Melissa Sowa has been judging since buried hides had to be placed using a drill. She's competed through Summit in NACSW and detective in AKC, and judges for AKC, C-WAGS, and USCSS. When she talks about what works and what doesn't in this sport, she has seen it from just about every angle there is. And a lot of what she comes back to is the same idea. Take your time. At the start line. Covering your search area. Moving up the levels. Paying your dog. It shows up everywhere in this conversation an

Dianna Santos came to scent work through a dog-aggressive Doberman who needed a reason to be a dog. Zeus couldn't go for walks. He couldn't be around other dogs. His world was shrinking, and so was hers. What happened when he started searching changed him. It also changed how she thinks about this activity: who it's for, what it can do, and why she believes every dog with a nose deserves to play it. She went on to build Scent Work University and produce over 140 episodes of the All About Scent W

Kristi Murdock might be the most appreciated person in AKC Scent Work. She built wesmellbetter.com, a free site that tracks every qualifying score, title, placement, and fastest-in-trial result in the sport. I talk to Kristi about the site's origin, what she thinks is the coolest feature more people need to know about, and how people use the site to increase their enjoyment of scent work. But this episode is also about Kristi as a competitor. We talk about why, at first, her dog didn't seem to l

I ran under Karen Allen at a detective trial and didn't Q. What stayed with me wasn't the result, it was the feeling walking away. She was rooting for us. That's who she is as a judge, and it's a big part of why I wanted to have this conversation. One of the threads running through this whole conversation is how much we impact our dogs without realizing it. Body chatter. Disappointment going down the leash. Turning away at the wrong moment. Not opening your body to give permission. A lot of us a

When I started out in scent work, I thought it was simple: place a hide, dog finds the hide, call alert. Judith Guthrie started pulling that apart the first time I sat down near her at a trial. What she was saying about odor behavior and how handlers were impacting their dogs blew my mind. Judith brings together a deep understanding of odor theory, dog psychology, and handling strategy all in one place. I didn't even know they were three separate things. In this conversation, she shares her 100

In scent work, we talk a lot about odor theory, training, and handling technique. But there's something else affecting your performance, your dog's performance, and your experience of the sport that doesn't get nearly enough attention — pressure. Penny Scott-Fox has been watching what it does to competitors, dogs, clubs, and judges, and she wanted to talk about it. Before we get to the main topic, we start with her recent 2 minute and 14 second detective run. I had to ask how that was even possi