Did you know that the dogs have an ability to sleep with the eyes open?
Take a close look at your dog during the day, and you might notice that the dog will sometimes sleep with his/her eyes open.
Apparently, not all dog owners are aware of this cool, and may be caught off guard the first time they see this happen.
This should not at all be a cause for concern to any dog owner and here are the reasons why.
This Is a Carried on Trait from the Wild
Our dogs have inherited this trait from early dogs. Early dogs used this as a defense mechanism to scare away the attackers.
Although your dog might not be facing an attack at home, dogs will still show this ability, and it shouldn’t be something that you should worry about it.
However, there are some situations when this doesn’t apply, and therefore the dog owner should be concerned about it.
This is when the cause of sleeping with open eyes is caused by a seizure or twitching.
So what is the difference between these two?
Seizures vs. Twitching
These two are very different, and therefore you should not confuse them.
Caused by neurological problems, seizures can be hereditary , or they could also be caused by environmental surrounding or even an illness.
Twitching is also a neurological problem, but it can also be an indication that your best friend is just dreaming.
In these two situations, your dog might have it’s eyes open and sometimes will show jerky movements.
These movements might make it difficult for the dog owner to differentiate between a seizure and just twitching.
However, if you you know how your dog normally behaves, you can easily differentiate the two.
So where is the difference?
The Eyes Will Show the Difference
Monitoring the eyes is the best way to tell whether your dog is experiencing seizure or twitching. The eyes are partially closed when the dog is twitching because of a dream while it sleeps.
On the other hand, seizures will result in wide open eyes , but a blank stare will be going on. So what is the reason why your dog experiences twitching?
Reasons for Twitching in Dogs
Just like it happens in humans, dogs will twitch when they reache the rapid eye movement or R.E.M in the sleeping phase.
This is the phase when the dog starts dreaming and therefore the eyes may move as a reaction to the movements within the dream.
Note that twitching might be seen more in puppies than in adult dogs.
Furthermore, dogs that stretch during sleep are more likely to show a twitchy behavior.
It is also important to understand seizures in dogs because a seizing dog can be a scary situation to the owner.
There isn’t much you can do to stop this and therefore just let it take its course.
What Happens after These?
After twitching the dog will have a normal response after waking up from it’s sleep.
After a seizure, your dog might show difficulties walking. Keep an eye on your dog after a seizure and make him or her as comfortable as possible to help in the recovery process.
So next time you see your dog with it’s eyes open as you sleep, don’t be alarmed it is a normal thing and it usually isn’t a bad thing.
Here’s looking at you. Hope this helped you get a better understanding as to why dogs sleep with their eyes open.