The Thorny Problem of "Impulse Control"
This one has been banging around the inside of my noggin for a while. Impulse Control is just not something I think about with my own dogs. And yet it seems to be a real issue for many people.
When it comes to dogs and training, “Impulse Control” is one of those subjects that I struggle with. Nearly everyone talks about it but rarely is it ever clearly defined. There are broad, general definitions that float around that sound good but are curiously circular - “Impulse Control teaches a dog to control their impulses” for example. Humans have impulses too so it can be easy to think we have a handle on the concept but once you start asking some questions, it can get sticky real quick. I find the topic of Impulse Control as it is talked about by many trainers difficult for one simple reason. It seems to be code for “Don’t do what YOU want to do, do what I want you to do.”
Everything from snatching food dropped on the floor to jumping up on people in greeting to not remaining in a “stay” for long enough in dog sports are all blamed on poor Impulse Control in the dog. But when we are talking about our dog’s behaviour, what is an “impulse” and how do we know if it is being “controlled”? This is where those sticky questions start. Perhaps the best place to begin is by looking at the nature of behaviour in our dogs.
Functional behaviour
It is a well understood principle that all behaviour has a function for the animal doing the behaviour. There is a reason they do what they do even if we can’t understand what it is. It could be a reaction to their environment like running away from a loud noise or it could be a strategy to obtain something the animal wants like a dog that pokes a human with their nose to get attention. In either case, the behaviour the animal does serves a function - fleeing avoids potential danger and jumping up gets the desired interaction with their human. I see those functions or needs, if you will, as the root of what we mean when we talk about “impulses.” Simply put, an impulse is just the dog wanting something.
What our dog wants in any given moment might not be obvious. It’s easy to see when a dog will sit in order to get a food treat. But it’s much harder to understand that a dog may spend hours pacing in the backyard because it eases their anxiety. I can see my dog happily eat the treat but it is more difficult to understand the relief that a chemical release in the brain provides as a result of pacing. Dogs can also feel insecurity, boredom, and a host of other emotions that may provide the impulse for a variety of behaviours.
And then we get to the complicated matter of control. When my dog has an impulse to do a behaviour, how and why does it choose which behaviour it does? It could be argued that the dog will choose the behaviour that they know from past experience has the best chance of fulfilling their need in that moment. Sometimes it’s just hard-wired instinct. The behaviour is there to fulfill the function of meeting the dog’s need.
Impulse and options
Many of my dogs impulses are appropriate and their behaviour in response to them is acceptable. I want my dogs to bark at strangers in my yard, for example. In other cases, the behaviour might not be acceptable like roughly snatching cookies from my hand when I offer them. So when it comes down to it, most of the conversations I see about Impulse Control are really about negotiating which behaviours are acceptable and which are not. To me, that seems a very different thing than just general impulse control. My dog controls their impulses appropriately for some things but maybe not others. We’re really talking about the behaviour options they choose in certain situations.
My own dogs have shown plenty of impulse control when they arrived here at eight weeks of age. Even puppies know enough to figure out which behaviours will get them what they want and which are a waste of energy. As they grow, these dogs will experiment with different behaviours. When one behaviour fails to get the desired result, they will try another to find what works. It’s all a part of a dog learning how to get the resources they need to survive in their world. Make good choices and you get to live a good life.
It’s all about choice
Young dogs have limited experience. That means that, when it comes to dealing with their impulses, they also have a limited set of behaviour choices to choose from. They only know so many ways to behave. Time and experience are the only ways to broaden their repertoire of behavioural choices. This is what dog training is all about - taking the time to teach our dogs about different ways to get what they want.
The “Four On The Floor” training technique is a great example of showing a dog that there are better ways to get attention than jumping up. Most of these methods allow the dog to try different behaviour strategies to find which ones are the most rewarding. It’s really about influencing the dog’s choice. They can choose to keep their feet on the floor and get the attention they want or they can spend energy jumping up and not getting what they want.
In a broader sense, the more training you do with your dog and the more you reward them, the more confident and creative they will be with their behaviour. A dog that has learned that there are many ways to get what they want will be less frantic or frustrated. The more successful behaviours they know, the easier it will be to find something that works.
Is not behaving a behaviour?
Many times, when talking about impulse control, the problem is that we want the dog to STOP doing something. A good example is not snatching food dropped on the floor. We want to teach the dog to “leave it”, to refrain from acting on the impulse to grab that goodie from the floor. But can we consider NOT doing a behaviour as a behaviour in itself? I think that’s a very interesting question.
If we go back to the roots of behaviour and we think about the dog needing to make a choice in order to get what it wants, choosing to wait is a valid behavioural strategy. It would be just as valid as choosing to DO something that they think will work. It is that choice of behaviour, or non-behaviour, that matters here. That is where I think the Impulse Control lies.
My dogs can learn that choosing to do nothing right now is the most effective way to be rewarded. Choosing to refrain from behaviour should be considered a behaviour in itself. It is, after all, a conscious choice for the dog. This can be a tricky concept. I’ve talked to some dog trainers who find it hard to agree that choosing not to behave is a behaviour.
It’s bigger than you think
Trainer and author Jean Donaldson famously says “Dogs do what works” in her book The Culture Clash. I can’t think of a better way to start any discussion about Impulse Control in dogs. For me, Impulse Control comes down to the choices my dog makes. They are going to have needs and wants. My goal is to provide my dog with successful behaviour strategies that get them what they want in a way that I find acceptable. It’s as simple as that.
But simple doesn’t mean it’s easy! My dog isn’t going to magically stumble onto all the ways I want him to respond to various situations. It’s my responsibility to teach him new and more acceptable ways to get what he wants. More importantly, it’s up to me to come up with new behaviour strategies that are easy to do and are as rewarding or more rewarding than the behaviours I don’t like. That might take some time and effort on my part.
This is the biggest part of my struggle with Impulse Control. For me, what most people call “Impulse Control” is really just the natural by-product of a good training program. If I engage my dogs right from the beginning and provide acceptable outlets that meet their physical and emotional needs, that alone addresses a lot of what people call “problem” behaviours. If I am also providing good mental stimulation in the choices about what and how to train my dog, I am giving them the information they need to make good choices to get the things they want.
Culture, philosophy, and the POINT
Having said all of that, I have to confess that I get it. I understand why people talk about Impulse Control the way they do. I understand why there are hundreds of “games” that purport to teach a dog “Impulse Control.” It’s a culture thing. It’s the way people have chosen to think about this stuff and trainers are just trying to help people get along with their dogs. All this scientific analysis and philosophy isn’t going to change anything.
So what is the point of this essay? Let me leave you with this thought. If I take the time to work with my dogs, to teach them, and help them get what they want and need, do I even need to think about something called “Impulse Control”? Is it only when my dogs act in ways that I find unacceptable that their “Impulse Control” is called into question? And could it be that “Impulse Control” is really just another way to say that my dog needs more training?
I wonder.
Hmmmm. You and I have chatted about this from time to time. I see it as a catch-all phrase for a wide variety of behaviours. Yes, I think it often is about behaviour about which we aren't keen, but I could probably argue that all behaviour is impulse driven.....it's the control piece that I think trips us up.
I don't struggle with its use that much....or rather, I struggle more with the owner/handler's response to it. I think that a dog described as "lacking impulse control" can result in unfortunate consequences.....punitive ones, potentially, or consequences that don't actually give the dog an alternative behaviour. And it can result in folks ignoring an anxiety or fearfulness issue that can be erroneously seen as an "impulse control" thing.
And I know a few dogs, not many thankfully, to have been trained to within an inch of their life....and I see no spontaneity there. No spark. No willingness to just try shit to see what happens.