Continuum = 1. A set of things on a scale which have a particular characteristic to varying degrees. For example, ‘these various complaints are part of a continuum of ill-health’. 2. A continuous series of closely related events. For example, ‘responses to stress from mild to severe on the continuum’.

A continuum may show, in diagrammatic form, an otherwise complex series of events and, ultimately, aid understanding. Two examples, as applied to dog training, are shown below. Others could include shyness, aggression, intelligence, personality/traits.

Pavlovian conditioning may variously be known as ‘reflexive conditioning’, ‘respondent conditioning’ or, more usually, ‘classical conditioning’.