Acclimate - Become accustom to a different environment or circumstances.

Active Alert - Dog indicates the scent source by an aggressive manner, digging, barking or both.

Air Scent - Searching for scent carried on the wind. The dog is trained to follow airborne scent to the strongest point.

Alert - To perform a trained response when the dog has located the scent or object it has been imprinted to find.

Attitude Change - A noticeable change in the movement, working, breathing, or intensity of the dog while working.

False Alert - When the dog alerts for no apparent reason, or when none is present.

Free Search - A style of searching where the dog is free to search without direction from the handler.

Grid Search - A controlled methodical search using a grid or defined pattern, to ensure coverage of an area.

Hasty Search - A quick search of an area, usually done in the first part of a search for a lost person. Usually covering logical areas like roads and trails.

Imprinting - The introduction to a scent that the dog will be asked to search for.

Passive Alert - A performed response upon locating something the dog has been trained to locate. Causing little or no damage to the crime scene.

Refind - A trained response by the dog to show the handler what they have found. Also called pinpointing.

Scent Pool - Scent particles that have been caught on something or collected in an area not necessarily at the source of the scent.

Scent Cone - Scent particles are blown in the wind in a cone pattern getting wider the further away it gets from the source.

Source - Refers to the object the dog is looking for.

Medical Terms

Adipocere (Waxy fat) - A grayish-white colored substance that forms under conditions of high humidity and high environmental heat on a dead body.

Autopsy - Medical examination of a deceased body. Postmortem Examination Forensic Autopsy Examination of a deceased person to determine cause of death.

Decomposition - Disintegration of body tissues after death.

Hantavirus - A virus that can be transmitted to humans, spread from rodent urine and feces .

Lividity - Purplish-blue discoloration due to the settling of blood. Also called Livor Mortis.

Livor Mortis - See Lividity.

Medical Examiner - Usually a medical doctor who performs the autopsy's to determine cause of death.

Mummification - The results from drying of tissues under conditions of high environmental temperature, low humidity and good ventilation. Also called Parchmentation.

Osteology - The study of bones. Postmortem Rigidity See Rigor Mortis.

Putrefaction - The post mortem destruction of soft tissues by bacteria and enzymes. Usually evident starting 36-72 hours after death.

Postmortem - Occurring after death.

Residual Scent - Scent that is persisting in an area after the original source is no longer present. Scent persists in an area to the degree that environmental influences do not degrade whatever it is that forms the scent to the point that it either cannot be sensed or cannot be differentiated.

Rigor Mortis - The stiffening of the muscles in the body after death.