Alert! Scent Work

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 and in everything she sees as a judge.We also spend a lot of time on the handler side of things, because in scent work we talk a lot about training the dog but there is just as much to work on as the human half of the team.What we talk about:Detective search coverage, what covering an area really means, and what Melissa does before she calls finishOne hide syndrome, why it's real, what causes it, and what to do about itHow competing at Summit changed how detective search areas feel to herMemory as a skill, she said she has a horrible memory and walked us through exactly how she trained herself out of itHow you start the search is how it's going to goWhat organizational psychology taught her about rewarding her dogThe pay discrepancy between training and trialing and what to do about itDon't rush the levels, why staying and getting more practice can make a real differenceWhy you might pay for a lack of nos at the lower levelsWhat she sees handlers do that costs them Qs, things that have nothing to do with the dogInfluencing your dog, her thoughts, and how she idiot proofs her own dogs in trainingUSCSS and the stupid handler trick, yes this is a real competition elementTwo judge stories, one involving a metal detector, one involving a monsoonSeven questions with Melissa, signature distractors, what her dogs would say about her, and what happened when she played a kitten meowing and frogs chirping as audio distractors at trialsFind Melissa: vforcedogtraining.comFacebook: VForce Dog TrainingAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here: https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

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 PythonWhat other competitors say about the site.The alerts feature — Kristi's current infatuation and why you probably want to sign up for themThe Trial Finder, the achievement section, and the NQ tracking most people don't know aboutHow the site changed the way Scot thinks about titles, and why Kristi blames herself for his new spending habitsThe story of Kristi's first nose work dog — and what she figured out years later that explains everythingNose work as rehabilitation — how it became the right tool at exactly the right momentHandler challenges — living in the moment and what Kristi calls odor gogglesWhat coaching finally taught her about her job as a handlerStress management for dog sports — Hélène Lawler's curriculum and what it actually addressesSeven 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 featureFacebook: We Smell BetterAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here: https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

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 rule — a framework for balancing environment, airflow, hide complexity, and time to create level-appropriate challenges. Understanding it makes you a smarter competitor and a better trainer. She also talks about independence and hunt drive — what to do when your dog isn't in odor right away and how to train for it. And we talk about why not every search should be run the same, and why getting out of your local bubble and showing under judges you've never seen is one of the fastest ways to grow.What we talk about:Judith's origin story — SAR dogs, retired police dogs, horses, protection sports, and how Buddha brought it all into focusWhy scent work was such a powerful tool for a genetically reactive dog — and the important caveat that goes with thatWhat made Buddha and Judith such an effective team — and how she built that foundation from five weeks oldRon Gaunt's thumbs up / thumbs down feedback method — frustrating and brilliant at the same timeThe 100 rule — Judith's judging framework for creating level-appropriate challenges, and how competitors can use it to better understand what's going on in a searchHow time pressure fits into the 100 rule — and why a short time limit isn't what you think it isIndependence — the number one lesson from professional detection work, and why it matters in sport tooHow to build hunt drive in a dog that goes flat when there's no odor at the start lineRegional trends in scent work — why you should be putting yourself in front of judges from outside your areaThe names judges give to odor puzzles — and how closeness and inaccessibility work as modifiersWhy two hides of the same odor close together is not the problem your human brain thinks it isShrimp, demo dogs, and why training a dog to show you the whole odor picture can become a competition problemSeven questions with Judith — including what it means to honor the dog, her signature distractor, and why her dog would call her annoyingFind Judith: Facebook: Nose Dogs Detection Services Scent Work University: scentworku.com — search Judith Guthrie for classes and webinarsAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here: https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

Many competitors have seen Ana's AKC trial debrief videos — breaking down hide placement, odor movement, and what teams were experiencing in the search area. In this episode, the judge, trainer, and competitor talks about the lessons she has learned from years of watching teams search.Before scent work, Ana had a career in medicine and medical education. She views judging as education — through the hides she sets, the briefings she gives, and the debriefs she shares publicly after every trial. In my observation, that medical background shows up in how she approaches the sport — doctors are always learning, digesting new material, and teaching it to others at the same time. You can see that in how deeply Ana understands odor theory and how dogs work.And if you've ever wondered what the dogs would say about us in the parking lot after a trial — Ana has some thoughts on that too.What we talk about:Ana's origin story — this is a familiar story about how scent work wasn't even the thing until it was the thingThe recurring themes she sees across her debriefs — what handlers consistently struggle with and what the best teams do differentlyClose proximity hides and convergence — why handlers miss them and what to do about itWhy handlers over-handle under pressure — and what the dog thinks about itThe twenty-plus picnic table search — what Ana was testing and why competitors over-focused on the objects instead of the odorHow dogs perceive a search area versus how handlers perceive it — and why that difference mattersAna's distractor philosophy — why she uses food distractors, what she tests with them, and why gummy bears tripped up more dogs than baconWhy the boundaries define where hides are placed but not where odor goes — and how to help your dog collect information outside the search areaRetiring Axel from competition — and why making that call was the right thing for their teamSeven questions with Ana — what she loves to see teams celebrate, her signature distractor, the best compliment she ever received, and what Axel and VI would say about her as a handlerFind Ana: YouTube: Ana Cilursu for her AKC trial debrief videos:Training: Rots-n-Nots NoseworkStaten Island Companion Dog Training Club — nose work instructorAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here:https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/ #ScentWork

Vicky Lovejoy was there at the very beginning — before formal trials existed, before organizations formed, when a group of enthusiasts in the Los Angeles area were just figuring out what this sport could be alongside founders Ron Gaunt, Amy Herot, and Jill Marie O'Brien.She has been competing and judging across AKC, NACSW, UKC, NASDA, and more ever since. In this episode, Vicky brings a perspective on scent work that very few people can offer — she has seen it from just about every angle, as a competitor, a judge, a trainer, and someone who was there when the sport was invented. Her dogs, by the way, all have an aviation theme. Beryl Markham, the pilot. Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega. Bessie the Fire Horse. Gaston — said with a French accent. And Phoenix, the outlier.What we talk about:Vicky's origin story — from a shepherd with elbow dysplasia to being one of the first people to compete in what would become organized scent workWhat hooked her — and why she describes the sport as the dog teaching us rather than the other way aroundHow breed and individual tendencies shape how dogs search — including why her shepherds would catalog hides and check the perimeter before committing, and why herding dogs often go to the back of the search area firstHow judging has influenced how she competes — and a story about forcing a false alert at the end of a long trial day that she still thinks aboutWhat makes a search fun — not just technically challenging, but genuinely enjoyable for dog and handler togetherHow she thinks about setting hides and what she hopes competitors take away from her searchesThe parking lot conversation after a low Q rate — and how to turn post-search analysis into something productive instead of just ventingCherish the engagement — what she means by that and why the bond you build through scent work is unlike anything elseSeven questions with Vicky — her dog's favorite rewards, including touch games and a boing, her signature distractor, advice for her beginner self, and what she wishes more competitors understood about judgesFind Vicky:Scent Work University: https://www.scentworku.com/collections/meet-vicky-lovejoyAKC Judges Directory — search Victoria Lovejoy to bring her to your trial Based in Eastern Washington — travels nationallyAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here:https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

I almost skipped the Box Mania. Containers sounded boring. But during the session, Jill started narrating the searches and the behavior she was observing. And she talked about pathways to odor. That was one of the moments that split my scent work journey into before-and-after. I almost skipped, and I haven't seen a search the same way since.From clear interstates straight to source, to faint hiking trails that disappear into the overgrowth, Jill explains how dogs collect information long before they reach source — and why searching is a process, not a moment. She also talks about tendrils: the smaller threads of odor that branch off the main pathway, sometimes connecting back, sometimes breaking off entirely.We also dig into how NACSW judging and certifying official roles differ from AKC, how judges determine a yes versus a no in a search — and what happens when a judge realizes mid-trial they got it wrong. Plus the challenge of wearing multiple hats at a trial without letting those roles bleed into your own searches.What we talk about:Pathways to odor — why this framing changed how Scot reads his dog in a searchThe difference between an interstate to source and a hiking trail that disappears into the brushOdor tendrils — the smaller threads that branch off the main pathway and how they help explain pooling and trappingRon Gaunt's influence on Jill — collection of information, the conversation the dog is having, and why Ron hides were set the way they wereWhy scent work made sense to Jill when other dog sports didn't — and what it means to be on even ground with every other dog trainer when a sport is newThe difference between a certifying official and a judge in NACSW — and why AKC combines both rolesHow NACSW works toward consistency across regions so that an NW3 on the East Coast feels similar to one in ColoradoWhat judges are actually evaluating — and what happens when a judge realizes mid-trial they got it wrongThe challenge of hosting a trial and competing in it — and why Jill's results are showing her a different story than the one she tells herselfWhy miles matter more than a pre-search routine — and the ritual Jill doesn't realize she hasSeven questions with Jill — including what she loves to see when she's judging, her dog's favorite reward, the best piece of advice that stuck with her, and what her dogs would say about her as a handlerFind Jill: MountainDogs.orgScent Work University: ScentWorkU.com — search Jill KovacevichK9 Scent Fix podcast — with Aleks WoodroffeAlert! 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.Listen to the podcast and find everything here: https://www.AlertScentWork.comFollow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWorkSubscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

From the moment she got the phone call inviting her to judge AKC Master Nationals, to arriving at the Roberts Center, Mary talks about what was running through her mind, how the event was structured, and what it feels like to carry that kind of responsibility, judging the top AKC Scent Work teams at the first Scent Work Master Nationals.We talk about how she approached designing her Master Interior and buried searches, what she observed from the teams over the three days, insights into the scoring system, and what she would make sure to practice if she were entering AKC Master Nationals as a competitor.

One mistake most of us have made happened in her very first run, and it dropped her to 118th place for that element. But by day three, Leigh Gelotte and Rhubarb were the first-ever AKC Master National Scent Work Champions. Leigh takes us inside the event, describing the search areas, the pressure, and the strategy that turned a shaky start into being the first-ever national champions.

Scent work isn’t just about ribbons. It’s about setbacks, resilience, and the bond that makes every trip to the start line a gift.In this episode, Tracy Hill offers practical takeaways for competitors while also opening up about the challenges that rarely make it to social media. From learning to process “no” to navigating the realities of a sick dog, she reflects on how those difficult moments shaped her approach to training and competing.It’s an honest, encouraging conversation about perspective, perseverance, and the joy of working with our dogs, even when things don’t go as planned.

Beyond her role as a judge and competitor, Donna opens the door to other ways the game is played that many handlers may not have seen before. She talks about why placing hides in training isn’t always about whether your dog can find them, a reward strategy in trial that could change how you earn a Q, and how to recognize and work around your own dog’s quirks. She also shares surprising advice for trial day: why excusing yourself from a search might sometimes be the best decision you can make for your team.It’s a conversation full of the kinds of details that make you rethink the game, from training hides to handling quirks to knowing when to walk away.

The distractor rule I learned the hard way from Ellen, and it can make the difference between qualifying or not. It was awkward in the moment, but unforgettable.We came back to that story, along with something I’ve noticed in Ellen's runs: when it looks like an alert to me, but she moves on. That led to a great discussion about the subtle signs of reading your dog and how every dog is unique.We also talk about odor when judging long trial days, how to get more out of watching and video, and the kinds of moments she loves when judging.And through it all, what really stands out is Ellen’s passion. Even after years in the sport, she still gets goosebumps watching dogs solve odor problems, and it’s contagious.

From first Qs to Detective titles, Hallie McMullen has been part of the journey for countless teams. Now she shares her judging philosophy and training insights.Hallie has judged for NACSW and AKC, while also competing with her own dogs and coaching teams through every stage of the sport. With more than 25 years of experience, starting in detection dog work before moving into sport, she brings a depth of knowledge shaped by thousands of searches.Hallie talks about what makes a search fair, challenging, and enjoyable. She unpacks how environmental factors like wind, heat, and elevation change odor. And she offers candid insights on the role of the handler—how nerves, habits, and over-handling shape a dog’s performance.

This is the trailer for Alert! Scent Work.