All About Scent Work Podcast
Education & Explainer
About
In this podcast, we will discuss all things Scent Work! From training tips, to preparing for trial to a behind-the-scenes look at what your instructor or trial officials may be going through, we will cover it all. This podcast is provided by Scent Work University, an online dog training platform that combines quality, convenience and flexibility to help you achieve your Scent Work training needs. Happy Training!
Episodes
- Leaning Into What Works with Jason Heng
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…
- Scent Work, Behavior and Invasive Species with Melissa McCue-McGrath
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…
- Pressure: Avoid or Lean In?
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 yo…
- Smelly Dog Club with Adam Skandarani
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 a…
- Finding the Balance
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 a…
- Truly Seeing the Dog
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…
- Making the Case for Mock Trials and Sniff N' Gos
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 an…
- Instructor Certification Program: Amy Herot and Jill Marie O'Brien
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 Ce…
- Anita Ambani and Project Poodle
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…
- Does the Dog Truly Understand?
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…
- Power of Effective Treat Delivery with Emma Parsons
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 cooki…
- Spotlight: Epitome of Enthusiasm - Dr. John Strassner
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 desi…
- Break It Down...What Does That Mean?!
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 practicin…
- Imposter Syndrome: Discussion with Teah Anders and Silke Wittig
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 tria…
- Before and After the Trial
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…
- Embracing Consequences
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…
- Wearing All the Hats
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 exp…
- That's BAD! ... Or Is It?
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…
- Honest Advocacy and Trialing
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 purposeful…
- Dog's Perspective
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 hap…
- Getting Off the Hamster Wheel
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 themselve…
- Strategic Trialing
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.…
- Are We Asking the Right Questions?
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 alread…
- Scent Work is Hard!
There are many moving pieces when it comes to the activity of Scent Work. A common misconception is that Scent Work is easy: train dog to find thing, hide thing in area, dog finds thing, give dog cookie. Yet, to accomplish even this watere…
- Dog Asked a Question...Is That Bad?
You're tackling a search with your dog. They have found a few hides and there are one or more hides left. Suddenly, they stop and look back at you. They are not near anything, they are not alerting...no, they are asking a dreaded question!…
- Perspectives and Blind Spots
It is far too easy to develop blind spots when training or trialing with our dogs, working with clients, designing searches as a trial official, finding or running trials as a host or evaluating rules or regulations as a competition organi…
- Art of Giving and Receiving Information
Instructors are tasked to share their knowledge and expertise with their human clients in such a way that the client can then internalize, understand and interpret that information for their dog. This is no easy task! However, it becomes c…
- Importance of Flexibility
It is all too common to find ourselves making statements such as, "At this stage, I should do THIS" or "After this STEP, I follow this STEP and then that STEP." What's the issue you may ask? Well, this line of thinking is rather concrete.…
- Spotlight: Kayla Dever and Samantha Winslow
In this spotlight episode, we have the distinct privilege to speak to Kayla Dever and Samantha Winslow of Every Dog Nosework about how they plunged into helping build the Nose Work community in their area. This includes developing their tr…
- Is the Issue Scent Work Related?
It is interesting how when it comes to Scent Work, everything is seemingly viewed through the lens of the dog's ability to hunt and source their hides. If something doesn't go well, that means we must do more searches, right? In this episo…
- Spotlight: Foster Dog Sniffer School
In this Spotlight Series episode, we have the distinct privilege of speaking with Lori Timberlake of Do Over Dog Training regarding her amazing Foster Dog Sniffer School program . This is an incredible program designed to help shelter and…
- Keeping It Safe: The Choices We Make Matter
The choices we make regarding our reactive, sensitive and aggressive dogs is an important conversation to have. It is paramount that safety be a significant factor. This is especially true when we are considering whether to trial with our…
- Our Misleading Dialogue
When it comes to training or trialing in Scent Work, we oftentimes have a running dialogue in our mind that may be less than accurate. Some common examples include: "My dog is distracted!" "My dog lies!" "My dog is so lazy!" "My leash hand…
- Meaning of Trial Results May Vary
Competing in Scent Work involves receiving qualifying or non-qualifying scores, earning titles or even placements...but what does all of this really mean?! Does every Q earned mean our training is utterly perfect, unicorns and rainbows, wh…
- Celebrate Learning Opportunities
We are living through an exciting time where there is a plethora of learning opportunities within the Scent Work training community! This includes access to countless experienced instructors and trainers who offer unique viewpoints and tra…
- Let's Talk: Creative Sniffy Events
As we play Scent Work, we work to develop skills for the dog, handler and team in our classes and training sessions. Especially for teams who are interested in competing, testing those skills with blind hides, time limits and other potenti…
- Let's Talk Reactive Dogs and Scent Work
One of the many wonderful aspects of Scent Work is how it is a benefical activity for so many categories of dogs, including reactive dogs. In this episode, we have the privilege to speak with Christina Young of Positive Dog , a certified d…
- Retiring a Dog from Nose Work
Whether it be due to old age, injuries, illness or simply not wanting to play the game anymore, we may find ourselves faced with the prospect of retiring our dogs from Nose Work. In this episode, we speak with Lori Timberlake of Do Over Do…
- Tale of Squeezing in a Training Session
We are all incredibly busy, fluttering around doing a million things at once. How often have you found yourself trying to squeeze in a Scent Work training session? "I've got a few minutes...let's do a quick search!" In this episode, Dianna…
- Take Time to Understand Odor
Regardless of why we are playing Scent Work or what our goals are, we should take time to better understand odor, odor theory and hide placement. In this episode, we discuss the benefits of better understanding these concepts and how doing…
- Embracing the Grey
Dealing with absolutes is riddled with issues. Yet it is far too common for statements containing "always" and "never" to be thrown around when discussing Scent Work. Black and white type thinking can be problematic to stay the very least.…
- Group Classes and Customization
Handlers should absolutely advocate for their dogs. They know their dogs best and will be the ones who will decide the short-term and long-term goals for themselves, their dog and their team as a unit. Handlers working with an instructor s…
- Issues with Success
As we are training and trialing in Scent Work, we will start accumulating successes. However, we should evaluate these successes objectively and honestly, otherwise we can start experiencing some issues. In this episode, we discuss why thi…
- Instructors: The Pain of Growth
Being a Scent Work instructor is an honor and a privilege. You devote countless hours learning and honing your craft, perfecting it with your own dogs and then transferring that knowledge to your clients. Those clients then go on to play t…
- There's More to Sniffing Success
When it comes to Scent Work, we work to to ensure our dog has solid odor recognition, that they find their hides valuable and are able to competently solve odor puzzles and source their hides both efficiently and effectively. However, to t…
- Cyber Scent Work: Games, Evaluators, Oh My!
In this episode, we discuss Cyber Scent Work and some of the changes, updates and new offerings including the launch of the Cyber Sniffing Games Program, the revamped Traditional Cyber Scent Work Program as well as introducing in-person as…
- Let’s Talk Odor with Amy Herot and Jill Marie O’Brien
For our 100th episode, we have the distinct privilege of speaking with the Co-Founders of NACSW , Amy Herot and Jill Marie O'Brien about all things odor, K9 Nose Work, training, trialing and more. ----more---- Speakers: Dianna L. Santos Am…
- Run on All Cylinders...Or Maybe Not
Are you going a million miles a minute when it comes to Scent Work? Doing all the training, learning, trialing possible, essentially all the things all the time? Or, do you feel as though MUST do all the things all the time to be a "good"…
- Instructors: Clients Cannot Live Inside Bubbles
As Scent Work Instructors, given our learning, background and expertise, we oftentimes have a fairly solid grasp for how a sniffy journey may go, common pitfalls teams may fall into and ways to avoid those pitfalls. Our desire is to help g…
- It Depends: Missed a Hide in Training
"It depends", one of the most common responses Scent Work instructors will give regarding what to do when a dog misses a hide in training. While this may be met with frustration and consternation from our clients, there is good reason for…