The worst nightmares I get are always consistently about my dogs being hunted down/targeted by some sort of flesh creature. Once it was what I can only describe as a flesh “horse” (tall with four legs, long neck, and long face but nothing else horse-like) trying to break into my house to kill my dogs, not me, my dogs. Another was set in my home (again) but instead of it just being me and the dogs there was some sort of family gathering being hosted, so a lot of people making food, dancing, laughing, but not me. I was busy scrambling around searching for my dogs because I knew there were flesh monsters outside (this time instead of a “horse” they were more humanoid but still crawled on all fours) and I couldn’t find my dogs. My house is very small but for some reason in this dream it was gigantic with twists and turns and weird alcoves that don’t exist in my actual house. Nobody was scared of the creatures outside, its as if they didn’t know they existed, so I was on my own trying to find and protect my dogs. Thankfully I did find them and they were fine but of course my girl dog was trying to pick a fight with one of the creatures. She did this in the horse dream too, the “horse” attempted to crush her with its front “hooves” but I managed to grab her and run inside. It just stood outside the sliding doors staring. For some reason these creatures don’t care about me at all, they always want the dogs.

While I try not to put too much meaning towards dreams (the non-lucid ones) these ones are pretty explicit about my anxiety surrounding my dogs and how I feel powerless to protect them sometimes. My girl dog doesn't live with me right now due to my grandma forbidding it (lung issues), having the boy is enough for her so my girl has to stay with my dad a little longer. So because I’m not there to protect her I worry a lot that one day I’ll get a call saying something bad happened to her. This anxiety most likely manifests in my dreams in the form of supernatural flesh monsters.

Once I’m finished my undergrad I’m going to try to do my masters in another province and move both dogs with me, its hard not having them together and I know they miss each other because whenever I say my girl’s name in front of my boy he gets happy and when they see each other when I visit my dad they can’t contain their excitement. Every time I leave to go home my girl always tries to wrestle her way out the house and into the car with us. It’s devastating but I know I’ll get her back soon. I don’t have these nightmares as often anymore, thankfully, and all my lucid dreams star the dogs and they’re always safe. I know my dad is taking good care of her too, he’s just waiting for me to give the signal.