Alert! Scent Work

When you go to a scent work camp or an all-day seminar, how do you get the most out of it? What stops people from fully committing to new ideas? And when you leave with a notebook full of things to try, what do you actually do with all of it?This episode was recorded live on the last day of the Penny Scott-Fox Scent Work Camp at Galway Downs in California. I'm joined by Penny and fellow instructor Jeff McMahon. In addition to how to get the most out of an experience like this, we talk about three of the exercises from camp, what they were designed to teach, and what else people took away from the exercises.What we talk about:What stops people from fully committing to new ideas at camp, and why it's more complicated than just being resistant to changeThe difference between going in with a competition mindset and going in with a learning mindsetProjecting onto your dog, and what it really means when you say you want your dog to have a positive experienceBreaking old habits and building new ones, and what self-awareness has to do with itTrade expectation for appreciationThe breed genetics distance challenge, dogs off leash 70 feet from a hide, and what each breed did with thatThe lesson inside the lesson, what Scot took away that had nothing to do with breed tendenciesThe "What-if Game", where it came from, what it teaches, and some of the scenarios from this campWhy nose work should probably be called nose funThe 80 box challenge, the spiral grid pattern, and what being a teammate has to do with finding the hideWhat to do with a notebook full of ideas when you get homeWhat lights Penny and Jeff up when they see it happenFind Penny:scott-foxdogtraining.comFind Jeff McMahon:https://k9noseworkblog.blogspot.com/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.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/

If the journey with your dog in this sport is the priority, success can fall into place for any team. And Caroline Oldham puts a lot of effort into focusing on the journey. And doing so helps both the dog and handler achieve their goals.She also talks about her crate-to-crate ritual and why she does it, what your dog's breed group tells you about how they search, building handler grit, and a start line tip she thinks will make a difference for most teams.What We Talk AboutCaroline's pack, Timber the Welsh Springer, Kate the Malinois who made her a planner, and Rebarre the yellow lab she planned a year before she got herWhat training a Malinois teaches you that no other breed willBreed groups and what they tell you about how your dog searchesThe dog is always learning whether or not you're teaching, and what Caroline did with that idea the first hour she had RebarreYour dog is perceiving odor, not just smelling it, and why that reframe changes how you handleThe toy basket mistake and why all good things should come from youClarity, no gray days, black and white rules that hold even when you don't feel like trainingThe one treat that is only for the discovery of odorCrate to crate, what the ritual looks like from the hotel to the search area to the car ride homeWhat success looked like with the first dog and what it looks like nowTwo stories about what it looks like to drive home from a trial and call it a success even when you don't do as well as you wantedHandler grit and what it takes to keep your rituals in place when everything is falling apartThe self-care coach on her training team and why the handler is half the partnershipSeven questions with Caroline, including her signature distractor, the start line tip she thinks will make a difference for most teams, and what her dog would say about her in one wordLinks and ResourcesFind Caroline:Facebook: Caroline OldhamFacebook group: Scent Work TexasSouthern DFW Scent Training seminars: [email protected]! 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/

Joanne Soyke had a Border Collie named Flip who finally found a sport that let him use his powers for good rather than evil. From that moment, from competing to training to judging, she's made it her mission to bring the gift of scent work to every dog since.That mission is rooted in something she comes back to throughout this conversation. Dogs let us into their world when they search. They share something with us that we can barely comprehend, and the more we learn to listen, the richer that experience gets for the dog and for us.She also talks about the tools that help you get there. And a mantra she borrowed from Jeff McMahon that she takes to every start line: I'm grateful for whatever the dog wants to share with me today.What we talk about:Joanne's origin story, a border collie named Flip who finally got to use his powers for good instead of evilCARAT, the Suzanne Clothier assessment tool that changed how Joanne sees every dog she works withThe over-aroused Doberman and the start line routine she built around himThe terrified rat terrier who went from scared of a box to knocking them across the roomJudging philosophy, fun and fair, not trying to trick you or your dogHow the environment dictates the difficulty of the hides she setsThe sunshine through the windows she didn't notice and what that moment taught her about judging.What's actually going through her head when she's watching you runThe blind hide exercise that builds your ability to read your dogWhy your one step after finding a hide might be costing you a convergingTrusting your dog and sharing the responsibility of the searchAre you trying to trial today or for the next 10 yearsThe mantra she takes to every start lineSeven questions with Joanne, including who in her pack keeps her humble, the wedding line, and what her dog would say about her in one wordFind Joanne:www.furbetterfurworse.comFacebook: Fur Better Fur Worse 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/

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/

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 Work podcast. When I asked her to distill all of those conversations down to some themes that keep coming up, she landed on odor will humble you and focus on the dog. What she said about the first one felt like she'd been following me around with a notebook. The second is a good paradigm for all of us to remember.We also get into something many competitors wrestle with: how much involvement the handler should have, and what that balance actually looks like in a search.And if you have a reactive or dog-aggressive dog, Dianna has a lot worth hearing that might help you.What we talk about:The two themes Dianna keeps hearing from the best in the sport and what they mean for the rest of usThe universal handler journey, why it looks the same for almost everyone, and why understanding it helps you push through the hard partsWhat focus on the dog really means when something is going wrong in a searchHow much involvement should a handler have, and what finding that equilibrium actually looks likeZeus, a dog-aggressive Doberman, and what scent work gave him that nothing else couldThe choice point, what it means for any dog to choose the work over whatever else is pulling at themWhat scent work surfaces about your dog during training and how to address it outside of a search so it stops costing you in the ringDogs with challenges, reactive, fearful, dog aggressive, and what perspectives and approaches can actually helpHow closed off a handler's life can become around a difficult dog, and what starts to open upScent work as the activity, not just the sport, and why Dianna will go to her grave defending every dog's right to play itSeven questions with Dianna, including what still delights her, the most rewarding thing someone has ever said to her, and the piece of advice that stuckFind Dianna: scentworku.com All About Scent Work podcastAlert! 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/