Animal Dream Dictionary
Click below to find the animal dream symbols you’re seeking. And, scroll down to discover how to interpret and analyze your dream about animals!
Animal Dreams A-M
Click to discover dozens of animal dream symbols and meanings – A-M.
Animal Dreams N-Z
Click to discover dozens of animal dream symbols and meanings – N-Z.
Table of Contents
- Why We Dream About Animals: Our Guides, Our Teachers
- Why You Should Record Your Dreams About Animals
- Types of Animal Dreams
- Animal Dream Symbols and Meanings
- Word Play and Animal Dream Interpretation
Why We Dream About Animals: Our Guides, Our Teachers
Domestic or wild, animals enrich our lives! Whether in waking moments or the Dreamtime, animals make us laugh at their adorable antics and gape in awe at their natural abilities.
But what else can animals do? Can they communicate with us, and if so, how? Through our dreams, of course!
Why do animals show up in our dreams? What is it that we’re supposed to learn from them? Or, is there anything to learn at all? Is it just random when an animal shows up in a dream?
Imagine the following animal dream for a moment: Your adorable Pug dog is curled up with you as you read. This afternoon, you are not only reading, but you’re snacking on one of your all-time favorite snacks: a banana Moon Pie. Mmmmm … you can just taste the marshmallowy goodness before it even reaches your mouth. However, you find yourself extremely tired and doze off with Moon Pie in hand.
Not to worry, your adorable little Pug pup will help you eat up that moon pie, and that is exactly what you awaken to find – your Pug munching the middle of the Moon Pie! You shout out, “Hey, you! That’s my Moon Pie!”
Then you wake up! And, when you do, you’re laughing aloud!
What did that dream even mean?
In this dream scenario, the dog is eating a Moon Pie; this is a subtle suggestion of the moon – it hints at how animals help us to make connections to the mysterious, natural, Divine, and nurturing parts of ourselves. But why would your Pug be trying to get you to connect to these parts of your ‘self’?
Animals use dreams to teach us about our connection to nature, or rather, how to re-connect. Many of us are over-civilized, and much of humanity is quickly losing its connection with the natural world; this can leave us feeling like we are missing something, even if we cannot quite put a finger on what “it” is we are missing.
Through dream narratives, animals can help you with the process of self-exploration, examining the way you interact with the world, and, in turn, eventually re-connecting with nature so you can regain connection to the universe.
Now, this dream analysis is only one way of interpreting the ‘Pug/Moon Pie’ dream. Dozens of more interpretations could also be true. But, you get the picture.
Why You Should Record Your Dreams About Animals
Animals connect with us by teaching us, through their actions, habitats, and methods of survival, new ways of seeing and thinking about our lives, and because of this, recording your dreams is a good thing.
Why?
First, dream journaling allows you to keep as much information about the fast-fading memory as you can. Next, it lets you go over and re-examine the material, and to seriously reflect on the imagery. Over time, you can compare dream notes for similarities, running themes, or corresponding life events/lessons. Also, every time you record your dreams, you are letting the higher consciousness know you are ready to engage in insightful communications.
Finally, many meet their animal spirit guides in the dreamscape.
Types of Animal Dreams
While animal dreams are a category all their own, you can have more than one type of animal dream:
Recurring animal dreams: When we don’t ‘get the message’ that an animal spirit guide shows up to tell us, they might visit us several times – the dream will ‘recur’. Alternatively, this could be a dream occurring in relation to a phobia. For example, you might dream of snakes crawling inside your house over and over again or spiders climbing the walls.
Dream visitations: Where your deceased animal friend comes to visit you in a dream narrative. Many pet owners receive spirit messages via dreams from beloved pets who’ve crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. Even if an animal was not your pet, you could receive a visitation from the animal world. Example: most of us will never have an Elephant as a pet, but Elephants might show up in your dream.
Nightmares: When the subconscious mind wants you to remember something, it may terrify you with bad dreams about your pets or Animal encounters – including fears about animals.
Prophetic & Healing Dreams: You might have a dream of the future involving your Animal or someone else’s; sometimes, these dreams relay important information in relation to healing.
Intuitive/Psychic Dreams: Okay, for those of you who just love to talk to their animals, here are the dreams you can turn to when you want to hear them talking back! Yes, you can make psychic connections with your animals through a dream narrative.
Animal Dream Symbols and Meanings
Interpreting animal dreams involves asking some basic questions about the dream narrative:
What Animal did you meet? Be specific in the identification of the Animal, at least as much as it is possible for you to remember. For instance, if you see a dog in your dream, was it a mutt, or was it a purebred? Was it domesticated, trained, or wild?
Consider the following: A dog is a symbol of loyalty, while a Labrador Retriever is a dog that signifies the need to retrieve something. If you put the two symbols together:
LOYALTY + LABRADOR RETRIEVER = ?
The answer to “?” is your personal interpretation of the two symbols above. Everyone uses universal symbolism coupled with personal insights to interpret dream symbols and imagery.
So, the answer you get to the equation above is likely to differ from someone else’s. You might end up with a message like, “Ask yourself what you’re chasing or being loyal to and how it is serving you?”
Someone else might look at the same symbols and think, “Maybe this dream is suggesting that through loyalty to someone or something, I am attempting to regain something I’ve lost.”
Word Play and Animal Dream Interpretation
Sometimes playing with words like synonyms or clichés helps in deciding what a dream message might mean. Using the same dream about a Labrador Retriever (above), you might receive help from considering some of the synonyms associated with the words “loyalty” and “retriever.” For an expanded definition of what your dream conveys look at the short list below:
- Loyalty = Allegiance, Devotion, Homage
- Retriever = Reclaim, Regain, Redeem
Now, if the dog in the dream you had is loyal, a retriever, and it bit you, you might make sense of this dream by asking yourself, “Through my loyalty and effort to reclaim allegiance or regain devotion, am I biting off more than I can handle? Or am I biting off my nose to spite my face?”
Here, you have used popular wording, clichés, to take a deeper look at your dream imagery and its potential meanings.
Other things to consider when interpreting dreams:
Animal breed – Is there something special about the breed?
Mood – What is the mood of the animal? What of your mood?
Habitat – Is the Animal in its natural habitat or out of it?
Behavior – How did it behave? What are the natural behaviors of the Animal?
Language – Did the animal use language to communicate or did it communicate at all?
Name – This is important since a name is the very essence of a thing: Did the Animal have a name, and if so, does it mean anything?
Additional notes: Jot down everything you recall and give yourself time to meditate on the memories to see if the dream makes sense. Note the time of day it was in the dream if you can remember. Also, note how you felt before you went to sleep; how you felt upon waking; and what you ate before going to bed. Make a note about medications you are taking that might have side effects that influence your dream content.
If you need help interpreting the dreams, you can view the Spirit, Totem, & Power Animal Meanings on here What is My Animal Spirit and feel free to leave questions pertaining to any of the interpretations you’ve read.
I also invite you to look at the Dream Dictionary on my sister site BuildingBeautifulSouls.com for a plethora of dream interpretations and even more hints on how to begin examining the intense context of your dreams! It is my hope that the information I share with you will help you along your journey as you continue to evolve into the beautiful soul you know you are!
I’ve been having a lot of dreams lately about two lions. One male and the other female. They’re all white like snow with blue eyes. At first when I saw them they were still adolescents. The male’s mane was not developed. And for some reason in one of the dreams they were a normal tan color. But I usually see them in white fur. They would be very ferocious, roaring and slashing their claws out. I used to feel fear but they never attacked me. If anything I would walk by them or stand next to them and be perfectly fine. I felt safe. The last time I dreamt about them they were fully mature.I was in my room and it was snowing outside and a bright sunny day. I thought I heard a lion roar and I was scared to check but peeked through a tiny crack in my blinds anyway. As soon as I did the two lions sitting in the snow below my window looking up at me leapt up and pounced on my window roaring. I was terrified and locked the window but I knew they wouldn’t hurt me. It felt like they had something important to tell me that would benefit me. It felt like I needed them, but because they were lions…predators. I didn’t trust them enough to let them in my window. Then for some reason all these domestic cats broke in and ran rampant through my house. They didn’t hurt me just kinda forced their way inside.
Which was something I didn’t want since I’m allergic to cats in real life. I’ve tried to understand the symbolism behind their coat’s color, eye color, and why they always come in a pair and why they’re always upset but never actually hurt me. I used your advice about finding my spirit animal and the lion popped up more than I realized in my life. I truly feel like its my spirit animal more than any other animal I suspected, but when I took the quiz I got the bee…so now I’m still unsure. What do these dreams mean? Is the lion my spirit animal?
Ones I had A Dream Of Me In The Top Of A Mountain With The Sun Rise. Until This Burst Of Wind Blew Me over! I Looked Up And Lots And Lots Of Orange Lights Are In The Sky With Different Shapes Of Animals All Running, Flying And Swimming, Until An Osprey Was Right Next To Me(It Was Bigger Than Me!) Then It’s 2 Talons Grabbed On To Me And I Lifted Me Up To The Sun And I Woke Up…
Hey, I had a dream where a horse pushed my head with It’s head. I’m confused and I had a dream where a large red dragon and I had to fight, it was a nightmare because before that he hung a dude….It’s a long story. Anyways, I need your help, I think my spirit animals are, Lion, Dragon, Black Panther, Cat, Horse, Wolf, Tiger, and Elephant for now. Can you help me?
I have a Shi-Tzu dog. I am her favorite, I also have cats. For some reason she follows me around, is she one of my spirit animals? How do I tell?
I had a dream where I was a white she-wolf in a forest sitting on a rock watching deer frolic. She/I didn’t speak, but eventually got bored and wandered off. Then she/I found someone who wasn’t very kind an was trying to hurt her/me so she/I scratched his face and fled to a forest where she/I met a snow leopard. That was the end. My question was, what did the she-wolf come to tell me? Is she my spirit animal? And who/what were the snow leopard, deer, and man there to represent?
I had a dream where I was a white she wolf with wings that was captured and put in a zoo then I escaped the zoo and flew to a mountain and I met a male wolf he also had wings and I found out we were the only 2 left of are kind and then we became mates can you help me find out my spirt animal
I had a dream i moved my baby girl into my room for a shorter distance to move. I started to feel something watching me like a presence so i shit my door when i did my bf came to me and i told him to wait he did and the door started to move in and out and it was a growl on the other side like it was trying to get in. Idk if it was a wolf, bear or lion i know it sounded wild
I had a fascinating dream last night and I don’t quite know what to make of it!
My partner Veva and I were in the kitchen with our daughter Anabelle and our dog Saber making lunch when all of a sudden a school of very large, colorful Sunfish swam through the air into the kitchen. They were following Veva wherever she went, and she became uncomfortable and started trying to shoo them away. They felt threatened by this and started flaring their spiny fins (if you’ve ever handled a Sunfish you know exactly what I’m talking about) and darting around. Saber felt protective of Veva and started leaping after them, trying to snatch them out of the air. I pushed her back, and tried to grab one of the fish myself to take it outside and diffuse the situation, which resulted in one of the spines pricking my hand. I could feel the familiar, painful stinging sensation as the fish struggled to escape.
The dream cut to Veva and I lying together in a papasan chair on the porch upstairs, looking at the sky. We started seeing lots of birds, and I realized they were Bald Eagles…THOUSANDS of Bald Eagles!! Some were flying very high, others were flying so low that we could reach up and touch them. Veva asked me, “What do you think is happening? Where do you think they’re going” I squinted to get a closer look, and noticed that they were all moving west. High above them I could see a flock of thousands of geese and other waterfowl, such as Cranes and Egrets. I replied, “They must be following the waterfowl migration to some body of water to the West where there are lots of fish! Maybe the Pacific Coast or the Gulf of California?” Some of the Bald Eagles were flying right over the chicken run and really freaking the chickens out…one of the hens escaped the chicken run and was trying to find a place to hide in the yard. I tried to jump up to catch her, but Veva held me there and said, “Wait!!! Let’s watch the birds together!”
“I’ll be right back, I just want to get that hen back into the run where it’s safe.”
“But BAAABE!”
“I have to go!! I’ll be right back!” I pulled away from her, got up from the chair and ran downstairs to help my hen,
When I got down there, I noticed that there were Lemurs and small black and white monkeys EVERYWHERE. I thought to myself, “What the???! Is this Jumanji?!” I put the chicken back in the run, and went to the back door to get back inside. For some reason I felt afraid of the monkeys…I had never seen one that close before and didn’t know anything about their behaviors. As I was reaching for the back door, one of the monkeys came charging after me. I froze in fear for a second, but then realized that fear is the LAST thing you want to feel while dealing with wild animals. So instead of allowing myself to be consumed by fear, I surrendered. It was a deepest, most complete feeling of surrender to the possibilities of how this situation could play out. The moment I transformed the fear to surrender, the monkey leapt onto me. I wrapped my arms around him to support his body, and he wrapped his arms around my neck, pressing his cheek to mine, playing with my hair and giving me kisses. Anytime I turned my face away, he would place a hand on my cheek and turn it back toward him. I couldn’t get him to get down, so I brought him inside with me.
I dreamt last night that a golden retriever began licking my face all over and just became my best friend laying down next to my side and he wouldn’t budge. Also, in the same dream a golden finch landed on my lips and was ‘kissing’ me and wouldn’t leave even when I spoke and just stayed perched on my lips.
Any insight would be gratefully appreciated!
I dreamt I broke into a house with my boyfriend last night. We did not have bad intentions but just needed a place to sleep for the night and the place seemed abandoned. I was not expecting all the paranormal activity that was in the home. The first spirit I experienced was a little girl who ran past the bedroom as we were settling in to sleep. She laughed as she continued running down the hall and it was eerie. I begged my boyfriend to stay with me but he left the room eager to investigate. I was petrified in the bed. Then all of a sudden I felt something get in the bed with me, I didn’t see it at first but the spirit revealed itself to me and it was a dog. It curled up right next to me and I’m assuming it was harmless but I was still on edge and uncomfortable by it. Then I saw a large spirit of an animal I was unfamiliar with enter the room slowly, growling at me. I woke up in a panic and was restless the rest of the night. It really impacted me and has now left me feeling drained and confused today. Anyone have anything similar happen or maybe some insight for me? I have been going through a lot of family troubles and have been stressed and sad in my waking life, but I don’t know what to make of this though or what to take from it