Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane was studied using various transient techniques. Results support a redox mechanism in which propane reduces the catalyst, which is reoxidized by gas-phase oxygen. Only lattice oxygen participates in propene formation. Desorbable oxygen is a major source of poor selectivity, although lattice oxygen also causes total oxidation. Consequently, propene selectivity in the absence of gas-phase O-2 is superior to co-feed, steady-state selectivity at the same propane conversion. Propene selectivity is further improved by increasing the degree of catalyst reduction.