Dogs and Dinosaurs?

I am new to this message board, but I would love some help interpreting a strange dream that I had last night.

In the dream I was at an indoor pool. I was with a bunch of people that all seemed friendly, but I did not know any of them. Nobody was swimming. We were all dressed in normal street clothing. We all were sitting on two long white benches that were facing each other about 20 feet apart.

I realized that behind my bench there were dogs to play with and possibly adopt. I went over by myself and picked out an unusual dog. (I don't really remember seeing other dogs or what they looked like as I immediately honed in on one dog). It was the shape and size of a giant schnauzer. It was white with bold multicolored spots on it (red, green, and blue). Each spot was slightly irregularly shaped but nearly circular and each spot had a black border/ring around it. It made the dog look really playful and happy. I picked it out mostly because of the unusual spots and friendly looking disposition. The dog came back with me to my bench to cuddle and play.

On the way back to the bench I looked into the pool. It was a huge pool with clear water. It had large dinosaurs swimming in it. They were packed in closely like goldfish in a fish tank. They looked similar to a brontosaurus or the Lockness monster. I was fascinated by them, but they also gave me a feeling of dread. All of the dinosaurs were the same shape and size. Most were dark colors (black, brown, grey), but one dinosaur was white with bold multicolored spots just like the dog I had picked out. After spotting that dinosaur, I went and sat back down on the bench with my dog and began playing with him.

The dog and I became very emotionally close very quickly. In my real life I am an animal lover, but I own cats and not dogs. I did own dogs in the past but I have never owned a schnauzer type dog or known anyone who has owned that type of dog. The dog did not remind me of any of my pets past or present. We just had fun and it seemed to trust me immediately.

Suddenly, the dinosaur with the bold multicolored spots came out of the pool and into the area between the white benches. Everyone on the benches became afraid. The dinosaur inspected all of us closely. Some of us had dogs and some did not. It eventually came to me (I was sitting on the end of one of the benches closest to the pool). It made threatening movements towards me and the dog. I felt like it was going to hurt or kill me. My initial instinct was to draw the dog close to protect it. When the dinosaur saw my dog its demeanor seemed to change. It seemed to regard the dog as its own child (which made it seem even more enraged at me for trying to protect the dog). In an effort to try and save myself and the dog I held it out to let the dinosaur inspect it.

Suddenly the dinosaur bared its teeth (it had long pointy teeth). It grabbed the dog by the head (almost like scruffing it). However the dog was not as strong as a dinosaur baby and it began to bleed from the head. Then the dinosaur carried it back into the water and they both disappeared under the surface.

After this I immediately woke up in a cold sweat. I put it together that the dog must have died either from its injuries in being picked up or from being submerged under the water with the dinosaur who was trying to take it back "home." I felt immensely sad upon realizing this. I felt like it was my fault that the dog died. That I should have never let the dinosaur look at it. I felt selfish like I was the one who should have died and not the dog. I also felt like I had not been true to myself in allowing the dog to be hurt.

I have been thinking about this dream all day, and trying to figure out what it means. I would really like some help.

For some background, I have been in school/training for a job through most of my twenties and early thirties. I just got my official first job last week. I had to leave home for all of my training. When I left I vowed I would come back home afterwards and use the knowledge I gained to make things better for people in that area. I had always hoped that would take the form of going to work for my old mentor and teaching other's to go into my profession at my old school. Getting this new job last week was the result of trying to decide between an offer from my old mentor, and an offer one city away that paid better and had better opportunities for my family. The family opportunities were important, because over the course of the past month I found out that I was pregnant. Then at 6 weeks along I began to have a miscarriage. I got confirmation yesterday from my doctor and an ultrasound that the miscarriage was finally over and my husband and I could begin trying again. After having difficulty conceiving this first child and then having a miscarriage, I'm fairly certain we will need help to have a baby (hence taking the job that paid more with better hours instead of working for my mentor--my dream of the past 6-7 years).

I know there is enough there to go crazy with interpretation. I feel like this dream was my way of trying to cope or come to terms with the strange twist that life just threw at me over the past month. I would really appreciate any help you could give me on exactly what it means. I'm especially struggling with the meaning of the bold multicolored spots on the dog and on the dinosaur.

Thank you for your help!

It sounds like you've pretty much got it figured out. I'd say the purpose of the spots was mainly just to identify them as being two aspects of the same thing - two sides of a coin. It sounds like you've got 2 powerfully emotional things going on in your life that are actually tied together, two positive things that were about to happen but that didn't due to the brute absurdity of life blundering in and taking over. Often water represents the unconscious, especially if there are large frightening creatures in it, but from your description it really sounds like the pool is just more of an abyss, nonexistence at least for the positive things (the dog). Dreams are just symbolic ways of representing what's going on in your life at an emotional level.

To elaborate on the spots - what I thought of when you described it was a toy, like the dream was making the dog almost ridiculously happy and positive and childlike. So then it also put spots on the dinosaur just because they're linked. Dreams tend to work in very straightforward, simplistic ways like this.