Should I be concerned?

Hello vets,For the past few days my dog has had nightmares and puppy dreams I guess you would call it. Should I be concerned? It’s to the point of him growling and moving (not sleepwalking yet but he has stood up in his sleep) and I try to wake him up but it’s getting just a little harder each time. He has been diagnosed with seperation anxiety and we are trying to do training before putting him on medications. He is on no other medications and we have just recently moved but I had my husband place familiar scents in the house so the dogs wouldn’t be stressed. Do I need to see a vet about this?

Hello.  Are you in the States?  I only ask because anxiety is often treated by behavioural methods in the UK, trying to pinpoint and slowly desensitise to the route cause of the issue, rather than using meds to sedate or alter behaviour as a first line.  Like with humans, anxiety spotted and treated positively early on, can prevent an escalation later. As regards sleep movements, a certain amount of movement in one's sleep is normal - indeed, many humans dream and sleepwalk, often when their brain is processing 'stuff,' including new experiences.  We apparently only remember a small proportion of our dreams, so may not be aware how much we do it.  Apparently, dogs also go through REM stages of sleep and a lot of experts hypothesise that they therefore probably dream.  It is important to differentiate sleep movememts from eg night time fitting, which could be more worrying, so it may be worth mentioning it your your vets if you have concerns.

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