I would post this to r/dogs but I’m shadowbanned there because I subbed to TD, conspiracy and some other Covid related subs that were quarantined. You frens are my outlet RN since I’m unemployed and I don’t know any dog experts.
Anyways, I adopted a female 6yo beagle in 2020. She came to IL from TN and had recently had a litter. She was trained. Knew how to sit for things but didn’t understand English commands. So my assumption is she was a backyard breeders dog who likely spoke Spanish to her as she gets very excited when Spanish is spoken around her. Sadly, she is still looking for her original master even to this day☹️ and hasn’t really bonded with us.
My question is this…every time she falls into REM sleep she has nightmares. She growls, her feet twitch and she yelps a lot. She’s clearly having a dream of something violent happening. It happens 3-4 times per day and it’s every time she has REM sleep. She never has interactions in our everyday life that cause her to growl or yelp so this seems odd for her to be reliving some experience so disturbing that she would growl and yelp in her dreams everyday 3-4x per day for the last 4 years? Or am I wrong? Do dogs just have regular dreams of them violently fighting all the time?
Check into the food you're feeding the dog. It can make a massive difference to their physical and emotional state (same with people). My wife's Grandmother had an incredibly aggressive dog who bit everyone- to the point that the Vet volunteered to put him down during well visits because he was such a menace. After the dog passed, we were gifted with the rest of his old wet food. And after feeding the food to our dog, our dog suddenly became incredibly aggressive. We threw out the food and he returned to normal quickly.
Ideally feed whole foods/mix of raw and cooked meats (not just super lean meat- fat and gristle too), vegetables, and some fermented/cooked grains like rice (when predatory animals eat prey, they eat the contents of the intestines first- they have a significantly more omnivorous diet than most people think). If you can't afford that, supplement the diet with table scraps of REAL FOOD ONLY! Nothing processed, nothing heavily spiced or heavily salted- it's how dogs ate for basically all of history before the 20th century. Beagles are chow hounds and prone to overeating if given too much food.
Beagles are one of the most ancient, stable, and healthy dog breeds. This particular one might have some PTSD, but they have also been bred for almost two millennia to be hunting dogs, and have very strong instincts. They need a good run quite often, and that is probably the best way to build a strong bond with the dog and promote good health. I had a beagle growing up, and I regularly strapped on rollerblades and had her pull me around the park for a workout.