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 SecretsDream Yoga

 

Comments

-Jacob 2012-08-09 3:19:06

I have been having the same repeatative dream for the last week and a half: I wake up in a house that is made of mostly glass windows on the exterior except for the base, which the walling around the base is yellow. I start inside the house, for some reason, every time, trying to avoid touching the floor. Half of the time I have had this dream, I touch the floor and a big black feral dog beast (very messed up hair like a wolf but still more dog looking) with blood red eyes shifts in like a shadow from the mail slot of the front door and chases me. Other half I instantly some how float to a slightly open window near the ceiling and then tip toe on the roof avoiding the glass, but then I feel a sensation of fear with the sound of growling, the same growling sound the black dog makes. I then look down toward an alley, and there’s a black and white cat looking at me. Finally, the fear gets to me so much I wake up shaking. Both paths have made me wake absolutely terrified. It’s felt more real than any dream I have ever had before.

-Marty 2012-08-07 1:29:53

I dreamed I was in a rowing race. I was winning but I felt like I was cheating. All of a sudden my oars where spoons and I couldn’t row.
I then got out and was hungry. I lined up for food but there was none.
Then a golden labrador came and wanted me to follow him. I did and he led me to the food line where I was fed.
What does this mean? Please help.

-Carmen Borrego 2012-08-05 14:33:40

I recently lost my 1 yr 2 mo old chicuahua to a hit an run last week. He was such a sweet, funny, adorable dog….everyone and I mean everyone loved “Shorty”. I never thought I could feel that way about an animal but I have cried myself senseless. I finaly came to terms with his passing but last night I dreamt about him. I can’t really remember exactly what the dream was about other than he was just in my life. It may sound rediculous but I truely loved this dog. Is this just me simply missing him or is there more meaning behind it?

-ashley 2012-07-30 14:33:28

had a dream i was at a well known persons house. he was there with his wife and i was there with a man but i could not see a face but i felt secure and happy. out of no where he turned into a dog and turned right bak into a human…he himself had a light colored dog maybe white it was playful but came into the room we were in and started to playful bite him because he smelled another dog…the dog eventually went away and the man said something to me. i didnt feel threatened in anyway but to go further in detail we were sitting on two seperate bed like seats with his significant other. anyway i laughed the matter off and rested my head on my mates shoulder…what does this symbolize

-gicela 2012-07-30 12:44:59

Hi I just had a dream of me beign in a market along side of a street and threw left overs of something I was eating and several dogs started fighting over it, but there was a huge st banard, who was very mad and heard him say or think, that he couldn’t understand why I didn’t give him my left overs, so I drive away and the dog followed me and attacked me, and we ended up in an old school gym, the dog was unconscious, there I sprayed him with a power water hose like the ones fire fighters use, the dog woke up and tryed to attack me so I pushed him away with the water hose, I was badly hurt so I ran to my truck and just made it inside before the dog attacked me again so I drive away. I m not there anymore but I see what happens after I left, a little boy walks in to the gym with a basketball and the dog is ready to attack him and the little boy is my 2 year old son and then I wake up.

-Michelle 2012-07-30 3:47:39

This was my dream. I was feeding some stray dogs on the side of the road. My three chihuahuas are with me (one of which i found in someones trash) There was a three legged chihuahua puppy, his front right leg was missing, I picked him up put him in a buggy i was pushing my dogs in. I went to a No kill shelter, they said they couldn’t take him. I ended up keeping him. Why a three legged chihuahua puppy? And i keep dreaming about the puppy.

-Brittany 2012-07-26 17:42:48

So i read most of these comments and what not, but i can’t understand where mine fits..I decided to google because lately i’ve been having dog dreams. The other day i had a dream i was in an unfamiliar room with two of my good female friends, and then a dog appears, i can’t remember what it looked like but in the dream it was my friends dog, and it looked like it was trying to attack me so i turned around and my friend grabbed it’s collar so i thought i was okay, but then she just let it go and the dog starting attacking, biting, etc. Then last night i just had a dream that i was in the forest of some sort, and this big black and white, some brown, dog was just in the woods, and i was confused, but then it just ran after me and again attacked and bit me, not in the leg, but all of the attacking and biting is generally my face, neck, arms, and general torso. I want to figure out what it is, because I’m tired of having these dreams.

-deena 2012-07-23 19:21:24

my bf had a bad dream a couple nights ago with his dad and a white dog and someone cutting the dogs legs off … Today while driving to work his hits a white dog on the freeway that looks just like the one in his dream what does this all mean ?

    -Tony Crisp 2012-07-24 14:35:39

    Deena – It probably means that he should have watched out for white dogs near the road, and tried to avoid them.

    Tony

-Tina 2012-07-22 2:27:52

Hi, how about dreams where a person has turned into a dog? My dream last night was where my house had a break in and the 2 thieves in the dream (strangers not known in reality) were chased and hunted down rather ferociously by me, which in the dream I was as I am now, but then turned into a bull mastiff, one of the biggest fiercest breeds known.

-noelle 2012-07-21 3:20:47

I had a dream I went into a clothing store and a vicious dog, looked like a dobermin pincher attacked me. I ran from the store and went to a luncheon with my old coworkers , mostly men…this same dog appeared in the dining room and jumped at me and was attacking me and noone wanted to help. Finally I was begging and getting behind certain people to protect me…finally the manager if this venue and some other men chased the dig away but he kept coming back unexpectantly and attacking me even after someone told me that the men killed him. In the last scene of my dream he appeared suddenly and sunk his fangs into my forehead and it hurt when I awoke.

-Fatima 2012-07-03 19:45:36

I had a dream last night, that I was sitting down with a group of people. I then remember a dog at my side biting my left hand, it would not let go, I turned to the group of people to see if any of them were seeing what the dog was doing, but they did not seem to be aware. I remember thinking my left hand will be damaged by the dog. I think i finally managed to get my hand out of the dogs mouth. It will be nice to find out what this means. Thanks.

-Lee 2012-06-24 9:49:17

Hi, last night i dreamt that i was in some hotel, while i was looking for my room, i found myself walking outside the hotel naked. i then saw some people, among them some ladies that i dont get along with (my enemies enemies). as i was trying to hide from them since i was naked, more than 10 dogs appeeared behing some fence and they wanted to attacke me, they were very aggressive. a man who seemed like an uncle of mine some how protected me from the dogs. i woke up feeling very scared and upset at the same time.

-Lana 2012-06-24 4:48:05

Last night I had a very short dream that I was in my childhood home and a young lady came over to me with a dog. She said it was a Dalmation (although it had beige fur and no spots!), and she said that I could have it as a present. She also had a few other (smaller) dogs in a variety of breeds. The lady told me that I could choose which dog I wanted to keep as a pet. However, each time I went over to one of the dogs, it kept running away from me, so that I couldn’t take a look at it. I got quite frustrated that these dogs kept escaping from me and I just wanted to have a look at them to see which one I was going to choose. I don’t remember much else of the dream.

-jorgen 2012-06-15 5:07:38

Last night I had a dream where first one smaller dog attacked me and bit my forearm. I managed fairly easy to defend myself by dislocating its lower jaw. Then a bigger dog attacked, while the small was grey the bigger was black and I noticed it had very bloodshot eyes — almost like the white of the eyes being all bloody. I felt confident, was not scared that I could be killed my the animal, in fact I probably believed that I could fend it of myself or that someone would control the dog or would save me …

Any idea s to what this could mean?

    -Tony Crisp 2012-06-18 8:23:40

    Jorgen – The fact is that nothing can hurt you in your dreams. You can’t even die in dreams Of course you can dream of dying, and feel frightened, but it is all like a computer game with full surround virtual reality in which you are totally involved. In such games you can be killed a thousand times and yet you survive to deal with the monsters again. That is unless you learn a way through and go on through the levels of the game of Life.

    Your confidence is a key thing. But what are you doing dreaming such dreams? Animals are part of you – see http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/#mammalbrain

    So it may be that the instinctive part of you needs attention and not simply repress it by fighting it off. Let it attack you – in your imagination, because no harm can come to you, it is all only an exercise in your feelings. Then see what it wants.

    Tony

-teresa 2012-06-10 16:06:42

Am more than curious as to a dream I had last evening – I awaken in my grandmother’s house by an old acquaintance I barely knew. In real life he currently lives in a small beach town I have considered as a place in which to live.
In my dream he lays next to me in bed along with two of his dogs which followed him. The dogs are extremely threatening to me – they hold first one of hands in a bite grip and then move to my foot. I can feel their razor sharp teeth and hear (and feel) their low rumbling growling. They are not outwardly aggressive to me – just holding me in this vice grip. I plead with the acquaintance to tell them to let me go. He is unmoved and doesn’t think it an issue.
I awake unsettled, feeling exhausted.

    -Tony Crisp 2012-06-14 9:48:22

    Teresa – You are awakened in a safe and comfortable feeling space – at least I suppose your grandmother’s was a good place.

    The man is your feelings about relationship with a man or even men. In general you feel okay about relating to men, but the dream says you are meeting an issue you have. The dogs are your feelings that if you let a man near you then you will feel threatened and the man will not understand.

    It might be helpful to some exercises to aid your ability to meet aggression, or to feel in control of a situation with a man. You could try imagining a different end to the dream. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/peer-dream-group/#carryforward

    Tony

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