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
hi 🙂 i’ve been dreaming particularly vividly the last few nights, which i feel the need to pay attention to. i have moved overseas and left my very loved little dog with my family. they also love him very much and they have another dog. in my dream, their other dog regressed into puppyhood and died. i was so sad. i was crying floods of tears. he was so tiny and sweet when he died. i actually woke up crying. any ideas of what this could represent? thank you!
Kellie – Your dream dog is not the actual dog living with your family, but is an expression of your feelings about the dog and your life at the moment.
The meaning I have arrived at is that your dream is a mixture of our feelings about missing your own dog and the fear of losing him/her. I see it as your family dog represents the feelings that you will lose him – actually your own little dog, because it would be too much for you to see hi/her as dead, even in your dreams. The thing is that you cannot see any way to have the dog with you, and the dog links with our own feelings of childhood, thus the regression. The tears you shed were a result of the realisation.
I wonder whether your own need for love, that you got from the dog, is also a part of the tragedy of the dream. Think about the loss of love you feel.
Tony
Hi. So recently I had a dream of walkin out of a apartment I would say (all I remember was leaving)and at the door way I see a medium size golden retriever and it is laying horizontally on the top of the staircase blocking my path to go down. And then seconds later (I must have asked it to move)and it went from that position to laying vertically and remaining near the door way. All I remember was the endless look in its eyes. Ever sense I’ve been puzzled what this dream may mean. I could just over thinking it.
Last night i drempt that i had my dead dog back to life as he was before he got sick, full of mischief (but not doing any miscief this was just one of his qualities)and i was extremely happy to have him back again. But then i woke up and i felt the sting of real life. So what does my dream mean? because now i feel confused and sad.
hello,i really dont remember all of my dream.. but i was dreaqming about my dogs.. i have four dogs but i only dreamed about 3. One is black,and the other brown and the female is blonde. the black dogs and blonde are parents of the brown one. ok so this is the dream the black dog was humping the female when suddenly the brown one came and started humping her. the black dog got sad like i could see his expression.. for some reason i was mad and tried to separate them because i knew that it was wrong. i might seem like normal dream.. but i really dont know what it means..can you please help me.?
Hi. I had a terrifying, most frightening nightmare last night. It was nighttime and I was with my younger brother and the location looked a lot like our family home where we grew up. Suddenly, some strange odd looking very large tan dog (a mixture of very large dog and a deer) shows up out of nowhere and initially, I didn’t feel afraid of it or anything, but then suddenly as my younger brother got closer to it, he then starting attacking my brother and grabbed a hold of both my brother’s hands and wouldn’t let go and I was screaming running towards my brother to get the dog to let go of my brother, my brother was screaming for help and I couldn’t run/move fast enough to help him and to my horror, the dog tore off both my brother’s hands and ran off. I was yelling for my dad to come help us when I see him at the door. Meanwhile my brother is on the floor, limbless, in pain and I am frantic trying to get to the dog when I finally reach it to retrieve my brother’s hands from the dogs mouth when I finally feel them in my hands and then I woke up feeling extremely disturbed, anxious, with a knot in my stomach with an extreme desire to cry. I grew up with dogs all my life and I am an animal lover. Please help me understand what this horrible nightmare means!
Thank you for your reply!
so..I dream in color and texture. When I have a real vivid dream I remember it for a long time. Short story…in my yard. dog(unknown dog..not mine) came off my front porch unexpectedly.. looked? with and inquiring eye?(that’s the feeling I got. Multicolored dog..woke up.
SONHEI QUE TENTARAM ROUBAR MEU CAOZINHO DE ESTIMAÇÃO E EU NAO DEIXAVA LEVAR
So my dream was about a puppy that I have no idea where it came from. I loved it but knew I couldn’t keep it because I am so busy. Such a sweet little thing. Very cute and kind. I handed him off in full-blown tears to a pet orphanage of some kind. Because I was so distraught and he was unhappy, they said, “Oh, you should keep him!” And I was backing away saying, “I’m too busy. I’m not home enough to keep him.” I woke up with tears in my eyes. It was so sad! Ok, yes I’m single. No kids, but don’t want any….I have some ideas what this means but would like your thoughts!
Sheree – First you are mixing up your outer life with your inner life of dreams. But maybe it is because you think you are too busy to care for your inner self, as shown by the puppy.
It is complicated because your desire not to have children is all mixed up with your inner life in which you can do whatever you wish with all the time forever.
The puppy is – or could be – a way for you to grow and become aware of yourself in a wider way. That is because as a dream puppy you were looking at your baby self, which was a small vulnerable animal, with all the natural instincts to feed, to survive, and to bond with your mother. This natural and spontaneous part of your nature is the foundation of what you have become now as an adult. Not only were you born with an enormous natural wisdom gained through millions of years of evolution, but your newborn self also carried protective responses such as fear, anger, and sexual longing. These are all built into your nature without any recourse to a self-aware personality. But our animal self has the inherited wisdom about survival and relationships, parenting and finding a mate. There is a lot to learn from it, and it is a wonderful resource.
So think again about caring.
Tony
Hi,
A couple nights ago I dreamt that I had to kill my only dog that is very dear to me and means alot to me. I don’t remember everything but I remember me starting out by trying to kill it by choking it with wire, and when that didn’t work my brother came and helped me give it a shot to put it down. Also when I started trying to kill it with the wires my dog was for some reason some kind of husky, and then when we gave it the shot it was the normal chocolate lab that it is normally. It made me extremely sad, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for the next few days.
Thanks in advance for your help.
First let me say, I am a dreamer; been that way since a child. I have weird dreams I can never understand them, but somehow I know they communicate and try to connect to me always:
Hi I am a theology major student, but throughout my journey as a christian for 20+ yrs I have been attacked by people who say they are leaders (pastors) in the ministry. Each time I am to take a leadership position, someone would attack me again or make it hard for me to be myself. or to serve morally free. They will either falsely accuse me or try to manipulate me for money or other ways. Recently, I had become tired of the abuse and spoke to my Bishop about it and informed him of my decision not to pursue my degree any longer nor restrict myself to just one religion (Christianity). Of course, I felt he was not supportive all though he spoke that he was at peace with my decision and said in 30 days I could find a new student to take my place since the funds are all paid or they would move on without me. He never offered a refund back! Well the night after the conversation with the Bishop, I had a strange dream of this beautiful brown puppy. He was so fluffy, but in my dream the church Bishop ordered me to give him away along with all his items. In my dream I loved this puppy so much and did not want to depart him. But the more pressure that was placed upon me I had to call the salvation army or good will organization it appears to come and get the puppy. In the dream I saw myself slowly but neatly packing all his items. The puppy had many boxes, but in the boxes as they loaded them, it appeared to be nothing but junk stuff. Old food, furniture, crates, etc. As they loaded the stuff, they did not load the puppy in my dream, but I did see the puppy again with a red Christmas bow on his fluffy little ears. He was playing so freely and He did not know what was happening but just look so peaceful lovable and joyful. I on the other hand still had problems departing the puppy. I also saw my college daughter in the dream driving reckless going in the wrong locations. Can you explain this dream for me please?
I am in bed and I hear my granddaughter get up and her mom tells her to go back to bed. I think she is getting in bed with me and instead a black Rottweiler pins me down and puts his nose up to my face and growls for a long time. I can even smell his breath. I am terrified. Something calls him and he jumps off the bed.
I had a dream that I was sitting with my dog on the sidewalk and there was a man and 2 big dogs in the street.
The golden lab was sitting in front of him and a big black German Sheppard was walking around them growling and kinda foaming at the mouth. He would go up and bite the lab, and the man made the lab just sit there and not fight the black dog. He bit that dog about a dozen times, and that poor lab just had to sit there, and she looked so sad I wanted to help her but I couldn’t move.
Then finally, after a long time, the black dog turned to me, and started circling me…………..I was terrified. Then the man walked over with his lab, and I realized the black dog was his as well………
I kept asking him “please Sir, get your dog away from me”
But he just laughed
he allowed the dog to bite my leg, and I could feel the blood.
Then entire time my dogf was just keeping quiet like I told her to do.
The dog was growling and barking in my face, I asked the man again “Please Sir” then the dog opened his mouth to bite me again and I woke up. I was scared, and still feel uneasy!
Hello!
Just now I dreamt that a dog urinated on my leg. I was wearing jeans in my dream. I never washed it off since I still felt dry urine on my leg while walking in my dream. I don’t have any pets. What could this mean?
Sarah – Well, the impression I get is that you want a sexual contact with a guy.
If not that it is like an insult from a guy – “I piss on you”.
Tony
I awoke at 3 a.m. from a dream that scared me. I was with a friend when a rottweiller approached me and demanded that I remember her name. she pressed her head against my thigh as if she.was going to bite me if I guessed wrong I was terrified. I couldn’t remember her name I guessed wrong the first time but I finally guessed correctly the second time her name was Alici a. I didnt get bit I just woke up
. A little info about me I had a lot of pets growing up including a rottweiller but she always had a mean looking demeanour but once you got.next to her she would jump on you playfully. Although I had pets I have a fear of big dogs because I was almost attacked by a domerman pitcherman as a child. The name Alicia I have a client I am working with on a logo with haven’t had a history and don’t talk enough for me to.dream about her name.
The night before I woke up from a dream at 5 a.m a girl needing my help and I frantically try to remember her phone number because her boyfriend who is trying to hurt her is right ahead the only number I can remember is the area code which is one I know from another state where friends live. At the end of the dream he catches her giving me a paper with her info and km not sure what he is about to do and I wake up. I’m not sure if this is relevant to the dog dream I had this morning.
I contacted you 9 months ago and just.found your site again thank you so much for.the response.As time went by I begin to sense that my friend may not have my best interest in mind by small comments she would make and small indications of.not.wanting me to have something if she didn’t have it. So it was interesting to hear you ask about her in the dream. We’ve been friends for years. I read that you may not be able to answer questions as much but of you feel led to answer this one please do 🙂 thanks for.all your help.
Elle – Your dream is about fear, so maybe it is a replay of the time you were attacked as a child. But the dog didn’t attack you this time, just threatened, which again suggests it is a replay of an old fear, because fear is a threat that something will happen.
But you had a support of a friend near by which must have been some comfort. And I think the naming of the dog indicates that unless you know the character/name of the dog it could stil be dangerous to you.
I think that you have had lots of pets must have made you feel easier with animals, and that you are on better terms with the Rottweiler must alter things inside you. But think how you would describe the character of your client, Alicia, as this will give you an insight into the character of the dog.
Tony
hi,
i dreamt that i was sitting on the double bed in a room that i ve never seen before. All of a sudden, a white dog comes in and jumpes on me. he s blocking me with his legs, i cant move. i met this dog few months ago when i was travelling in nicaragua. its a female white dog that i really liked and never had any confrontation with. it slowly leaves me and im not on the bed anymore but standing in front of it. i can now see that there are more dogs. one of them has no head! its body is on the bed and its head lay on the floor. its black and its alive. i dont know that dog but i dont feel threaten. i feel sad for it. then when i look again it has its head again. i have some left over rice and i give it to them. the rice is very watery and when i pour it into a bowl, i have to take some plastic out and some plastic beads.. then the dreams changes..
thank you in advance for your help//
Leti – The dog seems to be an important part of you, important enough to block your easy movement on the bed. Whether the bed indicates a relationship I do not know, but it could do. That it was also female could also mean something – some thing was temporarily blocked anyway.
Dogs are usually a representation of your own natural feelings that are semi humanized, but not quite, so your feelings could at time go their own way, as yours did by blocking your action. The dog with no head could suggest that your instinctive/unrestrained feelings could have been injured, its ability to think and guide it removed; but your feelings of care and sadness for it restores it. Then you feed it with similar care.
Tony