Can Your Dog Have ADHD?
The study referenced looked at thousands of dogs, asking their owners questions about impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention, the three main traits we usually associate with human ADHD.
Louise and I have this running joke: one of our dogs is like a human with ADHD, and the other is the poster child for “did you mean to call me, or was that just in your head?”
One of our dogs, an Aussie named Blu, is hypervigilant, constantly scanning the world around him, a super-light-sleeper, and even tries to supervise the cats. Chewbecca, our Aussie-poodle mix, is so laid back that we only half-jokingly refer to her as Blu’s “emotional support dog.”
But lately I’ve been thinking: maybe the joke is closer to reality than I realized. Because according to a recent StudyFinds article, dogs can actually show behaviors that mirror human ADHD.
The study referenced looked at thousands of dogs, asking their owners questions about impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention, the three main traits we usually associate with human ADHD.
The researchers found parallels: younger dogs and male dogs tended to show more of those impulsive, restless, inattentive behaviors, just like in humans. They also observed that dogs who spent more time alone (without humans around) were more prone to hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention than dogs that had more social contact.
It’s a fascinating result, because it suggests that the temperamental wiring of some dogs is naturally more “ADHD-prone”: that restless, jumpy, distraction-loving wiring. And that brings me to the question I want to explore with you: how much of ADHD (in humans) is this sort of innate temperament, and how much might trauma or stress push someone further into the zone of diagnosable dysfunction?
Let me be clear: I don’t believe every case — or even most cases — of ADHD are caused by trauma. In fact, most evidence leans hard toward inheritance, baseline temperament, and biology. But I also don’t think trauma plays zero role (having had my share of life’s traumas as the result of my own ADHD).
The dog study gives us a good metaphor. If a dog is already wired to be more sensitive, more impulsive, more easily bored, environmental pressures or stresses — being left alone, lack of stimulation, unpredictability — can push that wiring into more extreme expression.
Think of temperament as your baseline setting. One dog is born with a “volume knob” turned up on distractability and impulsivity. The other dog is that mellow, low-knob version. Now imagine life throws stress, chaos, or deprivation at both of them. The high-knob dog might escalate wildly: barking nonstop, refusing to rest, becoming unable to settle. The low-knob dog might feel it, but maybe it just sulks more, sleeps more, or withdraws. The difference is that the baseline wiring shapes how much room the stress has to distort things.
In humans, twin and family studies repeatedly show ADHD is highly heritable. Many of us are born with a nervous system that leans toward restlessness, distractability, or impulsivity. Add to that epigenetic tweaks (which allow life experience to influence how genes are expressed), and environment does matter, although it rarely creates ADHD from nothing, in most people.
So trauma or adversity may sometimes “induce” something like ADHD behavior, especially in someone with a latent vulnerability. But more often, what we see is that trauma or stress amplify the symptoms of an underlying temperament that was already there.
The difference is important, because it changes how gentle and how patient we need to be with ourselves and others (and our dogs!). If someone thinks “my ADHD must all be because of what happened to me,” we might unintentionally shame them into thinking they caused it. But if we see it as a mix — temperament plus life — then we afford more grace.
The dog study also hints at something else: isolation matters. Dogs that were regularly left alone showed more of the restlessness, impulsivity, distractability traits. That mirrors how humans experiencing neglect, loneliness, or under-stimulation early in life might manifest more ADHD traits or aggravate them. It’s not a smoking gun for trauma “causing” ADHD, but it’s a clue that the environment nudges the genetic expression.
Another wrinkle: some behaviors from trauma and some behaviors of ADHD can overlap or mimic each other, including hypervigilance, distractibility, and emotional reactivity. Sometimes clinicians debate whether someone’s symptoms are better explained by PTSD or ADHD. In those borderline or co-morbid cases, trauma might be masquerading as ADHD or exacerbating it. But that overlap doesn’t mean they’re the same. We still need to parse whether a trait is primarily temperament or primarily reactive.
Also, ADHD itself (because of its impulsivity or risk-taking) may increase someone’s exposure to stress or traumatic events (like it did with me as a kid). So causality runs both ways sometimes. That can muddy the waters: did the ADHD‐prone wiring cause more rough life exposures, or did rough life exposures cause ADHD? Often, it’s entangled.
What I like about the dog study is that dogs don’t carry most of the human baggage. They don’t conceptualize failure, guilt, or identity. They don’t wonder if they’re “lazy, crazy, or stupid?” So when they exhibit impulsivity or attention problems, we can more cleanly see the behavior without the overlay of human psychology. It gives us a kind of mirror for temperament. And it suggests that yes, there is a “naturally ADHD-leaning” wiring, even in animals, not just humans.
In the end, I lean toward saying that trauma can push, distort, amplify, and complicate ADHD traits, but in the majority of people with ADHD, the core is a temperament we were born with. The trauma is more often a seasoning than the main ingredient.
Recognizing that gives us humility. It also frees us to support ourselves not just by healing the past, but by building scaffolding around our wiring: routines, boundaries, support, structure, acceptance.
So if you came to me and said “I want someone to explain how trauma causes ADHD,” I’d say that’s oversimplified. But if you asked “how do nature and nurture dance together in ADHD?” I’d argue that the dog study offers one of the sweetest little illustrations: temperament gives us the stage, environment adds color, and sometimes life throws in a few thunderclaps. Let’s not blame every storm for orchestrating our wiring: some of that wiring was composed long before the weather rolled in.