Question!

Do dogs nightmare? Seriously, does anyone know?

I just had to wake Minni from what I think was some form of nightmare. She was twitching like normal, but crying and whining. I woke her up immediately worried that she was hurt, but unusually, she wasn't annoyed at all. Not a sound. She just looked at me in confusion and then demanded me to hold her, my hand on her noggin.

Since her poisoning (I don't know if I ever confirmed that here, but that's what we figured out her 'illness' was) and stay at the vet for 2.5 days, Minni has been extremely clingy. Before, she always loved to snuggle and cuddle, but now, she clings on with death grip, even curling the pads of her paws to grip on, head burried beneath an arm, hand, leg, or anything else she can find of us. If she's not playing, she's cuddled up to someone. Naturally, we expected that she might be insecure after everything she went through and are more than happy to do whatever it takes to let her know that we're not leaving her again. - Which is what she perceived the five or so times we came and went without her while she was nervous and in pain.

I know that to some extent, dogs dream; it's fun to watch Minni chase a bunny or whatever it is that she's experiencing in her little mind. But I never thought.... In order to nightmare, that means that she has to harbor some fear about something, right? Truthfully, I believe Minni to be one of the smartest dogs out there, and her breed backs that, but I never thought they could feel emotions like fear. Semblances, yes, forms of dread, depression, excitement, love/devotion in some fashion. But fear is a complex emotion, isn't it? It's so easy for us to feel, but it takes conscious perception and understanding - do dogs have that capacity? Could it manifest itself in dreams??

None of us are scientists about these things, I know.  In truth, I'm hard-pressed to believe a scientist about such matters as dreams because they don't understand them at all. But... y'all have pets. Ever experienced anything like this? Anyone... stumbled across a random article? Anything?