The owners of a new puppy were adoringly watching him sleep, when they caught a special moment on camera.
Cash the golden retriever puppy joined his new family in July, and, since then, has taken over their hearts—as well as their TikTok account, which has been dedicated to all of his puppy antics.
Their account @cashcasecarl is full of the golden puppy exploring the world for the first time, with walks in the park, trying to catch fish at the lake, watching TV and even going shopping.
But all of these new adventures can easily wear a puppy out, and, on August 14, his owners shared a video of him in a deep sleep, splayed out across both of their laps.
As Cash sleeps, he is clearly having an exciting dream, as he lets out tiny growls, whimpers, and moves his body, with his eyes still shut tight.
His owners start laughing gently—and then Cash begins barking, without quite opening his mouth, his body jumping with the force of his sleeping barks. And, as his owners revealed, it was the first time he had ever barked.
Cash's owner's captioned the sweet clip: "When Cash had to dream to find his first bark."
Like humans, dogs can dream when they fall asleep, and can often be seen twitching or growling as they take a snooze.
Dogs spend about half of their day sleeping, according to the National Sleep Foundation, and this can be longer for senior dogs and puppies.
And according to researchers at the University of British Columbia, the part of the brainstem involved in the control of sleep cycles is underdeveloped in puppies, leading them to act out their dreams with twitching and growling more often.
TikTok users loved the sweet clip, which has been viewed more than 2 million times, as dog owners flocked to the comments to share their own stories.
"My golden occasionally howls in his sleep and wakes himself up doing it," one said. "I've never heard him howl when he's awake, only while dreaming."
Another told Cash's owners to wait "until they start howling in their sleep and you wake up in complete horror," as a third described dreaming dogs as the "best part of being a dog parent, hands down."
And as one comment read: "Hey, somebody has to chase those squirrels! You guys are just laying in bed!"
Newsweek has contacted @cashcasecarl via TikTok for comment on this story.
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