Certification testing as an acute naturalistic stressor for disaster dog handlers

Figures & data

Figure 1  (A) Rubble pile simulating disaster scene. (B) Sample hiding location for victim, shown by arrow.

Figure 2  Pretest and posttest salivary (A) cortisol concentrations (nmol/L) and (B) testosterone concentrations (pg/L) of handlers (black bars; N = 16) and controls (gray bars; N = 6). Data represent means ± SEM (SE of mean). Asterisks represent statistically significant differences between groups as shown by Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc tests following ANOVA; ***p ≤ 0.001; *p < 0.05.

Table I.  Pretest and posttest subjective stress ratings by handlers and controls for themselves and their dogs.

					Percentiles
	Mean	Std. deviation	Minimum	Maximum	25th	50th (Median)	75th
Controls (n = 6)
Pretest control	1.67	0.516	1	2	1.00	2.00	2.00
Posttest control*	1.17	0.408	1	2	1.00	1.00	1.25
Pretest dog	1.50	0.837	1	3	1.00	1.00	2.25
Posttest dog	1.33	0.516	1	2	1.00	1.00	2.00
Handlers (n = 16)
Pretest handler**	2.06	0.680	1	4	2.00	2.00	2.00
Posttest handler*	2.31	1.250	1	5	1.00	2.00	3.00
Pretest dog***	1.38	0.719	1	3	1.00	1.00	1.75
Posttest dog**	2.19	1.223	1	5	1.00	2.00	3.00

Note. Significant comparisons: *p = 0.04; **p = 0.008; ***p = 0.01.

Table II.  Pearson correlations between cortisol and testosterone values within the Handler group (n = 16).

	Pretest cortisol	Posttest cortisol	Pretest testosterone	Posttest testosterone
Pretest cortisol	1	0.190	− 0.094	0.021
Posttest cortisol		1	− 0.263	0.021
Pretest testosterone			1	0.799*
Posttest testosterone				1

*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two tailed).

Table III.  Spearman correlations between cortisol/testosterone concentrations and subjective stress ratings for handlers and dogs within the handler group (n = 16).

Pretest/Posttest subjective stress ratings	Pretest cortisol	Posttest cortisol	Pretest testosterone	Posttest testosterone
Pretest subjective stress ratings: Handlers	0.389	0.408	0.151	0.420
Pretest subjective stress ratings: Dogs	− 0.356	− 0.217	0.151	0.306
Posttest subjective stress ratings: Handlers	− 0.444	0.282	− 0.207	0.170
Posttest subjective stress ratings: Dogs	− 0.138	0.548*	− 0.063	0.127

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two tailed).

Table IV.  Kendall τ-b correlations between subjective stress ratings for handlers and dogs within the handler group (n = 16).

Subjective stress ratings	Pretest handlers	Pretest dogs	Posttest handlers	Posttest dogs
Pretest handlers	1	0.286	0.140	0.299
Pretest dogs		1	0.297	0.345
Posttest handlers			1	0.561*
Posttest dogs				1

*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two tailed).

Figure 3  Posttest salivary cortisol concentrations (nmol/L) of handlers who (A) passed (black bars; N = 12) or failed (gray bars; N = 4) certification and (B) not firefighters (black bar; N = 9) or firefighters (gray bar; N = 7). Data represent means ± SEM (SE of mean). Asterisks represent statistically significant differences between groups as shown by student's t-tests; *p < 0.05.