SWGDOG SC1 - TERMINOLOGY

For Public Comment until 2/26/2006

These terms have been previously vetted and agreed upon by the SWGDOG
membership and will be further discussed based on public comments.
Additional terms will be added after further work by Subcommittee 1 and the
full SWGDOG membership.

Term	Meaning
Accuracy	(Scientific usage) a measure of the extent to which the process is unbiased so that the measured values reflect the true values; measurements are accurate if they lack systematic errors (precise measures lack random errors).
Aggression	Description of an act that is an outcome of an interaction. It can be appropriate or inappropriate. Aggressive is often used as a descriptive term for intense, enthusiastic, or forceful behavior of any kind, and these dogs may not be truly aggressive or possess aggression.
Agility	A character trait which describes the natural (running) speed, surefootedness, and coordination, and the ability of the dog to correct and recover.
Agility Course	Series of operationally relevant obstacles designed to acclimate the dog to various stressful environments and increase the dog's capability to successfully perform in those environments, or test the dog’s capability to perform in a [pet] competition environment.
Allele	(Scientific usage) one of the possible forms of a given gene; alleles of a particular gene occupy the same position on locus on the homologous chromosomes (e.g., each chromosome set comes as a pair - each parent contributes1 set of info to complete the pair).
Blind experiments	(Scientific usage) Experiments are considered blind if the person obtaining the measurements does not know what the treatments were.
Chromosome	(Scientific usage) threadlike structure of DNA and RNA that carries genes and that resides in the nucleus of each cell; chromosomes are paired in body or somatic cells (= diploid or 2N) and occur in single copies or ½ the pair in sex cells (= haploid or 1 N); the number of chromosomes found in each nucleus - the diploid # - is characteristic of each species (humans have 23 pair of chromosomes or a diploid # of 46; 1 pair of chromosomes determine sex, and the others are called autosomes; dogs have 39 chromosome pairs, 38 of which are autosomes).
Classical Conditioning	Classical or Pavlovian conditioning is a form of learning by making associations. In the true sense it involves a neutral stimulus, an unconscious response, and a conditioned response that links the first two. Classical conditioning is a simple form of behavior modification where a neutral stimulus elicits the behavior for which there was formerly no association. Once established, classical conditioning leads to anticipation.
Coercion Training See Positive Reinforcement; motivation	Coercion deals with compliance induced by physical or mental pleasure.
Compulsion Training	Training by the use of threat or force.
Concentration	The dog’s focus on the area of search. (further specification will be discipline specific)
Confidence	When a dog is conditioned to know when it can act on its abilities. An environmentally conditioned acceptance of safety. The dog is conditioned in such a way that it anticipates that it can accomplish the behavior safely.
Confounding factors	(Scientific usage) these are the other things that change in the course of an experiment that should be controlled. If you don’t control these aspects you are at risk for not measuring what you think you are measuring.
Consistency / reliability	(Scientific usage) see Reliability / consistency; consistent measures are those where repeated measurements of the same thing produce the same results
Control	(Scientific usage) the variable that does not change in an experiment.
Co-Ordination/Timing	The handler’s ability to correctly recognize and reward a desired behavior of the dog, or redirect or stop an undesired behavior. .
Correlation	(Scientific usage) a correlation is an association between 2 variables, when the variables are linearly related. Correlation does not imply cause. There are 3 reasons for correlations: A can cause B, B can cause A, or A and B are independently related to another variable, C.
Courage	The absence of fearful behavior towards real or imagined danger; such as the ability to rebound from unnerving situations.
Decision Making	The handler’s ability to recognize the dog’s reactions and then translate and communicate to other officers whether or not the detector dog alerted to the presence of a trained odor. Note: See “Alert “ re: the ability to distinguish and a more specific definition
Dependent variable	(Scientific usage) in the most simple experiment this is the item whose response you measure.
Deployment	After initial assessment of the search environment, the handler conducts an efficient, effective and thorough search.
Detector/Detection Dog	A dog trained to detect and alert to or indicate the presence of certain scents / odors which are trained.
Diploid	(Scientific usage) a cell or organism with twice the haploid # (2N) of chromosomes - produced by mating (N = haploid # of chromosomes).
Discriminative Stimulus	Stimulus that signals when a particular response produces particular consequences.
Distractibility	The tendency to be easily diverted from task.
DNA- deoxyribonucleic acid	(Scientific usage) the building structure of heritable material which is formed into a code. The code has only 4 components, called base pairs. The 4 DNA base pairs are: adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine. It’s the order of these codes that specifies which proteins are made in conjunction with RNA (ribonucleic acid), which help read the code and follow its instructions within the cell.
Dog Handler	The trained person who works the dog.
Double blind	(Scientific usage) A double blind condition occurs when neither the experimenter nor the observer knows which treatments were given to which subjects. This is the most powerful of the designs to remove experimental and experimenter bias, but it requires careful thought and a coded design.
Drive	Propensity to exhibit a particular pattern of behaviors to particular stimuli. Drives can be enhanced or diminished through experience (i.e. training, environment, etc.), but they can never be created or eliminated. Expression of the relationship between the inter-environment of the animal which includes genetics and the external environment which includes experience.
Examination	A physical, written or (oral) test.
Experimental bias	(Scientific usage) Anyone testing any idea has a strong expectation about the outcome, and an interest in not being mistaken. This is the experimental bias. The only way to control for this is by ensuring the person making the measurements does not know what treatment each subject received until the experiment is completed.
Fear	A behavioral response in the presence of real or imagined danger involving avoidance and, or withdrawal under circumstances where the dog is distressed.
Gene	(Scientific usage) a unit of hereditary material contained on the chromosome; this term is now commonly used to represent a unique sequence of nucleotide bases that comprise a DNA sequence; the gene is generally regarded as the smallest complete unit of heredity, but it is important to remember that most genes are not overtly expressed in an obvious manner in the phenotype - most genes regulate other genes.
Haploid	(Scientific usage) a cell like a sperm cell or egg that contain the haploid # (1N) of chromosomes; each chromosome is ½ of each parental pair of homologous chromosomes; when brought together via fertilization a complete set of chromosome pairs is generated.
Hardness	It is a mental and/or physical resiliency to unpleasant experiences. Hard dogs are highly ‘recoverable’. This does not mean that the dog requires harsh or physical corrections.
Heterozygote	(Scientific usage) a situation where alleles are the different at the 2 loci on homologous chromosomes (the contribution from each parent was different).
Homozygote	(Scientific usage) a situation where alleles are the same at the 2 loci on homologous chromosomes (the contribution from each parent was the same).
Husbandry	The daily care, feeding, exercise, and meeting of the behavioral / mental / ‘emotional’ needs of the dog.
Independence	The dog’s capability to perform without assistance or being influenced by the handler.
Independent / independence	(Scientific usage) statistical studies assume a property called independence - a situation where the data collected are not related to each other because they come from a random sample from the population examined; independence is often assumed but seldom tested; good statistical testing tests for independence when its presence is unclear.
Independent variable	(Scientific usage) in the most simple experiment this is the item that you vary or that varies as a function of the way the experiment is designed.
Indication	The dog’s response to the odor in the manner in which it has been trained, independently and without distraction.
Instinct	The innate tendency to react in specific ways in specific circumstances.
Interest	(1) A noticeable, readable physical change in behavior in a detector dog during the search when he / she detects the possible presence of a target odor or another interesting odor. This can precede an actual alert [in work]. See “indication” for a specific target odor response. (2) The period of time after the dog’s initial alert (detection) when the dog displays enthusiasm and desire to remain and explore, rather than leave the area where the trained odor is concealed [in training].
Inter-observer reliability	(Scientific usage) the extent to which different observers obtain the same results when measuring the same behavior; this is often also called repeatability; this can be a function of the humans, but it is more a function of the scoring system
Intra-observer reliability	(Scientific usage) see Reliability / consistency.
Kennel Assistant	The trained person who undertakes husbandry duties in the absence of the handler.
Locus (plural loci)	(Scientific usage) the position of a gene on a chromosome; alleles (or forms of the gene) occupy the same locus on each of the homologous chromosomes.
Maintenance Training	Continuing training conducted beyond the initial training of a discipline, designed to maintain a level of proficiency by ensuring the team’s capability to perform desired tasks.
Methodology	The particular training practices and operational tactics that are implemented.
Multi Purpose Dog	A dog trained in more than one discipline. i.e.-patrol/narcotic or patrol/explosive
Null hypothesis	(Scientific usage) the beginning assumption in any experiment or test is that there is no effect of the procedure; this is the hypothesis against which you test your idea.
Passive Response	A type of response that the dog displays/ indicates in a manner that doesn’t disturb the environment ( i.e.- sit, stand, or lie quietly after the detector dog has detected a trained odor).
Personal Protective Equipment	Equipment used for health and safety purposes.
Physical Fitness	Cardiovascular and musculoskeletal conditioning of the dog or handler for the work undertaken.
Possession	Upon presentation of the reward article, the dog takes the article without hesitation, and maintains a firm grip.
Power of a test	(Scientific usage) this is the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis when it is false; the probability of finding a true effect. Power is calculated by 1-$ where $ is the probability that you accept a hypothesis of no effect when it is false. When $ - the probability of missing the effect - is tiny, the power of the test is huge. Almost everyone evaluates ", but few people evaluate $. Yet the greater the power of a test the more likely that the effect will be detected. Generally, the larger the sample size (n), the smaller the $, the higher the power of the test. Statistical power can also be increased by an improved, more discrete, cleaner, et cetera research design.
Precision	(Scientific usage) a measure of how free the measured value is of random errors; precise measures need not be accurate....your computer may have a very precise clock, but if you don’t change it for daylight savings time it’s still inaccurate (wrong) for some times of the year; measurements are precise if they lack random errors (accurate measures lack systematic errors).
Prospective study	(Scientific usage) a study that identifies all the individuals who had a particular experience and follows them through time to see what happens as a result of that experience; the drawback here is that this takes a long time; retrospective studies generally provide hypotheses of mechanism or cause that can be tested in prospective studies.
Random / randomized	(Scientific usage) when the choice of something or the placement of something is random the substance placed is equally likely to be either substance.
Recall	The dog’s response to return to the handler on command.
Reliability / consistency	(Scientific usage) the extent to which a measure is repeatable and consistent and free from random errors; all measurements have random components because of imperfections in the measurement process, and the fact that when we measure something we usually change it a bit. Reliability is determined by precision, sensitivity, resolution, and consistency. It is the extent to which similar results are obtained when measuring the same behavior on different occasions. This term is usually used when evaluating observer behaviors, and is often also called intra-observer reliability.
Repeatability	(Scientific usage) see inter-observer reliability.
Replication	(Scientific usage) repetition of the experiment by others, or in other circumstances, that obtains the same results. It’s important to realize that findings can still be myth unless someone else can repeat the experiment and obtain the same results.
Residual odor	Minute quantities of odor from a substance that remain and can be detected after the actual substance has been removed.
Resolution	Scientific usage) the smallest change in the true value that can be detected; if you are using a scale with a lowest measure of a kg, it is not going to have a very good resolution for something weighing 3 grams.
Retrospective study	(Scientific usage) a study that examines patterns in all individuals with available data from the past; the drawback here is that you may not be able to find data for all the questions or associations in which you are interested because these data were not collected. Here, any controls must be statistical rather than experimental. For example, a model simulation is often used as a control.
Reward	The presentation of an article, toy, or praise given to the dog once the detector dog has alerted and responded to the odor(s) for which the dog is trained to detect. CF reinforcement
Scent association	When a dog learns to identify a trained odor with a specific reward.
Scent cone	The path of dispersion that the odor follows in the given wind or air currents, and in a given thermal environment.
Scent discrimination	A dog’s olfactory ability to distinguish between various odors.
Scent picture	The combination of odors that is present when a detector dog responds to a trained odor.
Sensitivity	(Scientific usage) a measure of how much small changes in the true value lead to changes in the measured value; this term is commonly used in diagnostic tests....sensitive tests detect even very low levels of infection; sensitivity is a measure of what you could miss; the ideal diagnostic test has both high specificity and sensitivity; temperament evaluations using predictive values could use the same terminology.
Sensory Threshold	A character trait which describes the amount of stimuli which is necessary to elicit a response from the dog.
Sharpness	A character trait which is the tendency to react to stimuli with aggressive behavior.
SI units	(Scientific usage) Système International d’Unités - This is the international system of measurement. It uses meters, kilograms, et cetera and has a standardized set of abbreviations. If you wish to publish, you will have to use this system, not one involving feet and pounds.
Sociability with humans	The dog’s age and situational appropriate comfort and interaction with people.
Sociability with other dogs	The dog’s age and situational appropriate comfort and interaction with other dogs.
Softness	A character trait which is a mental and/or physical sensitivity to unpleasant experiences.
Species Preservation	The genetically based blueprint for behaviors which deal with the past, present and future life of the canine species.
Specificity	(Scientific usage) the extent to which the measure describes what it is intended to describe and nothing else; this term is commonly used in diagnostic tests....specific tests detect ONLY that disease, not all diseases that cause a similar reaction; the ideal diagnostic test has both high specificity and sensitivity; temperament evaluations using predictive values could use the same terminology.
Statistical significance	(Scientific usage) the level of statistical significance is the probability of obtaining the observed result – or a more exaggerated one - if the null hypothesis of no effect was true. The statistical significance is usually represented as alpha / ". This is really the probability the result was due to chance alone and that there was no effect of whatever you did. The arbitrary level at which " is usually set is 0.05. This means that there are 5 chances in 100 that the pattern you have established is due to chance, alone. Something is either significant or it is not. Statisticians are driven crazy by people who say their result ‘approaches significance’. More robust tests do not assume a level of significance and tell you what the likelihood that you are wrong actually is.
Trainability	A character trait which is psychological, yet the manifestation of trainability is physical. It is observed in two manifestations: (1) Spontaneous attempts to perform the will of the pack leader (handler), and (2) volume of behaviors, which can be learned.
Type I error	(Scientific usage) this is the mistake you make when you reject the null hypothesis (you say there is an effect) and it is true (there is really NO effect). This is also called a false positive - detecting an effect where none exists (e.g., You are tested for Lyme disease using the first-pass diagnostic assay. It is positive and so you are treated for joint pain. Unfortunately, the pain is due to a ligament tear which is apparent as you fail to improve. Further testing reveals no Lyme organisms. The first pass test was subject to Type I error.).
Type II error	(Scientific usage) this is the mistake you make when you accept the null hypothesis (there is no effect) when it is false (there really IS an effect). This is also called a false negative - failure to detect a real effect (eg, You are tested for Lyme disease using the first-pass diagnostic assay. It is negative. Further testing reveals the Lyme organism. The first pass test was subject to Type II error.)
Validity	(Scientific usage) the extent to which a measurement actually measures what you want to measure, and, in doing so, provides information relevant to the questions asked; valid measures provide a good, close relationship between a variable (eg, a measure of behavior) and that which the measure is intended to predict about the world. Validity has 2 aspects: accuracy and specificity.
Variable	(Scientific usage) an identifiable facet (e.g., size, outcome of a test, et cetera) that can be measured.
Voice Inflection	Correct use of the voice employing tone, pitch and volume appropriately to the situation as required.