I don't want to be one of those people who anthropomorphizes their dogs, which is why I'm asking this question here. I want to know if I'm reading into things massively or not.
My dog has two distinctive barks. One she uses while playing or greeting someone, the other she only does when in some sort of stressful situation. They sound very different (barkbarkbark vs yip) and the only times I've ever heard the 'yip' sound was when she was showing other signs of unease like licking her lips, tucking in her tail, and crouching in on herself. I don't think its a reach to say that this bark means she's upset at something.
Sometimes my dog also barks in her sleep, and its always the yip sound. She'll occasionally growl as well, which she never does while awake. When this happens I'll usually just wiggle closer to her and hope she can, like, sense my presence or something. I don't want to wake her while she's sleeping, especially if she's gonna wake up freaked out. I also don't want to ignore her completely. Sometimes she wakes herself up and then she'll move to cuddle with me, other times it passes and she continues on sleeping. I don't really know how her past was before I got her, but I know that at points she wasn't receiving proper care.
Could she be having nightmares, or am I just a crazy dog owner jumping to conclusions?
submitted by /u/Terrible_Ostrich6026
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