Is this sleep startle ?

[Ellen]

Hi,

Yesterday evening Ally was sound asleep on his back on the couch(on his own) when he suddenly jumped on to all fours and started screaming as if in pain- this only lasted about a minute or so. He then settled down and went back to sleep, leaving me and my husband with heart rates about 150 !

We hadn't approached him at the time and there was no sudden loud noise, though he did seem to be having vivid dreams just prior to this.

 

Is this sleep startle ?

[DocsDoctor]

Sounds to me more like him waking up from a very vivid dream. Doc my first greyhound in particular had very vivid dreams when he first came to me. I can remember one occasion where he woke up howling, and couldn't be consoled for a couple of minutes - it was scary, as you say. Felt heartbreaking, too. At the time I thought it might have been him recalling some trauma from his racing life, but now I think it was more likely to be part of the process of him settling in to a new life. Must be frightening sometimes to wake up somewhere so different to your old kennel and kennel mates.

I would say sleep startle is something different - dog is asleep, it hears a loud noise/ you wake it up by approaching/ whatever, and wakes with its defensive reflex triggered.

 

[Ellen]

Thanks' for replying.

From looking at previous posts It didn't sound like classic sleep startle but as we have only had him  for under 3 weeks I am still very new to to this.

Thank goodness for this forum, It's a godsend for newbies like me.

[MerseyGrey]

Our experience of sleep startle involves teeth, snarling, growling and a certain degree of fear that you might lose some prominent part of your anatomy - fingers, nose etc. With sleep startle, I was more worried about my own welfare than the dog’s as it became clear that my loveable, gentle boy could definitely take care of himself in a pinch. We also realised how well he could restrain himself when threatened because he has never bitten on these occasions (three in total, it’s worse when he’s very tired when he drifts off and we’ve learnt to give him a wide berth when he’s like this!)