Dreaming of dogs is supposed to be a good omen, but what if your own dreams are continually infused with (and interrupted by) your own dog’s dreaming? Not such a good omen…especially as it applies to your next day’s general demeanor.

My eleven month-old pup has acquired a new bad habit through no fault of his own: sleeping fitfully. A couple of times every night for the past month, he’ll wake me up with vicious growling and low-pitch barking.

I’ll either catch him doing it while he’s still asleep or I’ll wake to find him standing at full attention, staring straight at me as he delivers his most ferocious attitude—at the most inopportune time.

Now if this was any dog other than my own beloved Vincent—small and semi-ridiculous in all his dwarfed Frenchie glory—I’d be way intimidated. Even so, at first I was alarmed by his impressive outbursts. Indeed, there’s nothing so disconcerting as a bleary, birds-eye view of an aggressive dog–even if he only weighs 21 pounds.

Granted, he’s not directing his aggression at me (I don’t believe this is a case of redirected aggression), but it’s scary nonetheless. More likely he thinks he’s doing his dogly duty in warning me of some impending danger. The fact of its imaginary origins doesn’t seem to figure into his pea-sized puppy brain.

The trouble is that I’m not sure how to handle this one. Were he a Rottweiler I think I’d have trouble sleeping with him through his “crises.” Since he’s an innocuous Frenchie, I’m merely stuck with deciding whether to extinguish or encourage his alertness.

For the record, Vincent isn’t neutered. He’s full of p--- and vinegar as any self-respecting pup would be as his emerging secondary sex traits establish themselves. I’ve kept him intact for the effects of testosterone on his head-size—critical not just for his looks but for the breadth of his hard palate and the length of his soft palate. He was a cleft palate pup whose first surgery left him with a food-catching depression in the roof of his mouth, which is now flattening out nicely as his skull widens (think Arnold Schwarzenegger on steroids and you’ll know where that gap in his front teeth came from).

Now I’m wondering whether I shouldn’t neuter him sooner than I expected in response to these aggressive outbursts. I can handle the bit of interrupted sleep but I don’t want to encourage bad bed behavior, either. The other side of the coin is that I sleep alone and prefer his company and appreciate his protection.

What say you my educated behavior-minded readers?