilt rotten as he deserves

We adopted our dog at 8 weeks so are fairly confident that he has had a good life but he still gets what looks like bad dreams. If we are there at the time we wake him up and give him lots of love. He is quite a nervous dog so I guess he could be dreaming about scary fires or having to swim, but I'm not sure I'd read too much into it. My son is always interested in what goes on in our dog's mind (ie does the dog know he is a dog?), but I'm not are how much higher thinking capabilities dogs really have. Having said that a quick google brought me to this article which suggests that dogs might have episodic memory in which case your dog could possibly be dreaming about the past.

I've had my dog since he was 8 weeks, he whimpers in his sleep about twice a week...about once a fortnight he growls and then full on howls in his sleep.

He doesn't ever howl when he's awake, or cry for that matter, so god knows what he dreams about, lol.