K9 Detection Collaborative

“Don't trust your dog. Trust your training.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, sit down with Paul Bunker of Chiron K9. His path from an English farm to British military explosives work eventually led him into conservation detection projects around the globe. Deemed too short for the London police, Paul joined the British military in 1982 and was later tasked, after a fatal minefield accident, with training dogs to clear a safe path to stranded casualties. It was thanks to that proje...

What to listen for: “The certification isn't about proving that the dog can find a leak. It's about giving utilities confidence that the professional team can perform consistently, safely, ethically, and competently.” Lolita Shaffer joins our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, in this two-part conversation to talk all things water leak detection! It’s a growing niche in the dog training world, but a pretty important one. After all, America's water utilities maintain 2.2 million miles o...

What to listen for: In the second half of the conversation with Dr. Jennifer Essler, our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, discuss her current research and future goals bridging academic science with real-world handler expertise! At SUNY Cobleskill, Dr. Essler's conservation work demonstrates how detection dogs fill practical niches. Her Round Goby project (tracking invasive fish from the Black and Caspian Seas) uses dogs for water sampling rather than locating individual fish. This mir...

What to listen for: “Trust your dog, but trust your training first.” Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, welcome back veteran USAR handler Bob Deeds to talk about the artificial divide between working dog and sport detection communities, and why both sides desperately need each other! Bob shares his journey from FEMA disaster work into nose work, leading into his innovative "geo-scenting" protocol. This hybrid sport combines geocaching with scent detection using clove oil, specificall...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, announce the opening of signups for the 2026 Distraction Camp and Intentional Handling and Hide Setting. Signups begin on January 4 at noon Central Standard Time. Christi Raak, who has been on the podcast, will lead the Distraction Camp, focusing on engagement, focus, arousal, and mobility. Lily Strassberg, currently in Israel, has given a tentative yes to co-teach Intentional Handling and Hide Setting. Both camps are expected to...

What to listen for: Our hosts Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett explore generalization as the foundation of reliable detection work. Together, they reveal generalization as extending far beyond simple obedience across locations. It encompasses odor variability, environmental context, behavioral chains, and handler presentation. They explain how explosive and narcotic sources vary like chocolate-cake recipes: different manufacturers, cutting agents, and absorption materials create distinct odor ...

What to listen for: Our hosts, Robin Greubel, Stacy Barnett, and Crystal Wing, break down how time, airflow, and placement reshape detection dog work! They kick things off by describing a week of hides left up to 96 hours, the longest-out scenario that reveals how odor pools migrate and change. Drawing from this experience, our hosts brainstorm creative ways to design hides that can better help your dog read scents. Central is the concept of "odor availability", which explains why surface are...

What to listen for: Two-thirds of The Dames of Detection, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, welcome Steve White, a veteran law enforcement K9 trainer whose 46-year career began in military working dog handling in 1975. Steve discusses the challenges facing modern police canine programs, particularly how vendor-driven training models often prioritize efficiency over optimization, which creates sessions where handlers log hours without meaningful individual development. Central to Steve's philos...