Do dogs have nightmares?

I am so tired this morning because of our crybaby dog! We're still not quite sure what his problem was, but he was a mess last night! He was a little difficult to put down to bed last night so we had to put his crate in the laundry room so he could cry himself to sleep and WE could get some sleep.

Then at around 4:00AM he just started WAILING and BARKING and CRYING like nothing else! After about 20 minutes of non-stop crying I thought something must be wrong - I thought maybe he got his paw caught in his crate or something. Craig went to check him out and let him out of his crate for a few minutes. He was a spazz! He was so excited to see Craig! Then when he saw me, he had the same reaction!

Something must have really spooked him last night and he was in a panic. I know he dreams because we've seen and heard his cute running and barking in his sleep, but do dogs have nightmares? I wish he could talk so we could figure out what was wrong with him.

We put his crate outside our bedroom so he could calm down and go back to sleep. It took him forever to stop whimpering and "digging" at his bed. This morning he was a little clingy, but other than that he was perfectly fine. It's just us who will be tired and crabby all day! I guess we should just consider all of this good practice. :)

Tomorrow he gets taken to the vet to get neutered. He has to stay the night there and we'll pick him up Thursday morning. I feel bad having him stay the night in the strange vet office all night long in a cage. He'll probably cry all night long. Heck, if he had nightmares last night, who KNOWS what kind of dreams he'll have in the next few nights after he gets the "snip snip"! :( Poor Toby.