All About Scent Work Podcast

Our dogs regularly encounter and experience stressors, be it in their daily lives or when they are training or trialing in Scent Work. The number and type of stressor the dog must contend with at any one time will inform whether they can rise to the occasion or crumble under the pressure. Visualize a watermelon and wrapping a single rubber band around it. A stressor has been applied, but the water...

Scent Work Judges and trial officials offer a unique and informed perspective that can provide golden nuggets of brilliance and insights to competitors. Enter Scot Singpiel of the Alert! Scent Work Podcast , who interviews these experts from a competitor’s perspective. In this spotlight episode, we highlight what inspired Scot to create the Alert! Scent Work Podcast, his desire to learn as much as...

Jason Heng is a longtime member of the Nose Work community, having traveled across the United States to compete with his dogs, who has trained and coached teams as a Certified Nose Work Instructor and has officiated trials both as a NACSW Certifying Official and Judge for many years. In this episode, Jason shares his observations both as a trial official and coach, particularly as it pertains to c...

In this episode, we have the distinct privilege of speaking with Melissa McCue-McGrath about how she has used Scent Work training within her behavior modification programs, her participation in the Invasive Species Detection Study 2024 for the Spotted Lantern Fly and her upcoming book, Misadventures of the World's Okayest Dog Trainer . This discussion highlights the power of Scent Work, how it can...

Pressure exists in all our searches, both when we are training and trialing. The question is, what do we do with this pressure? How do we react to it? Should we avoid a pressure point or lean into it? The answer is not quite as clear as you may think. The approach one team takes may be completely inappropriate for another. Also, what a team does will likely change from search-to-search. The choice...

In this episode, we have the privilege of speaking with Adam Skandarani about their new monthly membership program, Smelly Dog Club . Leveraging their behavioral background, Adam has designed this coaching program to help those teams who are experiencing nagging issues in their searches, whether when training or at trial. Adam discusses how the root causes may not be as simple as they seem. Is you...

In Scent Work, there are two players at work: the dog and the handler. Who is taking a leading role and who is supporting? Who is making the decisions, when, why and how? What are these players communicating and are they listening to one another? The roles within the search exist on a shared spectrum of extremes. On one polar extreme, the dog is doing everything and on the other, the handler is di...

The one skill that torments many Scent Work teams is the handler's ability to correctly read their dog. There is so much on the line! Getting a "No" when training is bad enough but hearing the dreaded “No” at a trial, that is so much worse! It can feel as though the floor is collapsing out from under you. Thus, it makes sense that people clamor for a definitive neon sign from their dog, “HIDE IS H...

Particularly for those teams interested in competing in Scent Work trials, ensuring they and their dogs are ready is an important part of the process. Can they perform in a novel environment and under pressure? This is where mock trials and Sniff N' Go events come into play. Essential information gathering tools, participating in these events should be part of the process before a team steps to th...

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with the co-founders of K9 Nose Work® and NACSW™, Amy Herot and Jill Marie O'Brien regarding the Instructor Certification Program. In this episode, Amy and Jill discuss why the Instructor Certification Program was created, what prospective instructors can expected from the program, the benefits afforded dogs, handlers and instructors alike and their...

This episode features an exciting conversation with Anita Ambani of The Scholarly Scentz, LLC regarding her "Project Poodle", an ongoing endeavor designed to help her young dog Figment become more confident especially when it concern being around people. Throughout this discussion, Anita highlights how she leverages Figment's love for Nosework, to further build his comfort working inside novel int...

When training our dogs, it is far too easy to assume all is well. We get one good rep and immediately assume, "the dog got it, now we can progress!" However, does the dog truly understand what we want them to do? Do WE really know what we want them to do?! Do we have a concept of WHY we are doing something, HOW it is being perceived by the dog and WHAT to do if they are indeed confused? In this ep...

Scent Work is a unique dog sport as handlers are encouraged and expected to reward their dogs upon finding a hide or finishing a search. However, does it matter HOW we reward the dog, especially when using treats? "I gave my dog is a cookie, isn't that enough?" NO! In this episode, we speak with Emma Parsons, the author of The New Click to Calm; Solutions for All Dogs in a Challenging World and Te...

In this Spotlight Series episode, we have the opportunity to speak with Dr. John Strassner, an Expert AKC Scent Work Judge and former AKC Field Representative. We delve into John's admirable enthusiasm for the sport of Scent Work, his desire to give back, grow and continually learn all while having a fantastic time with his own personal dogs. John's love for Scent Work is contagious and we are tha...

You are taking a Scent Work class, attending a working or webinar, reading a blog or listening to a podcast and you hear the phrase, "break it down". What does this even mean?! How can go about "breaking it down" when training or practicing Scent Work with your dog? We delve into the meaning behind this phrase, discuss the various factors we can play with when training Scent Work and highlight why...

Have you ever felt as though you were being smothered by a blanket of doubt when it comes to Scent Work? Are you second guessing every little thing you do, paralyzed with fear of making a mistake? Perhaps you are making excuses not to trial, go to class or even practice or train. As an instructor, do you feel your confidence absolutely shattered, concerned you will be found out to not know anythin...

There exists a world of opportunities in the days immediately before and after a given trial. What we choose to do with our dogs during these days can have an immense impact on our performance on trial day or how we rebound afterwards. In this episode, we discuss some of the things to consider when deciding what to do before and after trial. This is an enormous topic, so this discussion is more ge...

Consequences are all bad things, right? Not necessarily. When training, consequences are merely results, not inherently good or bad. By embracing the concept of consequences, we can make more informed decisions of what we will train, when and how. We discuss ways we can do just that in this podcast episode. Additionally, Dianna mentions Judith Guthrie and Michele Ellertson, both of whom are excell...

Each of us have certain "hats" we wear pertaining to Scent Work. Dog owner. Handler. Competitor. Instructor. Trial official. Trial host. Volunteer. Each "hat" brings with it unique experiences, viewpoints and biases. We can broaden our experiences, push passed blind spots and deficiencies by attempting to experience as many viewpoints as possible. Own a super fast moving dog? Borrowing a classmate...

Training Scent Work offers us a multitude of choices. What training approach, school of thought or tools will we use? Each of us has our own preferences. However, this sometimes leads us to label the options we discarded, or chose to pass by, as "BAD". In this wide-ranging episode, we dive into why this happens and how it can be an issue. Instead, the argument is made that we should learn as much...

Choosing to trial with our dogs requires that we ask some questions. Would trialing be the best thing for us, our dogs and our team, right now, at this point in time? The answers will differ from team-to-team, but the act of the purposefully practicing honest advocacy is something everyone participating in Scent Work should do. This approach allows us to better determine which paths or decisions w...

When tackling your searches, are you keeping your dog's perspective in mind? Meaning, how they are perceiving the space or environment? Doing so can be harder than it sounds, since we as people are oftentimes desensitized to the normal happenings of a human world. Yet these may be the very things which make a search exponentially more challenging for our dogs. In this episode, we discuss the impor...

Do you feel as though you are running at top speed on a hamster wheel and unable to get off? There are many of us in the sniffing community that may feel this way! Handlers who are doing all of the things all of the time, running themselves, and their dogs, ragged. Trial hosts, who after spending months working tirelessly to prep for an event, find themselves receiving requests to host even more e...

When it comes to trialing in Scent Work within the United States, there many competition organizations to choose from. This variety grants us an incredible opportunity: to be strategic. This is true for new and seasoned competitors alike. We can more fully realize the potential of mindfully leveraging our choices, deciding which organization we compete with, when and why and even carefully choosin...

Why are we doing Scent Work in the first place? What drew us to this activity? We are all so incredibly busy, stretched ridiculously thin, constantly rushing from one thing to next. Why then are we still squeezing searching into our already jam-packed calendars? Is it really all about the titles or ribbons? Or is it something else? Could it be the addictive joy that our dogs exude as they rush aro...