For example, a dog who lunges and barks at strangers out of fear may be trained to heel and look into the owner's eyes instead. In response substitution, the dog is trained to replace an undesirable response with a desirable one.
Once the fearful dog has learned better coping skills, it's a good idea to implement response substitution.
The dog may not be ready for exposure to a certain level of intensity of the fear-evoking trigger, and therefore, a step back in the process is required. When implementing D&C, it's important to acknowledge that setbacks (dog shows the original reaction to the trigger) are often triggered by going too fast through the process. The fear should, therefore, be replaced by happy anticipation upon seeing the previously fear-evoking trigger. Once, this conditioned emotional response happens predictably, it is time to gradually increase the intensity of the trigger until the dog exhibits again a new conditioned emotional response to this level of intensity, and so forth, the process is repeated until the dog can be exposed to the direct, full-throttle level of intensity without exhibiting any fear. With time and several repetitions, the dog appears more relaxed and even happy to see the stimulus and therefore develops what is known as a new conditioned emotional response. How do these work in combination? Right after the less intense version of a fear-evoking stimulus is presented through desensitization, a pleasant thing (often, under the form of a high-value treat) is offered for the goal of creating a new positive association.Ī dog who is, therefore, scared of bikes, may be shown a bike at distance and is fed many tasty morsels until the bike is out of sight, in an open bar, closed bar fashion that emphasizes that, great things happen in presence of the once, fear-evoking stimulus.
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