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 made me cry all morning. A black dog came through a glass door into my living room, then to the kitchen where I was standing with A a guy I am in love with.
The dog was black and big, and it reached to the door nob trying to open the door of the kitchen to leave. I give A a rake, and he follows the dog and shuts the door behind him. He comes back with a huge bread knife, and I look at the open door and see the black dog slain with blood everywhere.
When I see that I remember that the dog is my dog.. It actually is my dog from when I was little. I start sobbing and ask A to forgive me for not recognizing my own dog, and for letting him kill my own beloved dog..
What is that all about? I cannot stop thinking about it. A has a girlfriend and is not committed to me.
Neranzula – I do not have a very clear idea of what this dream is saying, but I do feel there is a conflict of interests here. The dog didn’t seem to be doing anything apart from wanting to leave you. But you hand A a rake with the intention, I suppose, of shooing the dog off. And there is the conflict – you say you are in love with a man who obviously doesn’t care for you enough to be with you. Those seem to me to be the feelings of a very young child.
I know. Women have told me again and again that I do not understand. But see http://dreamhawk.com/relationship-sex/beware-of-love/
The tears you shed were the blood/emotional energy you lost in seeing what you had done with a love that was truly yours, an unconditional love. And as a woman you can feel that in you. I feel the dream is saying that you made a crazy choice by giving your love to A and trusting him with your unconditional love that he killed.
But such is the nature of dreams that if you can learn something from this dream your dog will come back to you.
Tony
I had a dream that I was with a guy that I have a crush on and he suddenly turned into my dog that I actually do have in real life, what does that mean?
Yesica – It seems to suggest that you see your guy like a helpful friend.
In fact, how do you feel about the dog? If you think it is a pet you could live without, then change helpful friend to ‘you could live without’ – or whatever you feel about your dog.
Tony
I had a dream that I was playing with a dog and a cat, but whatever I was doing aggravating them a little and they ran to the guy I am dating to protect them. The cat was on his back and he pulled the dog into his chest. I was laughing and the cat. The cat then turned into a friendly young lady who begin to talk to me about the guy’s past.
Mattie – I can’t say I fully understand this dream, but here is what I sense it is about.
You and the guy you are dating have been responding to each other in an almost unconscious way. The dog and cat are the animal selves you carry about with you. We all have three levels of brain, the reptilian, the mammalian and the human. These developed during human evolution, and are now integrated in us, yet each has its own separate functions also.
The two mammals are the part of you that is about relationships, and the intricate parts of relationships. And in the dream you are testing each other to find out about reactions – a usual game we play to find out who our partner is. You trigger a slight aggravation in your guy, and his mammal withdraws slightly. But you take that okay and he shows a feminine side of him that reveals something of who he is – his past.
Tony
I had a dream last night that I was at a reunion with some old friends i go away to see during the summer, but all of them were not around except for one, Ben. We started to go past friendship. We decided we needed to search for a place to hide so we could continue and we speant a long time searching for an area but it never being able to find one, so we just kept looking, when suddenly we were being chased by what i thought to be coyotes in the dream but in actuallity they were just small dogs, and then ben had turned into a puppy (a black and white one) and i was holding him as we ran. The “coyotes” were gaining on us and so we had to jump over a large river, we almost flew in a way, because the river was far to large to naturally be jumped across, after this i had turned into someone else, an african american man, as the dream went on a home had been built on the other side of the river for us (me, ben as a dog, and another guy who I felt i knew but in reality did not) The house was large and very nice but ben always remained a dog. I feel like useful information for you to know it that I have a boyfriend and things have been rocky lately, and we have been together a while, and this past summer when i was away, even though i was still in a relationship with my boyfriend, there was some feelings for Ben there. I pushed them away and now I dont talk to him very much unfortunetly. That is the main reason this dream really confused me, and now i can’t stop wondering about it! please help, thankyou!
Tessa – I had a waking dream about you as I looked at your dream. I saw you as a person who lives in your inner world of feelings and imagination. And you know that intense imagination can create a reality, or bring it about. I saw you looking at many possibilities for a direction you could go, and that is natural, because you are an intelligent person. And you saw it as a summer time of possibilities, but it settled on your thoughts and hopes for Ben.
In this wonderful exploration of possibilities you could not find or even imagine a place or time you could be together in the old way. And that led you to be pursued by doubts and perhaps hurts and feelings you ran from. Only little ones, and then you flew.
When you flew you leapt above all the worries and became a different person. The man was a more natural and capable man, and the puppy dog is a good and faithful friend – but not a lover.
What you are realising in the dream is how you build your life. You can build it through your creative imagination and strong feelings. And you have a glimpse of what you are capable of in the house. You can build a new life for yourself, with plenty of space for you. In the past you did not know how to do this. But you are on the verge of a new life, and a new creativity. Be careful what you imagine as the place you want. Cut away all the extraneous bits till you see it clearly. Then go toward it with the sort of power you showed when you jumped and flew.
That is what I saw.
Tony
I have had a very weird dream about a little black shih tzu puppy and it took place in my grandparents house. (My grandparents both died 10 years ago) Nobody was in the house except me and this little black shih tzu puppy. Everything that my grandparents had owned from the past was still there. Also, I looked at the dog’s collar and it’s name was dolly. I found that ironic because when my grandmother was alive, she used to call me Dolly. The t.v was broken and it had the colored bars on the screen and the dog was barking. I sensed that it wanted me to follow it and it lead me to their attic. As soon as I was walkng up the stairs to the attic, I woke up. I have been having numerous dreams of this little black dog. It all was in different places like I was driving and I heard barking and I look down and see it. I don’t know what this means.
Mandy – Your dream seems to be about the way you see life. For instance your grandparents are both dead, so you feel that all they have left behind is the house and their old belongings. But the little dog Dolly is your own feelings that are telling you there is more, and wants to lead you to a deeper or higher realisation.
Dolly wants to take you up in the attic, probably because all you can see on the TV is coloured bands – your everyday view of life again. But it is difficult for you to adjust to a new view. And I am guessing, because of the subject of your dream is about your dead grandparents, that what Dolly has in store is a realisation that they have left you living things; things you can find in yourself. So listen to your feelings Dolly, and see where they lead you.
Tony
Hello. I had a dream where I was back in my home country (I moved to the U.S. last May). Anyways, I was in my home town, in my childhood neighborhood, where my parents still live. I was there with my American girlfriend, and a dog came up to us as we were taking a walk. At first it seemed friendly, but when I was letting it sniff my hand it tried to attack me. I at first try to get rid of it by sticking a thumb in it’s anus and grabbing inside it mouth (I know that part is really twisted), then I threw it over a neighbor’s fence. The dog kept pursuing us, and I was going to kill it, but my girlfriend slit it’s throat before I got that far. That’s when we realized the dog was already deadly wounded. After that my girlfriend hid the dog under a carpet in the hallway of my parents’ house. I suspected that it was still not dead (I was alone at this moment), and I threw some water on the dog, which made it twitch. I then grabbed the knife my girlfriend had used and stabbed the dog in the heart, making sure it died. This last part I did as quickly as I could, so that my girlfriend wouldn’t find out.
This was the end of the dream. It was extremely vivid, and even as I woke up in my apartment in the U.S. I felt scared and had trouble believing that the dream was not true.
I know this is a complex dream, but are there any clear signs of what it might mean? I have looked online, but because of the complexity I am having a hard time finding a good interpretation. I have never owned a dog myself, but I like dogs.
Thanks, Kristian Hansen
Kristian – Well, the best I can do is to say that something happened back there in your childhood that has now got ‘swept under the carpet’. That doesn’t really hide it too well, and so you are still trying to deal with it – probably due to a relationship.
And of course you were having trouble believing it that it is not true. Dreams are true, but not in an outer waking world sense.
The dog suggests and anger, or something you felt and probably still do, that would not go away. Some of it I cannot understand without questioning you, but the bit about knifing the dog in the heart quickly, so your girlfriend wouldn’t find out, again suggests a struggle in regard to relationship.
So I would think back to earlier years and ask yourself why this dream has surface now, and what was swept under the carpet.
Tony
Okay I had a dream it was me,my boyfriend,my cousin,and some girl I really didn’t know so me, my boyfriend & the girl we were in a pool and my cousin was up some where so the girl start messing with my boyfriend threw his clothes in the pool then she pulled something but it made all water start coming down like it was a river or something so he cant swim then she took his head and pushed it in the water so I start crying and screaming my cousin name then she came to save him then me and him were in the house and I was on the steps crying trying to get his attention then I turned and looked at him and he was a dog then I woke up so now im losed someone please help me
Ree – Your dream starts with other people, and a girl you do not know. Then all hell breaks loose and your boyfriend is attacked. So I am wondering whether you feel uncertain that you are loved and lovable, and so you create this dream character to muck it all up for you.
And don’t forget that in our dreams we create people and situations to mirror our feelings or fears. So the girl probably is a cover for feelings that someone else is better than you. That might explain him drowning, because your emotions drowned out your love.
Is it that he turns into a dog because in that way you know he will be adoring and can be kept on a lead.
Forgive me if some of this doesn’t feel right, but I am guessing at some of it.
Tony
I keep having dreams about finding my dog that went missing almost 2 years ago, usually it is about some lady having him, hiding him from me. Yesterday I had a dream that I let my cat inside and when I went back to my room my dog was there jumping with happiness licking my face and ,throwing his toy around like he use to when he was happy to see me. I was so happy I was crying from finding him. I also woke up crying and shaking because I knew he wasn’t really there. What could this mean?
Ashley – You know, dogs and other animals have a much larger life that we often believe. When I was eighteen and was in the armed forces, I experienced leaving my body behind and visiting my home in London. Although I felt completely normal and solid – though much more alive and vital than ever before – my mother couldn’t see or respond to me. But my beautiful dog that was asleep in front of the gas fire woke and came bounding up to me full of love and excitement. My mother told me that my dog had got up and braked and jumped around for no apparent reason that night.
So I feel you dog visited you in your dream, as I visited my dog, and so you know he is with you. And he was there.
Tony
In a dream I had the night before last, I was inside a house (possibly the kitchen) when I heard someone remark on a beautiful light outside. I looked out into what might have been an unkempt flowerbed (or just dry leaves) and saw a snake race by with light gleaming off its side. I assumed that was the light that had been referred to. I admired it until I noticed it was racing towards my dog (this was my actual dog who had died 9 months ago but was alive in this dream). My dog was in the corner of two exterior brick walls and started going after the snake. I screamed for him to stop but it seemed as if he couldn’t hear me through the windows. He continued to snap at the snake (playfully rather than viciously) and I woke up anxious.
My thought was that the dog represented my heart (he was instrumental in teaching me how to love) and that I must be feeling threatened somehow in that regard. Any comments you might have would be appreciated.
Julie – The snake with a light is a very powerful thing to dream about. In our life we have two very important energies working in us and through. In some explanations these are given fantastic names, but the one is like the power of a seed that grows and expresses as a body – of a plant or a human. Like everything in nature it has an infinite potential. So the immense types of apple were originally the crab apple, a stilted little tree with fruit so bitter you couldn’t eat it. So that is the Life force of evolution – symbolised by the snake.
Then there is another force that is a down flowing force that we can see at work in sudden and dramatic healings. When the two meet it is symbolised by the snake with a light glowing from it, or the dove and the snake meeting.
So I think your dog was playing with the holy snake, and you were feeling anxious because you have been conditioned to believe the snake is poisonous or dangerous. Of course it might be outwardly, but inwardly it is only your own emotions and energy taking form.
You were right, your dog was showing you love, and if you overcome your fear you are on the verge of a powerful spiritual change. It is about evolution from below, and transformation from above.
Tony
Thank you so much for your reply, Tony! It makes a lot of sense given many things that are occurring in my life right now. I hope I can overcome my fear; evolution and transformation sound much better. 🙂
Hi Julie – Fear is a bad thing to meet – until you decide to meet it face to face. Then it transforms into a wonderful feeling of Life within you.
(He says hopefully 🙂 🙂 🙂 )
Tony
Hello
I had a dream where i was lovingly and slowly stroking a dog with long black and white hair. The dog was enjoying the moment with me. Could you tell me what does that mean? Thank you.
John – The human hand is such a wonderful thing, and can give so much pleasure and even healing. So the dream describes the giving of pleasure and calm assurance to your instinctive self.
To give you and idea of what that means, once while on a local small beach with my children and dog, we had fun clearing the debris brought in by winter storms, and built a bonfire with it. Some of the debris was aerosol cans. So I got the children to stand behind a large rock and threw the cans on the fire one at a time. After the third dramatic explosion our dog ran frantically from behind the rock and headed home – at least a mile away. Three years later, my wife, I and the dog were on that beach sunbathing. We had been there for hours, but as the sun sank I stood up and leaned on that same large rock. Suddenly the dog looked at me strangely, turned and was gone.
That sort of panic is what we can feel when our instinctive self has had a shock many years ago. Pavlov’s conditioned reflex.
But here is where the stroke to our instincts comes – both negative and positive- black and white:
My wife and I shared a lovely country cottage in a small hamlet. Although beautiful, the few months I lived there was an emotional hell because I was away from my children, and because of the pain of the divorce. I then moved to be nearer my children. But we had left some beehives at the cottage. So six months later we started driving back to collect them. On the way I started experiencing severe stomach pains. The suddenness of this, and the fact I couldn’t find any physical cause for the pain made me investigate my feelings. As soon as I did this it was obvious that a part of my nature that was usually unconscious, was just like my dog. The cottage was a place of torment – why were we going back? More to the point, how could it stop us going back? How could my inner Merlin avoid that pain again? A human conditioned reflex.
As soon as I understood the cause, I spoke to myself just as I might have spoken to my dog, or a disturbed horse – ‘Look, its okay. We aren’t going to stay at the cottage. We are going to collect the bee-hives and leave. You will not be pushed into that pain. As I did this the pain slowly melted and did not come back. And that is like stroking your dog.
Tony
Tony thank you so much for your reply. Great insight. I also want to thank you for your wonderful site. Can’t get enough of it.
John – Thanks. Your dream gave me something to get my teeth into, so I enjoyed it.
Tony
Hey,
I have been dreaming about dogs almost every night now for 2 week but in different settings. Almost always it’s my old dog or the dog we have right now (so i know the dog) and its in danger. Twice now my old dog drowned, or nearly drowned, and another time my dog nearly fell of a cliff.
Do you have any clue what this could mean
Coco – Dogs are that world of feeling that we all live in but sometimes hardly notice. It is not thoughts, but feelings, like we have when we have a strong fear, or a love or anger that keeps coming. Dogs are very sensitive to danger and out of sight things; as well as love and treats.
So if you keep watch on your feelings of anxiety or fear, that is what these dog dreams are about – warning you of danger to your feelings. So try talking to your dog – in your imagination – and see if you can get answers about exactly what the danger is, or what it is you are frightened of. Let yourself be free to say or feel whatever comes. You will know when you hit the right place because you will feel a thrill of pleasure that you have seen beyond the dream into yourself.
Tony
I had a dream about three dogs standing around a friend in a room that felt like it was floating in space. My friend was sad that her grandparent had passed on. The dogs weren’t in any pain, or attacking…one was brown and another was white. I don’t remember the color of the other one, but I know there were definitely three dogs in the room. I was a bit hesitant to approach them though. What exactly does this mean?
Carmine – This is the world of the mind or dreams, That is why it is in space.
The dogs, like any tame dogs, are sitting watching your friend, wanting to be actively with her, and seeing what she wants of them.
They are watching her because she is sad, and the dogs cannot understand that. Why should anyone be sad because their grandparent has left the difficulties of life and old age to find wonderful freedom?
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross was present at the death of thousands of people; she say categorically that no one is alone when they die, and she knows from evidence that their life is then more wonderful than we can imagine. I have myself nursed the dying, and at the moment of death it is so obvious that something has left the often sick body. I have also experienced the world of death, and now have no fear or sadness about it. I was there at the death of my father and mother and felt no sadness. How could I when I knew from my own experience that there is no unhappiness for those who we are told are ‘dead’. I have felt and been wrapped in the love and wonder of that world, and so I wish I could have you experience it too.
Tony
Hi,
Thank you for the reply. I had another dream with the same friend. And this time I was walking down a hallway towards her apartment, it had no door and she was sitting on a couch. She saw me and said “she’s gone!”. I figured it was about her grandmother again, but I always feel like I don’t belong in these situations. Why do I keep dreaming about her grandmother passing on?
Carmine – Maybe you keep dreaming about your friend’s grandmother because you can help your friend let go of the grandmother. In the dream you are watching the same as in the last one. Talk to her asking what she feels about you dream, and if it means anything to her.
Tony
Thank you so much for your help. I’ve spoken to her about these dreams, and she’s told me that her grandmother keeps saying that it’s almost time for her to leave. The latest dream I had, my friend was standing in my living room eating peanuts and her grandmother was standing behind her. I told my friend about this, and she said to me that her grandmother loves to eat peanuts and maybe she’s letting her know that she’s going to be watching over her.
Carmine – You seem to have a gift for tuning into another person’s inner life. It is possible that if you wanted to you could develop it so you could help people to know what is going in deep within them, or to be in touch with people who have died.
Please let me know of any other developments.
Tony
Dreamt that I was asleep in my bed, and a small black dog much like a friend of mine, jumps up into bed with me to cuddle.
Not part of my dream..I immediately jump out of sleep but I wake up feeling scared, so I go straight to where my boyfriend is sleeping (We had a disagreement earlier that night)
Anna – I think that little black dog was, as you say, like a friend of yours. It was a feeling that you had got when young when with a dog; a feeling that gives you comfort when you were scared of being alone. So that is why when you woke you felt scared and needed to be with your boyfriend.
It might help if you could make the feeling of the dog with you a permanent part of how you feel. It could be another step toward independence.
Tony
Hi, I was having one of those boring redundant type dreams (I cannot make myself remember it though) when right at the end a bulldog (american not english) popped in, it was like a film splice in from an oldschool horror flick.
Its head was at eye level with me, it may have been floating but I cant say for sure. It was making a low rumbely growl. Not exactly aggressive, more on the agitated side. Overall it had a really serious feel to it. It only lasted for about three or four seconds (dreamtime I guess) but I awoke right afterward with a clear image of the dog, specifically its eyes. The dog was grey if that means anything.
Im pretty sure that it had no place in the dream I was having prior. I do have a dog, he is a collie red heeler mix and is not anything like the dog from my dream temperamentaly. I wouldn’t have given it much thought but now weeks leter I still cant get the image out of my head. Im interested in hearing what somone more experienced with dreams thinks.
Thanks
Ghost – I suppose the easiest way to tackle your dream is to think of the character of dream dogs in general, and the American Bulldog in particular.
The dog appears more often than other animals in dreams. It is an expresses 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. 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.
So in your dream you are eye to eye with a part of yourself that a part of your instincts, but probably well socialised. And the American Bulldog is well known as a protector of the person and their property – a good working dog.
So, as the dog isn’t attacking you I see this as a warning that there is something wrong; something you need to be aware of that is out of sight. Like a dog who is feeling something amiss and wants you to know. It is either that or you have some mild aggression that you are facing in you.
Tony
Hello.
i had a dream. a wounded dog was coming towards me and moaning, as if wanting me to pet him on his head yet i backed away. could you tell what does that mean? thanks
Rae – This is important for you to understand. Why did you back away?
The dog is showing you that your instinctive part of you is hurt and needs you to understand it. What is it you are feeling anxious about recently? It is from the dog/instinctive part of you that that hurt or anxious feelings arise.
So I would suggest you imagine yourself back in the dream and instead of backing off you reach out for it and see what you feel. It is the feelings that matter in dealing with a dog.
Tony