This page is part of the Auxiliary section of the Beginner's Course of the
D.S. Dog Training Workshop - an element of the Dog Science Network
The Variables that Determine How Difficult it Will be to Get a Problem Behavior Stopped
B.F. Skinner and associates made a real science out of the art of figuring out why animals, including dogs and people, do what they do. As a result of Skinner's research, there is a great deal about your dog's behavior that is extremely well understood. Thanks to that body of work, there now exists a sharply delineated list of the variables that determine how tough it is going to be to get your dog to stop doing something that he should not be doing.
The Relevant Variables
- The number of settings in which the subject has made the target response.
If your dog has made the target response in a great many locations, it will be more difficult to get it stopped than if he has previously made that response only in one place, like your back yard. - Whether or not the response first took place during the critical stage of development.
If your dog first began engaging in the target behavior during his critical stage of development, it will be far more difficult to get it stopped than if it first occurred during a later phase of life. - The number of times the response has been previously reinforced.
The fewer times the target reponse has been rewarded, the easier it will be to get it stopped. In contrast, the more times the behavior has been previously reinforced, the more difficult it will be to get it stopped. - The quality of the previous reinforcers.
The more desireable the reinforcers that maintain the response, the harder it will be to get it stopped. - The strength of any punishers applied to the target response.
If the target response is being punished, the greater the strength of the punishers, the easier it will be to get the targeted behavior stopped. Please note, however, that the more extreme any given punisher might be, the more likely it will be to generate side effects as well. - Whether the target response continues to be reinforced as it is also being punished.
If the target response continues to be reinforced in some ways, even as it is being punished in others, it will be more difficult to get it stopped. - The availability and quality of alternative behaviors.
The more alternatives your subject has to choose from, and the more desireable those alternatives are, the easier it will be to get the target behavior stopped. For example, if your dog has plenty of other comfortable places where he can lie down, it will be easier to keep him off the couch, should you so desire.