A new study now reveals that if your dog loves a good nap, there is a high chance that it is also better at learning new skills.
According to researchers, letting dogs sleep helps them to consolidate new memories, just like humans.
The findings could shed light on how similar the process of ageing in dog brains is that to humans.
The research was conducted at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest used EEG monitors to analyse dogs' brain activity while they slept.
Their study revealed that the dogs showed short burst of activity, called sleep spindles, during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep.
The frequency of these sleep spindles was also linked to how well a dog retained new information it had learned before its nap.
Speaking to Live Science, Ivaylo Iotchev, co-lead author of the study, said that while previous studies have looked at brain activity during sleep in mice, this was one of the first to analyse dogs.
The scans revealed that dogs with more frequent sleep spindles during their nap were better learners than dogs with fewer sleep spindles.
Beyond dogs, the findings could have implications for humans.
People with depression tend to have more sleep spindles than average, and those with schizophrenia have less.
