Asleep at the Twitch
You’ve brought your new Ridgeback puppy home. She is swaddled in her fuzzy blanket, and is peacefully slumbering. You grab your iPad and zoom in to get some Facebook-worthy outtakes.
And then – she does it. Twitching non-stio, with little jerky, hitching movements that look for all the world like aliens have taken over her body.
Not to worry – that’s just her nervous system developing, and it’s entirely normal. Newborn puppies exhibit this sleep-twitching in the whelping box, and it can continue to a lesser degree when the puppy goes home.
Of course, there’s a big difference between twitching and seizing – these benign, involuntary movements only happen when the puppy is dozing, and her body is otherwise relaxed, never rigid.