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 like nosework, what she's learned about being a better handler, and why she considers herself a smellevangelist.
What we talk about:
- The origin of wesmellbetter.com — holiday complaining, a visiting brother who knew how to scrape websites, and Doug deciding to learn Python
- What other competitors say about the site.
- The alerts feature — Kristi's current infatuation and why you probably want to sign up for them
- The Trial Finder, the achievement section, and the NQ tracking most people don't know about
- How the site changed the way Scot thinks about titles, and why Kristi blames herself for his new spending habits
- The story of Kristi's first nose work dog — and what she figured out years later that explains everything
- Nose work as rehabilitation — how it became the right tool at exactly the right moment
- Handler challenges — living in the moment and what Kristi calls odor goggles
- What coaching finally taught her about her job as a handler
- Stress management for dog sports — Hélène Lawler's curriculum and what it actually addresses
- Seven questions with Kristi — including her dog's favorite reward, what her dog would say about her as a handler, a very specific strategy she had for dealing with a very unique distractor in a Detective search.
Find Kristi: wesmellbetter.com — sign up for a free account and the alerts feature
Facebook: We Smell Better
Alert! Scent Work is a podcast for competitors — the parking lot conversations you'd never get to have at a trial, with the judges and community members you wish you had more time with.
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