Dog
The dog appears more often than any other animal in dreams. It depicts our natural drives that are well socialised, but still have the tendency to revert back to the spontaneous or ‘wild’ state quite easily. For instance our anger might usually be well under control, but if someone teases us we might surprise ourselves by the amount and strength of our anger, or our desire to cower and hide. But the dog is often a sign of enthusiasm, care or warning – as can be observed so often if we have a dog. See animal
Example: I had misinterpreted the meaning of Tramp my dog, who I felt was my inner self. I now see that Tramp is my psychic self, the mixture of instinct, complexes, feelings and closeness to nature. Possibly my intuitive, habitual or instinctive response to events. He is my companion on walks, to run faster, react quicker, smell better, fight more savagely, and face hardship.
Similarly our sexuality may be usually expressed in a socially acceptable way, but if we are in a situation where our sexual pleasure is stimulated or allowed easy expression we might deeply shock other people and ourselves by what we do. It can also represent easy expression of such aspects of ourselves as aggression – maybe because dogs show their teeth easily – as well as their sexuality, especially male sexuality; also their easy expression of love. Also the parts of self we usually keep out of sight, but which may express spontaneously. The dog as an example of intuition is shown in the following dream.
Example: Was crawling through a tunnel underground. I was now in a dreary, dismal, drab Edwardian type room. My mother, father and my dog, Tramp, were also there. It was quite a big room. Tramp went up to the fireplace and put his paw up under the shelf as if pointing. I looked and saw he was indicating a crevice under the shelf. I felt there and found papers in there, but also that there might be fingers in there touching mine. I said this to my father, but he did not reply. The hole was getting bigger all the time, and the room darker.
The dogs can represent this feeling energy, this natural life response to events and ones situation, our easy flowing natural feelings such as devotion, perhaps to a lover or child. The dog is yourself if, the natural you if you let your emotions off the lead. So it can be your uninhibited love or anger, your open sexuality, or even your honest needs.
For some people a dog was the only source of expressive love in their childhood, so may well depict this; fidelity and faithfulness, as the sheep-dog it is also the guardian of our welfare. Like the cat, the dog can be a substitute baby for childless women, or represent affection or caring.Occasionally we depict a person, or what we feel about a person through the character of a dog. See: cat.
Example: Actually seeing a dog in my dream I find not the dumb animal that humans patronizingly assume to be there, but a creature of remarkable complexity and deep emotions, capable of various levels of behavior, of guilt and loyalty, or shame, of identification with people—a creature so like themselves that other distinctions seem negligible. It broke down my assumptions of superiority. It sent me spinning back to the sense of kinship with animals that primitive men, in their rituals and folk myths, so clearly revealed. I found myself becoming snakes, tigers, bears, rabbits with such ease and pleasure that there would seem to be a veritable menagerie in the back of my mind. Moreover, the conviction of animal identity, once accepted, is terribly convincing. Having accepted the limited truth of my animal kinship, I am loath to see the broader areas in which such a communion is untrue. See Animals in your Brain – Temple of the Animals
Example: The role then came to life and spontaneously I as Vince the dog went to Alan and stood up on my hind legs with my paws on his chest, looking into his eyes. I wanted to communicate something to him.
The communication was so strong that I as Alan felt it and will describe it. Vincent reminded me of the many things we had shared in life. As this happened I felt such love – the love I really had felt for that beautiful dog. As I felt this Vincent and I became one being. I remember carrying him in my arms when he was young because, as a runt he was so nervous that at times he couldn’t even walk. I remember going everywhere with him as I walked London. I also knew that Vincent represented for me the ability to see into the invisible worlds – psychic sight and sensing. He had demonstrated it to me at least twice.
As all these memories poured through me I felt deep emotions pouring up and started crying. Crying because Vincent was helping me be aware of things I had not put together before. Lately I have been trying to extend personal awareness again, into lucidity and into the world. The emotions I was feeling were due to a realisation, and as this happened I knew what the previous dream of Vincent meant. I understood because various bits of memory came together to form a whole.
In mythology the dog has symbolised the guardian of the gates of death, or a messenger between the hidden and the visible world. The dog was also thought of as a guide or guardian of the hidden side of life entered in sleep and death. The following example illustrates how love can survive death.
Example: It involves my dad and his English bulldog, Chauncey. They were big buddies. Chauncey even went to work with Dad. Several years after Chauncey’s death, I dreamed of a female English bulldog who was very pregnant! A few weeks later, she appeared to me again, smiling proudly at two adorable puppies. One was brindle and the other was brindle and white. She showed me her house and street sign. The name of the street was Rosebud Lane. Then Chauncey appeared in the dream and told me he was returning and he would be the puppy that walked to me first! The next day I got the classifieds and started calling. It didn’t take long, the second call was located on Rosebud Lane. When I arrived, the mother dog looked just as she had in the dreams. She even acted like she knew me. I stood back and waited. Shortly, the little brindle and white puppy waddled to me. Dad cried when I handed the pup to him. Reincarnated bulldog…why not? By the way, Chauncey had a nickname…it was Rosebud!
Dogs can be a wonderful intuitive friend, even life saver. This is because it has been proved that dogs often know when their owner is ill or about to have an attack. But dogs are also very psychic. See Talking with Dead also Cats and dogs know
Example: In a dream, my dog, Gus, told me he had worms and needed to go to the doctor. We went the next morning. Dr. Dennis Umlang looked at Gus, a picture of health, then asked why the visit. I – told him Gus needed to be checked for worms. “Have you seen any evidence of worms?”, he asked. “No.” I answered, “but I still want him checked.” The testing showed negative. I told Dr. Umlang the dream and asked that they try again. That’s when he told me of the heartworm test which is costly but the only way to detect their presence. “Do it,” I said. The test was positive! Ordinarily there is no real warning of heartworms. By the time symptoms appear it is often too late and treatment is dangerous due to the animal’s weakened condition. Because of early detection, Gus survived the treatment with no damage to vital organs.
Barking dog: A warning or a sign of protection. Warning that something or someone is there who is not a friend – or that you should not approach whatever is shown in the dream.
Black dog: The black dog figures in quite a lot of people’s imagery. Bernard Levin uses it to represent depression. For some people it brings feeling about death. The sense or meaning the dog gives in relationship to depression or death in dreams is that it is a living energy in us that has gone ‘bad’ and thus causes the depression or death. Such depression is usually the result of past painful experiences that are like lumps blocking free flowing positive life energy.
The black dog also show you urges which are largely unconscious, or it is a messenger related to what is unconscious in you. So the black dog can indicate sexual feelings that you are not proud of, or any natural feelings, even feelings of love that you hold back.
Dog attacking: Either being attacked by someone and so representing their anger or snide criticism – or your own anger or aggression. See: What Does my Dream Animal Mean
– Animal phobias at the end of the animal entry.
Dog on lead attacking: If you are holding the lead – restraint of your aggression toward someone. If someone else is holding the lead – feeling attacked by someone. As in Cornelia’s dream in the example below, there may be a sexual connection.
Dog on lead: Restrained or controlled urges; urges we have trained or directed; holding back or restraining or directing parts of oneself.
Puppy: Youth, heedlessness, spontaneous affection and enthusiasm. It often represent a child, or feelings about wanting a child, being pregnant with a child, even one of your own children. Also vulnerability or dependent needs. Like any young animal, it can depict your need to care for or love something, or be loved. What happens to the puppy, if neglected or mistreated, most likely indicates memories of pain from your own childhood, or neglect of vulnerable parts of yourself. See: Baby animal in animal situations; Neglected animal in animal situations.
Woman’s dream – attacked by dog: Could well be feelings about male sexuality or a relationship with a male. Possibly the dreamer is holding back her own female strength and cannot meet the male strength.
Example: ‘I continue on my path, and suddenly the nettles disappear and the path is clear. Ahead the wall has curved round to face me, but there is a gate in it, and I can see my dog waiting for me on the other side.’ Mrs M. G.
In the dream from an elderly woman the dog is leading the way through the experience of meeting death. Mythology has often shown the dog in this light, as an inner sense of knowing how to find transformation through death – or as the ravaging threat of death.
Example: I was with a female friend who is a lesbian. Two dogs attacked us. My friend ran away but I couldn’t. Cornelius.
On exploring her dream Cornelius discovered feelings about her own womanhood and relationship with males. She realised the dogs represented her relationship with male sexuality, and that her friend was afraid of males.
Example: I was aware of the danger of two, or maybe one young child. They had been allowed to carry a small animal which acted as a scent lead for large tracker dogs that were hunting and would attack and kill whatever they were tracking. I found one of the boys trying to hide under a pot or a basin in the spare ground behind the house I lived in London. I pulled him out from his attempts to hide. He had no idea of his danger. Two of the dogs – perfectly harmless and friendly when not hunting, were coming close to me and trying to lick me. They had huge mouths. I got very angry with one man, a farmer type, who I thought had been careless in the way he was urging the dogs to hunt. I swore at him in public, calling him something like a ‘fucking idiot’. There was a large public gathering and I wondered what the public would think of me swearing. D.G.
There is an obvious reference in this dream to the unconscious urges some people have to hunt and hound others. The dogs especially depict this unleashed aspect of human nature, harmless when not set into motion. It also shows how such actions by others threaten the child in us, or the areas of personal vulnerability.
Example: I come out of my house. Across the street is a nursery. (this is actually true, there is a nursery across the street and the street is well used and busy) I looked up to see my yellow male Labrador dog named Odo. (He is a dog I have now) He was sitting in a truck on the passenger side. He looked like he was smiling. I thought, “What in the world is Odo doing in that truck?” At first I thought he was driving the truck, but then realised that he wasn’t, an ancient old man was. And the truck was weaving from one side of the street to the other. I yelled for Odo to come back and he jumped out of the truck. How I don’t know. But he did. He came running toward me, but there was a chain-linked fence between us. The fence ended at the street, but Odo was attempting to climb over the fence instead of going around it. I shook my head and said to myself that he was going to hurt himself. Sort of laughed, too. Then I woke up. I remembered thinking the day before that I was comparing my husband, A, to Odo. And thinking if I could just accept the silly things he does as well as I do with my dog, our relationship would be so much easier. K.
In this dream K. is probably right that she is using her dog to consider her relationship with her husband. She may even be using the dog as an image of her husband and his character.
Idioms: See a man about a dog; hair off the dog that bit you; call off the dogs; you can’t teach an old dog new tricks; raining cats and dogs; dirty dog; as sick as a dog; dog eat dog; dog in the manger; dog tired; dog’s life; gone to the dogs; let sleeping dogs lie; lucky dog; tail wagging the dog; top dog; die like a dog; dirty dog; gay dog; go to the dogs; hair of the dog; sick as a dog; lucky dog; raining cats and dogs; see a man about a dog; teach an old dog new tricks; tail wagging the dog; thrown to the dogs; etc.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is my dream dog represent someone I know or my own spontaneous feelings?
Is there any indication of relating to this dog as a child or a love object?
What feelings is the dog expressing?
Is the dog helping me meet or understand death or the unconscious?
If so what am I learning?
See Secrets of Power Dreaming – Life’s Little Secrets – Dream Yoga
Comments
I had a dream that I was in a kitchen at a party, and there was a couple who had the cutiest little dog, however it had blue fur! In my dream I kept going on how cute I thought the dog was. It was not barking it was just sitting with its masters with its tail wagging being admired.
(Some background: I’m currently contimplating a divorce from my husband, we just got married six months ago and he is addicted to prescription pills which has really affected our relationship) Could this be related in anyway, I keep asking God to give me a sign through my dreams.
Nadine – I am not sure what I feel from your dream is any help, but you are at a party, in a kitchen, it is a magic place of transformation, where unappetising food is turned into goodness. A party is often a place where you can meet new people, so you are seeing something new.
And there was a couple there who seemed happy and united with a heavenly dog – a dog with blue fur is surely heavenly. So I wonder if this is a promise of what you can reach, or what you want. You love for the dog suggests a natural feeling about it. So I feel you are feeling your way to something new – a new type of relationship.
Tony
This is the most in depth and thoughtful site I’ve discovered yet on dreams! Love perusing around here..I came today to read about dog symbolism in dreams. I dreamt I was in the kitchen preparing a meal with some man (not sure who, just a guy I apparently knew on some level as he was at home at the counter preparing the food along with me). Next thing I know there is this little black dog I’ve found. Apparently he was lost and I took him under my care. I didn’t know who he belonged to. I went outside with the dog trying to discover who he belonged to. There is a concert going on over at the neighbor’s lawn and I go over there thinking perhaps the dog belonged to someone from there. The band performing is a boy band that was rather popular when I was a teen. I watch with interest as the dog trots over to the band members, as I wonder which one he will be drawn to. At first I began to think he’d go to one of the lead singers (who I used to have a crush on) but then I see the dog go over to one of the more-in-the-background memebers. I watch as the dog leaps up and nuzzles it’s black jaw’s happily agains the jaw of this band memeber. For some reason I notice the black hair of this guy, his jaw, and the dog’s jaw together and it seems a significant moment of clarity that ah-ha the dog belongs to him, this is right. They are made for each other or alike in some significant way. I didn’t feel any particular connection to this guy (nor him for me as far as I could tell). The dog is what I cared for. Note: I tend to see dogs in dreams as symbols of something to care for, nurture, steward, protect, as they’re so dependent on you, man’s best friend, etc, certainly nothing malicious. I wondered what this dream might mean…a lost dog…not knowing his name or it’s owner..trying to find it’s rightful owner (home)..plus I’m not sure how the scene prior of the kitchen/food and the unknown (yet seemingly known) man fits into this dog dream. Their jaws touching at the reunion seemed significant and really stood out to me.
Sara – Your dream has a centre theme of caring. It starts where you are preparing a meal. And you seem at ease with men – not at all hankering after – but easy.
A little black dog often represents something emerging from your dream-self; a natural feeling that needs your help in finding its owner. Again a caring action, in the middle of a concert, an apparent important occasion.
I would like to share a dream with you that is about caring. I will quote it in the person’s words.
I was standing in my wife’s garden and saw ferret running toward me. It was one I had memories on. It had a history of surviving amidst t great threats. It jumped into my arms and I saw it had a great scar running along one side of its body. It was healed and looked well, and obviously loved me.
Then I entered into the dream and felt that “It’s a heartbreaking struggle being a ferret. Nobody wants you. If you’re soft and nice it’s OK, but because of your instincts – if you’re a real live human being, that’s different. I’ve got this bloody great gash up my side. God, what it took to survive! It’s ripped me open, right from the shoulder down to the hip. I healed up though, but it’s left this mark on me all the time. It will never go away. I’m marked for the rest of my life. The important thing I’ve learned though, is, what am I going to feel about that?”
“Something did that to me – another bloody animal. It’s left me feeling I’ve got to be very cautious. I’ve got to be ready to bite anybody who gets too near. Okay, I’m not harmful. It’s a struggle, that’s what is left me with.
“Okay ferret, I’m picking you up. I’m really pleased to see you’ve come home. I’m looking at that wound. God! Christ, how did you get that – and survive? And grow fat? Just looking at that wound I can feel it. Such an eager little heart you’ve got. Such an eager little creature trying to live. So full of love – strange. Very loving creatures, ferrets. You’re a very loving creature. It was that love that kept you going. You were so eager to come to me, just like a dog. So full of love. I don’t understand. I can understand something struggling for life. But I don’t understand it coming to me – with love. Why does it love me? I helped it by trying to understand it. That’s right. I helped it (the natural life in me – the struggling, painful, striving, loving life in me) to survive and it loves me. My inner life loves me because I have tried to help and heal its pain and injury. It loves me!”
Sorry about this long answer, but I feel it so important to realize what the caring relationship with our own animal hurts and feelings can do. It is incredible healing, and our animal in us loves us and supports us. After all, our conscious self rides an ancient beast – our body – that many of us are so cut off from. I can show you dream after dreamt of people who ignore the needs of their animal and see it dying.
But you are a carer, and that is gift. You can do much with that love.
And the jaw to jaw – I am living with three dog on the house, and each time there may sure they get their face or jaw close. It is a renewal of bonding. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/#mammalbrain
Somehow you are making a link with a part of you, you did not recognise – the dark haired male. Obviously this is an educated guess, but your link with animals means that you can easily enter your dreams and find their truth.
Tony
P.S. There was so much more to say about your dream I had to stop where I did. And thank you for your opening words.
i had a dream, someone that i know but not a friend, came to my house with 2 dogs. one is black little puppy and the other is big white one. he said it supposed to be a secret and just left it there and leave me to take care of them.
Yaseer – Black and white together are very important. That they are dogs you are asked to care for suggests they need attention.
If you know the symbol of the Ying and Yang it shows the black and the white coexisting. But in the black is a dot of white, and in the white is a dot of black. What we do in the Western philosophy is to separate them completely, and so end up with enormous neurosis. This is from seeing the black side if human nature as bad and to be avoided, and the white to be highly prized and to be help up as a jewel. But as the Yin and Yang show, such separation is to be unbalanced. So I would suggest looking after the two dogs with equal care.
Tony
i have a dream, someone i know but not a close friend, came to my house and brought 2 dogs, one black little puppy and one big white one. and he said it’s a secret and just left it. i wonder what it means….
Hello sir,
i got a dream recently in which i saw a black labrador dog. it was medium aged,neither a puppy nor full grown. It had a very beautiful, shiny black coat and was very clean and healthy. i was sitting on a chair and the dog was sitting in front of me on the floor and i was petting it with love. then i brought a bowl of water in front of it and the dog drank water.
The most important part of it is that i had brought 2 pomeranian puppies home about seven years back, of which the male (shaggy) died of jaundice when it was a month old, and the female (tuffey) is still with us, in good health.
And in my dream, the dog i was petting was also shaggy……i dont know why i felt this strongly in the dream. i woke up immediately and it was morning. what could this dream mean? i love dogs and that is the reason why i would like to know.
thank you
Vrush – The black dog suggest it is a messenger of some kind. The message is to do with natural urges which are largely unconscious, or it is a message related to what is unconscious in you. As it is friendly and you love it, it also shows a good working relationship with what is natural in you. I always point out to people that we have a mammalian brain, so the dog is actually a part of you. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/ and scroll down to Mammalian Brain.
As you will see, the dog/mammal has a lot of feelings about relationship, but it can be very wild also. You are able to relate well to the dog side of you, and so its message is important, and to do with your willingness to give it water and to care.
Overall I think the dream is telling you, you have a peaceful relationship with yourself. Perhaps it also suggests your need to drink more water. It might also be a way to help you feel a connection with the dog that died young.
Tony
Hi Tony,
Last night I had a dream of my pet dog (female golden retriever), I asked her ‘why are you scared?’, and to my surprise she was speaking to me while standing like a normal person, she replied: ‘you have been asking me and you still don’t get it, don’t ask me anymore’, so I asked ‘why?’, she responds: ‘Theodore is here for a reason, he has a purpose’, then she goes back to normal; that night before I went to sleep my dog was shaking so I was asking her the same question and then let her out. Theodore is my husband and he’s a caring, loving husband, his intentions with me are genuine. Can you please help me.
Marlyn – What an interesting dream. What people don’t realise is that animals in our dreams are part of us. For instance we have three levels of brain, each with a different function. The basic level, very old in evolutionary terms is the reptile brain. Above that is the mammalian brain, and above that our own homo sapiens brain. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
So the dog in your dream is probably expressing some human qualities and trying to communicate something that you know full well in the mammalian brain, but human thought gets in the way. The mammalian brain has a tremendous insight into relationships as mammals show enormous awareness of bonding, caring for young, group activity, hierarchy and recognition of family and pack.
As for your dogs remark about Theodore, I think you will have to ask Theodore what passion he has. It sounds as if he has something important to do with his life, but maybe isn’t acknowledging it. The dog-you senses it though.
Tony
i keep having dreams of dogs attacking me or either dreams of me become a dog and defending my self from other dogs..sometimes i win and some times i loose… i keep waking up in cold sweats with a pounding heart and out of breath..(and no im not over weight) im always a wolf in those dreams… the thing is i LOVE dogs they are my favorite animal so thats why in so confused on why my favorite animal i love wants to kill me so much haha..any suggestions?
Hi Greg – Well my best guess, and this is an educated guess, is that you have a lot of anger that is turned against yourself. If it isn’t anger then I would think it is a sort of flight and fight instinct turning inwards. As your love for dogs has demonstrated how dog easily express anger or a fight, you use them to illustrate your own feelings turning against you.
Having been in that situation myself when younger, I realise it isn’t always obvious to oneself. So ask some friends about it. And maybe get a punch bag and regularly give it hell.
Tony
I saw my dead dog(dead since 6 years), Sandy being chased by a black dog and i was present there watching the chase. What could i mean? Is it something to do with the ones I love? Please help.
Neha – Begin chased by a black dog can suggest urges you are not usually aware of are are troubling you – or else about threatening depression.
But it is difficult to give a more precise meaning unless you know what feelings are associated with your dead dog. If you could say what you feel about your dog, what he represents, then you could say the black dog is threatening it. In other words, what is threatening you.
Tony
I had a disturbing dream about a dog, It was a Golden retriever and it seemed angry and No body could reason with it. went up to it and rubbed it’s belly and then realized that it was my dog, In the dream,, the dog and I could communicate telepathically; I told it to go back to my home town and die because it was time. As he ( the dog) began to walk away I went to pet it and became overwrought with emotion. As I was petting the dog I told it I was so sorry and I cried and cried while I petted the dog. I was sorry it had to die and I felt like I was about to kill it. Then The dream switched and I was playing with the dog ( He had chew toys, I was playing a game of fetch with him). While playing with the dog I was taking pictures of him with an odd digital camera that looked like an old film camera from the 1940’s. I was taking pictures of the dog so I would have something to remember him by before he would walk to his death. I decided to walk with him ( the dog) to my hommetown where he would go and die. I still felt horrible. As looked through the pictures on the camera, the dog had a woman’s face in the pictures in the view window. It was odd. I began to walk with this dog to my hometown and as I was walking he was happily trotting next to me just like the dog from my childhood did. I felt a sad pit in my stomach feeling as we walked . Then I woke up
Derek – The reason you cannot reason with the dog is because it only understands relationship and not talking or ‘reasoning’. That is why when you go to your dog and rub its belly it understands you – even telepathically.
For some people a dog was the only source of expressive love in their childhood, so may well represent a great deal of natural love you have felt, even to have a woman’s face. In other words the love that was so natural to the dog you have learned – and that is the wonder of pets, we become linked with them and learn from them. Thus the love you learned and still feel can be expressed toward women also.
The fact that you see him as dying probably has something to do with links from childhood – hometown, old camera = old memories. Anything dying in dreams suggests the old form needs to die before it can be reborn as something new. But I am not sure why you are feeling it so deeply – is it difficult feelings about death – or death of someone you loved?
Tony
I had a dream where l was driving a car at night and a big black dog came and bit and held on to my hand. I was quite angry with this in my dream and by using the dog’s leverage i hurled him away from me in which he somersaulted many times. The dog repeated to bite me again and l again hurled him away. This happened 4 or 5 times. I wasnt scared when l saw his teeth l was angry and resolute in getting rid of hime. What does it all mean?
Tanya – There are several possibilities to this dream. The ‘big black dog’ has been seen for many generations as a sign of depression. If there is any sign of this, then driving the car and throwing the ‘black dog’ off is suggesting that you are a very resolute person in getting where you want to go. This is like saying, “This bloody ‘black dog’ is getting on my nerves and I am going to fight it.”
Another way of seeing it is that something, a spontaneous and angry feeling is getting in the way of your ‘drive’. I think it would be wise of you not to fight the dog, but to find out about it and so defuse the interference it seems to me it is obviously causing in your expression of your motivations and good feelings. I suggest looking at this and trying it: http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/peer-dream-group/#4explorecharacter
Tony
My dog wich died back in febuary this year was in a dream were he was aggressive toward another dog that I have. I would try to stop it but he wouldn’t stop
Ernesto – I live in a house with two and sometimes four dogs, and this is normal dog behavior. There are two types of fight I see going on: one is playfight that some people are scared of, but it is the way dogs use and develop their skills. The other type of fight is about dominance. I see the alpha bitch put down another bitch quite viciously. So if you can say what the characters of the two dogs are or were, it would give you some idea of what is going on. But as an interpretation I would say that you have some level of conflict in your natural feelings.
There is another type of fight – the hunter killer type. So which of these is it?
Tony
Tony, can you help me interpret this dream? My husband dreamt that there was an explosion inside our home with the children and him inside. It wasn’t a big explosion. Our son had a wound on his leg, but he was alright. There was smoke all around from the explosion, but no fire. They came by the front door to get out of the home or be rescued, but I was on the other side of the door. I was in the form of a dog. The dog was a little mutt he said, and it was friendly looking and black and white in color. It had human long hair on top of its head, and he said this looked funny, but it was me. He said I also had a lot of people behind me, but they didn’t have faces or forms, they were just there. The family was yelling for me to come inside or save them, but as the dog, I ended up sitting down calmly on the other side of the door. They didn’t care that I was a dog, they knew it was me. They were screaming for me, but I couldn’t get to them and they couldn’t get to me. My husband woke up from this dream in the middle of the night and he was bawling. He said that in the dream he thought that I had passed on to the other side and they couldn’t touch me.
First of all Veronica – Remember this is your husbands dream. If this were your dream I would certainly suggest either that you are learning how to die, or that this is a warning. But for your husband it can mean many things.
I take it that his enormous feelings were about losing you. And of course such depth of emotion can come from feeling abandoned in the past, especially about his mother. You see when you love someone you start from where you left of with your father or mother. So ask your husband if her remembers any great times of feeling abandoned or that his mother died or was ill.
The dog, well I can only guess that a dog has been a great friend to him at some time – more than a friend.
And if this is a warning, you know that things are not simply set in stone. You can avert any such future by prayer and visualising a different outcome.
Tony
I dreamed this dream months ago and I still find it disturbing – I dreamed that I was walking along a narrow sidewalk where there were vacant storefronts very close to the road and the road was cobblestone, equally narrow. It appeared to be a foreign country if that makes any sense. Lying on the sidewalk ahead of me I saw a black Great Dane puppy and I stopped to pet it. As I looked more closely at the puppy I realized that it was skeletal, no more than skin and bones and it had no internal organs. It could barely lift it’s head and I was so overwhelmed with pity that I continued to pet the poor thing thinking that it would surely die soon and at least I would be offering some comfort in it’s last few moments of life, although I was puzzled as to how it could even be alive at all in this kind of condition. It appeared to be dried up like it had been dead for sometime. Something distracted my attention in the dream and when I looked down for the puppy I saw that it was no longer lying on the sidewalk, but it’s “mother” had picked it up in her mouth and was walking away from me very, very slowly. She was also a black Great Dane and she was being followed by 3 or 4 other “puppies” that appeared to be in good health, but they too were walking very slowly away from me. The dead or dying puppy hung down limply from the mother’s mouth. As I watched this scene in my dream I felt no emotion, but was very upset when I awoke immediately afterwards.
Hi Deb – The ‘scene setter’ of your dream is very interesting. It is something from your past that has had the life drained out of it. This is shown by the cobbled street and also the vacant stores. That it is a foreign country suggests this is either an unknown territory or something new. In other words things from your long past that you haven’t met or made conscious before. It could even be something you haven’t encountered in this life before.
The next scene with the Great Dane has so much information in it, it is difficult to put in a few words. Here is a great and beautiful creature that has apparently been abandoned to the point of death. In fact the sense of death is heavy here. That it is a puppy suggest your child self, and a great feeling of being abandoned. Death can be a way you may have felt when there was no way that young life could go on. So that ‘self’ is left and a new direction started; other wise you would be here to have this dream.
So you have to ask yourself about the mother that came back and carried the baby off. Can you identify with it, or is it out of this lifetime?
If we go right back to basics, the abandoned dog is a common theme. It shows how we have abandoned or not been responsible for our animal drives, to see our sexual, nutritional and body needs are met, and the neglected animal shows us failing in this.
But the dream does not point to you as the responsible one. So I would suggest you imagine yourself as the puppy – literally imagine being in its body, note any feelings and sensations that arise, and ask it what has been done to it and how can you help. If you have not done this before it may sound strange, but if you are willing to try with a good heart it can be a wonderful and revealing experience. Have a look at http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/the-keyboard-condition/ You only need to read the first paragraph.
Tony
hello sir..
this morning i got a dream..i go to open my house door and i see a dog entering my house. I am actually scared of dogs. I realise it and I try to shoo it but it looks at me and smiles!. i am suprised and i tell myself that the dog smiles. what could be the meaning.. i am not able to get the dog’s pic out of my mind..
Hi Monica – Obviously your ‘Dream Creator’ has a sense of humour.
Often dreams are ways we meet and grow beyond our fears. So if you will excuse me putting words into your dream dog’s mouth, I think it is saying, “Hi Monica. As you can see I like you and am a happy dog that will not do you any harm. And there are lots of wonderful happy dogs like me that you could have a lot of fun with. But of course there are a few very unhappy dogs who have had a bad time. But they are easy to see because they look at you without a smile, and do not come to you of their own accord. So look out for me smiling at you”.
Dogs are great friends – even your dream dog. Tony
I had a dream I was at a friend’s house (someone I haven’t seen for some time). When I was there dogs started appearing, about 7 in total. All friendly dogs, different breeds, different sizes.
Also, her son was there as a young child. I felt a strong bond with the son in the dream. Not something I had in real life. Not sure what the significance of this dream is. Can you shed any light on it?
Barbara – This probably has noting to do with the actual child, but it has lot to do with how you see him.
As an example I was recently asked by a man who had given no thought to dreams how on earth you could extract any meaning from them. He was wearing a fairly old T-shirt, so I said, “OK, let’s imagine you dreamt of your T-shirt, what would you make of that?”
After a while he said, “I don’t know that I would make anything of it.”
My response was to say, “Right, but now tell me where you bought the T-shirt, and what memories it has for you.” Whereupon he told me very full memories of being abroad, and that the shirt was part of those memories, and he wasn’t prepared to say what they were as they were so personal.
The important point is that everything we see and deal with, every person, every imagined scene, has such a background of feelings and perhaps memories. It is exactly this background of feelings and information that the dream weaves its story from. To understand it you need to become aware of the usually unconscious feeling responses you have in connection with every thing, place, person and animal you fill your dreams with.
So the boy in your dream expresses an powerful and important part of you that you hadn’t recognised before. So it is wortwhile asking yourself what you see in him – as he is in the dream. To help wiith these think about these questions.
What is my relationship with this boy, and does it suggest love, personal qualities or parental feelings?
If I imagine myself as the boy what impressions and feelings do I meet? (See Dream Visualisation for help with this.)
If this is my younger self, what is it expressing?
If I know the boy how would I describe hme -what characteristics or qualities?
Hope it helps – Tony