A dog that doesn’t hear, gets distracted by every little thing and constantly gives in to its impulsiveness not only endangers itself, but also its environment. It is therefore essential for a normal coexistence of humans and animals that the dog has a certain degree of impulse control ability.
What that means exactly, what factors influence this ability in dogs and how you can improve your four-legged friend’s impulse control is explained below
Key facts at a glance
- Impulse control means that your dog can control his actions and emotions.
- Impulse control ability can be affected by physical build, age, race, and excessive stress, among other factors.
- Impulse control is very strenuous for dogs and cannot be repeated indefinitely.
- When training, owners should focus on controlling the animal’s impulsive behavior in important situations.
- Dogs cannot transfer their impulse control from one situation to another.
What is impulse control in dogs?
Impulse control means that your dog is able to control his actions and emotions. For example, if he’s playing a game and you call him out, he has the choice of ignoring you or controlling that impulse, stopping his game and coming to you.
If your dog can sit in front of his food bowl and wait for your release instead of pouncing directly on his food, he still has impulse control skills in this situation.
These factors affect impulse control in dogs
Impulse control ability in dogs is influenced by several factors. As a result, while one quadruped may be extremely patient or obedient in a given situation, another may have great difficulty exhibiting the desired behavior in similar circumstances.
The following factors in particular can have a major impact on a dog’s impulse control ability:
- anatomy
- Old
- race
- stress
Impulse control and physique of the dog
Large, heavily built dogs tend to have an easier time controlling impulses and are more able to remain calm and undistracted. Light animals with a narrow body, on the other hand, tend to be more impulsive.
The influence of age on impulse control ability
Young animals do not yet have good impulse control skills. This is because the corresponding areas in young dogs’ brains are not yet fully developed. When this is the case depends primarily on the size of the animals. In large dog breeds, this development is often not complete until the age of about three years.
Breed differences in impulse control
Different breeds are or were bred for very different purposes. In addition to their appearance, their nature also differs considerably in some cases. As a result, certain breeds find it easy to control impulses, while other dogs are naturally impulsive.
Stress reduces impulse control ability
Stress is not only a factor that is often underestimated in terms of health, but also in terms of dog behavior. An animal that is under stress will therefore often have problems with impulse control as well.
Impulse control puts a strain on the dog
Keep in mind that impulse control is extremely taxing for dogs. Your four-legged friend will hardly be able to ignore his favorite toy for 10 minutes and then wait patiently in front of his food bowl for another 10 minutes.
Of course, in certain situations it is essential that your dog listens to you and reacts as desired. But at some point the concentration simply slacks and impulsiveness triumphs over self-control.
We therefore recommend that when training your dog’s impulse control skills, you limit yourself to those situations that are important to you and not put the animal under pressure at every opportunity.
Create conditions for better impulse control of the dog
Any time your dog has to choose a certain behavior, it requires a certain level of his impulse control ability to do so. The more restless the daily routine is, the harder it will be for him.
If you want to promote and train your dog’s impulse control ability, fixed routines and habits are just as important as regular breaks in which the four-legged friend can simply be himself to a certain extent.
In addition, you should avoid undue stress in your dog’s life as much as possible, or at least help him to cope with stressful situations. Because the less stress your dog has, the easier it will be to control impulses.
Train impulse control in dogs
If you want to improve your dog’s impulse control skills through training, you must be aware that your four-legged friend cannot transfer his behavior from one situation to another.
For example, if he has mastered waiting in front of the food bowl, that does not mean that this will also work if the neighbor’s cat is lying in your garden. You must therefore train impulse control with your dog separately for each situation in which it is important to you.
Start with easy exercises and gradually increase the difficulty so as not to overwhelm your dog. Also make sure that impulse control pays off for your dog and reward it with a treat, praise or even games together.
On the other hand, you should avoid punishments, as they cause stress and thus impair your dog’s impulse control ability.
Impulse control in dogs – our conclusion
As you can see, a certain level of impulse control in dogs is essential in everyday life. For your four-legged friend, however, learning this skill is an effort that should not be underestimated.
Therefore, when practicing, concentrate primarily on those situations in which impulsive behavior is actually undesirable and approach the training consistently, but with the necessary patience.