K9 Detection Collaborative

“What am I doing that’s setting my dog up where I feel like I need to reward for effort?”   Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, explore what it means to “ask your dog a question” in training. Rather than guessing why a dog is struggling or rushing to a fix, they recommend deliberately testing one criterion at a time to find out what the dog understands and where the breakdown is.   Stacy s...

“There are 100 ways to train a dog. And you’ve got to train the dog that’s in front of you.”   Our hosts, Robin Grubel and Stacy Barnett, unpack the role of markers in scent-detection training—and why a clicker or verbal “yes” isn’t a magic button. They explain the difference between a marker that signals the end of a behavior and a cue that asks the dog to do something. They also discuss how a cl...

“Ultimately, it is an art. There is an artistic side to dog training.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, are back with Paul Bunker of Chiron K9 to discuss the finer points of calibration and communication between dog and handler! Paul revisits breed temperament. As a few quick examples, pointers and chocolate Labradors are "pedantic," holding out for their exact target odor, wh...

“Don't trust your dog. Trust your training.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, sit down with Paul Bunker of Chiron K9. His path from an English farm to British military explosives work eventually led him into conservation detection projects around the globe. Deemed too short for the London police, Paul joined the British military in 1982 and was later tasked, after a fatal minefield...

What to listen for: "The future of leak detection isn't one technology replacing another. It's collaborating with this whole process and working together to save our water." In this second half of their conversation, our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, talk with Lolita Shaffer to move past the why of water leak detection dogs and into the how . A Cherokee Nation–funded...

What to listen for: “The certification isn't about proving that the dog can find a leak. It's about giving utilities confidence that the professional team can perform consistently, safely, ethically, and competently.” Lolita Shaffer joins our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, in this two-part conversation to talk all things water leak detection! It’s a growing niche in the dog trai...

What to listen for: “You can still support your dog, but you do not have to step in and solve [the problem].” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, sit down with returning guest Bob Deeds to unpack a week of Intentional Handling and Hide Setting, the detection camp the two hosts built years ago and this year expanded to fifteen students running six searches a day! Held on Robin's workin...

What to listen for: “Barking should be under stimulus control. It only happens when I cue it – or when the dog finds target odor – and nothing else.”   Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, unpack the reality behind bark alerts in detection work. They challenge the idea that a barking dog is always impressive or useful, and ask the critical question: can we train a bark alert versus should w...

What to listen for: “We are very good at selectively breeding, obviously to drive change in the shape, but not necessarily to drive performance.” Robin and Stacy continue their conversation with Dr. Lindsay Waldrop, a Chapman University fluid dynamicist who secured Navy funding to build the world's largest collection of micro-CT-scanned domestic dog skulls. Dr. Waldrop discusses why skull mor...

What to listen for: “We're such dumb visual monkeys. We can't process information any other way except for visuals; whereas the dogs have their brain structured around scent.” Dr. Lindsay Waldrop, a Chapman University fluid dynamicist whose dissertation explored how crabs sniff odor out of water, has spent recent years turning that expertise toward dogs. Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stac...

What to listen for: "If you are not doing search and rescue for the right reasons, you need to look in the mirror. Because it is not about you, and it's not about your dog." Today, our hosts, Stacy Barnett and Robin Greubel, have set the dogs aside (mostly!) to talk about something that affects every handler who has ever posted a training video, shown up to a webinar, or scrolled to...

What to listen for: “Everything I knew about my dog that I thought was true a week ago is no longer true. I have to reset my baseline and go, ‘Who are you today?’” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, pick up the conversation with Joy Brenner of K9 Medic. This time, they’re talking about turning everyday crate time into deliberate heat acclimation. Joy explains that many handlers keep cars...

What to listen for: “At the end of the day, taking care of our dogs is everyone’s job.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, talk with Joy Brenner of K9 Medic about looking at canine first aid not just from the perspective of flashy trauma response, but that of the quiet, daily work of truly knowing your dog. Joy, who began in human wilderness and tactical medicine, built K9 Medic to teach...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, chat about a peculiar kind of self-deception. The kind that costs years of training, thousands of dollars, and sometimes the well-being of both dog and handler. They call it beer goggles: the tendency to see the dog we want rather than the dog standing in front of us. Robin talks about Flash, her Lab who simply doesn't bark. Sele...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, welcome Bob Deeds back to debrief the first-ever chicken workshop hosted at Robin's farm. Bob, drawing on the legacy of Keller and Marian Breland and Bob Bailey, the operant conditioning pioneers behind Animal Behavior Enterprises and the IQ Zoo, explains that the chicken workshop isn't really about chickens at all! White Le...

What to listen for: "Unless you have a dog who is engaged with you, you can't build that relationship. And you can't get through distractions. It's impossible.” Today, our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, are talking relationships. Specifically, what it actually means to have one with your dog when the pressure is on. They argue that a real relationship isn't Kumbay...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, break down why "opting out" has become a buzzword that may obscure more than it reveals. While the term sounds empowering (giving dogs agency and choice), they argue it can become a self-congratulatory label that prevents handlers from addressing underlying training gaps. Stacy shares the story of 15-year-old Ray, who "...

What to listen for: In the second half of the conversation with Dr. Jennifer Essler, our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, discuss her current research and future goals bridging academic science with real-world handler expertise! At SUNY Cobleskill, Dr. Essler's conservation work demonstrates how detection dogs fill practical niches. Her Round Goby project (tracking invasive fish from t...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, sit down with canine cognition researcher Dr. Jennifer Essler. She unpacks her journey from coding Capuchin monkey videos in a windowless lab to studying fairness in wolves and dogs. Starting with music studies before discovering comparative psychology, Essler's academic trajectory took her from Georgia State's primate labs...

What to listen for: “Trust your dog, but trust your training first.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, welcome back veteran USAR handler Bob Deeds to talk about the artificial divide between working dog and sport detection communities, and why both sides desperately need each other! Bob shares his journey from FEMA disaster work into nose work, leading into his innovative "geo-scent...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, explore how drive, motivation, arousal, and focus work together as an integrated system—rather than isolated traits—to create elite performance. Using a car engine metaphor, Robin explains drive as the engine size or “genetic horsepower” a dog is born with. It’s fixed hardware that defines inherent desire for the work. Motivation is t...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, announce the opening of signups for the 2026 Distraction Camp and Intentional Handling and Hide Setting. Signups begin on January 4 at noon Central Standard Time. Christi Raak, who has been on the podcast, will lead the Distraction Camp, focusing on engagement, focus, arousal, and mobility. Lily Strassberg, currently in Israel, has gi...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, welcome veteran USAR handler Bob Deeds, whose journey from compulsion-based training to positive reinforcement transformed both his career and the field itself! His career trajectory spans volunteer search and rescue in the early nineties through Texas Task Force One, where he deployed to the World Trade Center with his partner, Kenzi...

What to listen for: Our hosts Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett explore generalization as the foundation of reliable detection work. Together, they reveal generalization as extending far beyond simple obedience across locations. It encompasses odor variability, environmental context, behavioral chains, and handler presentation. They explain how explosive and narcotic sources vary like chocolate-cake...

What to listen for: “[Being a part of] this podcast terrified me. Putting myself out there was so vulnerable, and I felt like it was such a big risk for you guys, as well. I’m so thankful. I’m glad you made me, but I’m also going to say I’m glad that I did it because in the end, I had the final say in buying the microphone and the headset.” After 151 episodes, Crystal Wing says goodbye (or rather,...