Which term describes teaching a dog to perform an alternative, rewarded behavior to replace an undesired one?

Which term describes teaching a dog to perform an alternative, rewarded behavior to replace an undesired one?

• A. Extinction
• B. Positive punishment
• C. Negative reinforcement
• D. Response substitution

Answer: (D)

Response substitution focuses on teaching an alternate, rewarded behavior that serves the same purpose as the undesired one. The idea is to identify why the dog performs the unwanted action and then train a different behavior that achieves the same goal, but is acceptable and catches the dog’s attention. By reinforcing this replacement behavior consistently, the dog learns to choose the new, appropriate response rather than the undesired one. For example, if a dog jumps up to greet people, you teach and reward a compatible behavior like sitting or going to a mat, so the greeting is pleasant but in a controlled way. This approach emphasizes reinforcement of the good behavior to replace the problematic one, rather than simply removing reinforcement (extinction) or using punishment or aversives.

Response substitution focuses on teaching an alternate, rewarded behavior that serves the same purpose as the undesired one. The idea is to identify why the dog performs the unwanted action and then train a different behavior that achieves the same goal, but is acceptable and catches the dog’s attention. By reinforcing this replacement behavior consistently, the dog learns to choose the new, appropriate response rather than the undesired one. For example, if a dog jumps up to greet people, you teach and reward a compatible behavior like sitting or going to a mat, so the greeting is pleasant but in a controlled way. This approach emphasizes reinforcement of the good behavior to replace the problematic one, rather than simply removing reinforcement (extinction) or using punishment or aversives.