Dream I had a couple of nights ago, quite vivid.

Background: I am meeting my girlfriends mother for the first time in a few weeks. They live in a different state. Her mother doesn’t approve of me for a bunch of reasons.

In the dream it is within the first few days of meeting her for the first time, and she is about to take their (real life) dog for a walk, and I volunteer to go with her. I am staying at their house while I am there and I go with her mother and my gf stays home, my gf is worried because she is worried it will go wrong somehow.

I have been to their house before in real life and met their dog, just not her mother.

In the dream we cross to a park near their house and as we get onto the grass there is a large very angry, growling, barking dog. It is not a tall dog like a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler, it is a brown/black and wide. Like a bulldog type dog. It is going to attack, I know this immediately, but it doesn’t want me, it wants my girlfriend’s mum and/or their dog.

I tell her mum to pick up their dog and to stand behind me so I can block the attacking dog. The dog attacks and I do block it. It grabs my arm and does a lot of damage. I grab the dog around its neck using my other arm and start to choke it. It is still fighting and biting as it can, but its focus is never really on me.

Eventually I kill it. And I am laying there on the ground and feel really sad, because I have never killed an animal before. My arm is really damaged but it doesn’t hurt.

End of dream.

Thoughts?!

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 30/M Australia

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N,
I am getting very strong conflicting signals from your dream. The dream definitely has associations to the impending meeting with your gf's mother {as is usual since that is an important part of your current life}. And I sense {from the dream images/actions} a desire if not need to make a positive impression or/and hopeful for a positive outcome from that meeting. But there are also very strong negative impressions which seem to be related to 'established' attitudes you possess. Whether that comes from having already developed a negative impression of your gf's mother or, and this seems to be a good possibility, whether it is channeled toward mother's in general I can not discern from the dream. If the later is the case it would likely point to a past relationship with another mother with a good candidate being your own mother. Which ever it was {if my analysis is correct} the past relationship would not have gone well which would cause you to have a negative attitude toward mothers. It would involve emotions you would need to hold in check {kill it which symbolizes putting an end to something}. Something in your past has caused emotional harm {dog grabbing arm doing damage}. My sense is there are unconscious experiences which have created an conscious attitude. The parts about the dog {-dog attacks/I block it-grabs arm/does damage-grab dog/choke it-still fighting/focus on on me} would represent your 'animal' nature and the actions with the dog would be an internal struggle to control 'established' attitudes. As I stated previously killing the dog would be putting an end to these attitudes {in meeting your gf's mum} .

A possible clue comes in the last part of the dream where you are laying on the ground really sad. That could translate that the foundations {ground} of the developed attitude toward 'mothers' come from past experiences {childhood/early life is always a prime candidate}. The sad feelings would have come from past disappointments in your life. Not have never killed an animal could represent not having controlled the developed attitudes {the animal image can also represent a parent} and the damaged arm {arms can represent ability to perform actions} but not hurting could point to not letting past experiences cause conscious pain {although the emotional pain would continue to exist}. That part suggests you have a real desire not to let past experiences with 'mothers' damage your ability to be positive in meeting your gf's mother. You will need to overcome developed, established attitudes to do this but the dream seems to suggest you are wanting to do so.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 65 Cocoa, Fl

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That is quite an interesting take, and I would have to say probably holds more than a few grains of truth, as my relationships with both my mother and later stepmother were both far from ideal, and my mother actually passed away whilst I was a child. I think I shall take this away and think on it, so thanks very much for your thoughts.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 30/M Australia

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