Watch These Newborn Puppies Run Wild in Their Dreams

Puppies spend almost all of their waking hours playing, running, and exploring with energy and enthusiasm. Their boundless curiosity can be tiring for both them and their humans. Fortunately for pet parents, puppies also need to sleep a lot to keep up their strength. This precious post from puppies.in, shows two German Shepherd puppies who are active even in their sleep. German Shepherds are generally not fully grown until around 18 months, so these little pups have a lot of growing — and sleeping — to do.

Why Do Puppies Sleep So Much?

Puppies experience rapid physical and mental growth during the first six months of their lives. When a puppy is born, its brain, nervous system, digestive system, musculoskeletal system, immune system, and sensory organs are not fully developed. Growing, exploring the world, and processing new experiences takes a lot of energy. So they need plenty of sleep to regain their energy and support their development. When puppies sleep deeply, they secrete growth hormones and may even be learning and consolidating memories.

When puppies do not get enough sleep, they can suffer both long-term and short-term damage. Sleep deprivation causes delayed growth and development, cognitive impairment, and destructive behavior. Newborn puppies sleep as long as 22 hours a day. From 2-12 weeks old, puppies sleep around 18-20 hours per day. From 3-6 months old, they sleep between 14-16 hours a day. At about six months old, pups sleep about as much as an adult dog, which is around 12-14 hours per day. Larger breeds like these German Shepherd pups typically need more sleep than smaller breeds because they need more energy to grow and support their larger bodies.

Sweet Dreams for Puppies

Although not much is known what goes on in a dog’s mind, there are some similarities between their brains and ours. Like humans, dogs experience REM and non-REM deep sleep. Most dreams occur during REM sleep for both canines and humans. So, researchers believe that dogs also dream somewhat like humans do, in that they can re-live and process events from their daily lives. It’s not unusual for puppies and adult dogs to twitch during REM sleep. Scientists believe this suggests dogs dream about going for walks, playing with their humans, and chasing squirrels, among other activities.

Puppies are especially likely to experience active dreaming. This is because their developing brains are actively processing a great deal of new information. Puppies are also in REM sleep longer than adult dogs. The newborn puppies moving their little legs in the video above do not have many experiences to dream about. For the first 2-3 weeks, puppies primarily sniff, nurse, and crawl. So it appears that they may be dreaming about crawling to their mother to nurse.

Puppy Sleeping Postures

One reason puppies lie on their backs with their bellies exposed is to cool down. When they reach about 1-3 months old, pups can sweat through their paw pads. So, they put their paws up in the air to cool off faster.

However, experts believe the most likely reason puppies sleep on their backs is because they feel comfortable and secure in their environment. They typically show their bellies as a sign that they trust you enough to be vulnerable around you. It’s clear the pups in the video above are relaxed enough to fall into a deep sleep where they can have such pleasant dreams.