What Does “Impulse Control” Really Mean for Dogs?
"Your dog just needs more impulse control."
If you’ve spent any time in dog training spaces, you’ve probably heard this phrase tossed around like it explains everything. But more often than not, it’s used as a blanket suggestion, without much context or clarity. So let’s break it down:
What are we really asking for when we talk about impulse control?
And how do we ethically build it?
What Is Impulse Control?
Impulse control in dogs is often described as a dog’s ability to “stop and think before acting.” But that simplification leaves out the layers of emotional, cognitive, and neurological processes that make that behavior possible in the first place.
Are we talking about:
A dog who doesn’t snatch the treat until given permission?
A dog who sees a squirrel and doesn’t bolt?
A dog who doesn’t bark or lunge when another dog walks by?
All of those examples are context-specific and all of them involve very different internal experiences. So why are we using the same label for all of them?
In many cases, what people are really describing is emotional regulation, not impulse control.
Emotional Regulation: The Core of the Conversation
Impulse control is an outcome.
Emotional regulation is the skillset that makes it possible.
Emotional regulation is the ability to manage and shift internal emotional states in order to respond to the environment more effectively. That includes calming down after excitement or recovering from fear.
In dogs, this involves:
The autonomic nervous system (sympathetic = arousal; parasympathetic = calm)
The ability to access learned behaviors under stress
Predictability and pattern recognition in the environment
According to research from Dreschel & Granger (2009), dogs in high-arousal states experience elevated cortisol levels and slower recovery from stress. Both of these factors negatively impact learning and decision-making. This means if a dog is emotionally dysregulated, they’re unlikely to succeed at “impulse control” tasks.
Source: Dreschel, N. A., & Granger, D. A. (2009). Physiological and behavioral reactivity to stress in thunderstorm-phobic dogs and their caregivers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 112(1-2), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2007.07.003
Arousal ≠ Excitement = Trouble
Arousal is often misunderstood as just excitement, but in the canine nervous system, arousal is simply a measure of alertness or intensity. It includes fear, frustration, excitement, anticipation, and even play.
While moderate arousal is necessary for learning and engagement, too much arousal leads to reactivity, reduced cognitive flexibility, and a lack of behavioral inhibition.
According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, a psychological principle that applies to both humans and animals, performance improves with physiological arousal up to a point. After that point, it sharply declines. In other words, a dog can be too excited to think clearly.
Training “Impulse Control”: More Than Just Obedience
Many people use "impulse control" to mean "do nothing until I say so."
But that often focuses on obedience without building the underlying skills of emotional regulation.
Here’s the problem with that:
Saying “leave it” doesn’t teach a dog how to make a better choice
Cues alone don’t transfer well under stress
Punishment or excessive restraint can suppress behavior but increase internal stress
What we want instead is a strategy that helps dogs understand how to access the things they want in a thoughtful, regulated way.
Ethical and Practical Alternatives
Here are a few ways I teach dogs to build emotional regulation (aka real impulse control):
1. Clarity Around Access
Games like 2Ball are fantastic for helping dogs learn when they can grab something and when they need to pause. The ball becomes reinforcement for thoughtful behavior.
2. Cued Marker Systems
Using cues like “Take it” creates clear boundaries around when it’s okay to act. This builds trust and predictability.
3. The “Get a Grip Hack” (from Kim Brophey’s L.E.G.S. course)
This isn’t about training a specific behavior like “sit” or “down.” The Get a Grip Hack is about helping dogs develop the skill of emotional regulation in real-world, emotionally charged moments.
When a dog becomes over-aroused, whether it’s because they’re about to go outside, see a friend, or are anticipating a toy, we temporarily pause access to that exciting thing. We wait until the dog shows some signs of internal regulation. That might look like a shake-off, a breath, a look away, or even walking to get a drink. It does not have to be a specific cued behavior.
Once the dog has "gotten a grip," meaning they’ve shifted into a more regulated emotional state, we give them access to the thing they wanted.
That shift becomes the contingency for getting what they want.
The brilliance of this approach is that it honors the dog’s individual self-soothing strategies. Instead of cueing them to settle, we observe and reinforce the behaviors that show they’re actually calming down.
Over time, the dog learns:
“When I regulate myself, I get access to good things.”
It’s a powerful way to reduce frustration, improve emotional flexibility, and support real-world coping skills, not just obedience.
4. Teaching “Up” and “Down” States
Building both arousal and decompression into training sessions teaches dogs how to shift gears. That’s a skill, not a suppression tactic.
5. Functional Reinforcers
Use what the dog wants (toys, food, social access, sniffing) as rewards for regulated behavior, not against it.
Dogs Aren’t Robots and Neither Are We
One of my biggest gripes with the “impulse control” phrase is that it often ignores the why behind the behavior.
If we expect dogs to control themselves, we owe it to them to first make sure:
They feel safe
Their needs are being met
They’ve had a chance to learn skills outside of high-stress contexts
Because here’s the truth:
We don’t even have perfect impulse control as humans. And dogs have far less control over their environments, emotions, and access to choices than we do.
Final Thoughts
So the next time someone tells you your dog “just needs more impulse control,” ask this instead:
What skills is my dog missing?
What emotions are driving the behavior?
What support do they need to succeed?
Impulse control isn’t just about stopping.
It’s about learning how to navigate wants, emotions, and the world, together.