Alert! Scent Work

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 focus
Why scent work was such a powerful tool for a genetically reactive dog — and the important caveat that goes with that
What made Buddha and Judith such an effective team — and how she built that foundation from five weeks old
Ron Gaunt's thumbs up / thumbs down feedback method — frustrating and brilliant at the same time
The 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 search
How time pressure fits into the 100 rule — and why a short time limit isn't what you think it is
Independence — the number one lesson from professional detection work, and why it matters in sport too
How to build hunt drive in a dog that goes flat when there's no odor at the start line
Regional trends in scent work — why you should be putting yourself in front of judges from outside your area
The names judges give to odor puzzles — and how closeness and inaccessibility work as modifiers
Why two hides of the same odor close together is not the problem your human brain thinks it is
Shrimp, demo dogs, and why training a dog to show you the whole odor picture can become a competition problem
Seven questions with Judith — including what it means to honor the dog, her signature distractor, and why her dog would call her annoying

Find Judith: Facebook: Nose Dogs Detection Services Scent Work University: scentworku.com — search Judith Guthrie for classes and webinars
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.com
Follow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/

In scent work, we talk a lot about odor theory, training, and handling technique. But there's something else affecting your performance, your dog's performance, and your experience of the sport that doesn't get nearly enough attention — pressure. Penny Scott-Fox has been watching what it does to competitors, dogs, clubs, and judges, and she wanted to talk about it.
Before we get to the main topic, we start with her recent 2 minute and 14 second detective run. I had to ask how that was even possible. What followed was a conversation about how to better train for detective, how to build a dog that drives to odor, and two very different handling philosophies based on the dogs we each have. I think a lot of people will see themselves in this conversation.
Then we get into the main topic, pressure in scent work. Through the conversation, we uncovered ideas that will help competitors, trial committees, and judges alike succeed and enjoy the sport more fully.
What we talk about:
The 2:14 detective run — what made it possible, and what it reveals about foundation training and building a dog that drives to odor
Why dogs that have sailed through the lower levels sometimes hit a wall in detective — and what to do about it in training
Two different handling philosophies for detective — Penny's and mine — and why the dog you have shapes everything
Penny's 40th detective Q — and the bronze, silver, and gold detective titles her club awards that AKC doesn't recognize
Pressure on the dog and how it impacts your partner in scent work
Pressure on the handler and what both of us do to take the edge off, including Penny's ritual to reduce pressure in obedience (works for scent work too)
Why pressure on the handler almost pushed me out of the sport, and the two rules that made it fun again
Pressure on clubs. What the growth of scent work is doing to trial quality, and how clubs can best serve competitors
Pressure on judges, why the push to be the judge that sets sexy hides isn't always good for dogs or competitors, and a conversation about what really makes the sport fun for competitors

Find Penny at scott-foxdogtraining.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.com
Follow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork Subscribe 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 thing
The recurring themes she sees across her debriefs — what handlers consistently struggle with and what the best teams do differently
Close proximity hides and convergence — why handlers miss them and what to do about it
Why handlers over-handle under pressure — and what the dog thinks about it
The twenty-plus picnic table search — what Ana was testing and why competitors over-focused on the objects instead of the odor
How dogs perceive a search area versus how handlers perceive it — and why that difference matters
Ana's distractor philosophy — why she uses food distractors, what she tests with them, and why gummy bears tripped up more dogs than bacon
Why the boundaries define where hides are placed but not where odor goes — and how to help your dog collect information outside the search area
Retiring Axel from competition — and why making that call was the right thing for their team
Seven 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 handler

Find Ana: YouTube: Ana Cilursu for her AKC trial debrief videos:
Training: Rots-n-Nots Nosework
Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club — nose work instructor
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.com
Follow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/ #ScentWork

One of the first AKC Scent Work judges and an AKC Scent Work Expert Judge, Sandra Tung is also a trainer and high-level competitor who has been in the sport since before AKC even had a scent work program.
Much of our conversation revolves around the job of the handler in scent work — which Sandra reinforces with t-shirt-worthy sayings like "be a hot date to your dog," "pay a dog a CEO salary for flipping burgers," and "your dog is the subject matter expert, and you are the manager."
If you've ever watched a Sandra Tung student at a trial, you already know these sayings. Her reputation precedes her. We also dig into how to balance honoring your dog's choices with being a good partner, her lazy trainer philosophy for building drive and confidence, and what she actually looks for when she's judging a team — whether they Q or not.
What we talk about:
Sandra's origin story — from her first Shiba Inu and rally obedience to becoming one of AKC's first scent work judges
Why the dog is the subject matter expert and the handler is the manager — and what that actually means in a search
Be a hot date — what it means, where it came from, and why it matters more than finding the perfect high-value treat *The difference between a good team and a top team — and why it almost always comes down to the handler
How to read whether your dog is in a productive area versus an unproductive one
Why odor doesn't care about boundaries — and what Sandra tells her students about letting their dogs go outside the search area
Her lazy trainer philosophy — training with purpose, keeping sessions short, and why simple hides in new environments will take you further than complicated puzzles
How running Shiba Inus made her a better handler and trainer
Teaching dogs to move on from a hide on their own — and why she didn't realize that was a skill until dog number five
Memory systems for remembering where you found your hides at higher levels
What Sandra looks for when she places hides — and why she loves testing teams on things they don't expect
Seven questions with Sandra — her dog's favorite reward, advice for her beginner scent work self, how she bounces back from a tough trial day, and the best compliment she ever received at a trial

Find Sandra:
AKC Judges Directory — search Sandra Tung to bring her to your trial
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.com
Follow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork
Subscribe 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 work
What hooked her — and why she describes the sport as the dog teaching us rather than the other way around
How 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 first
How 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 about
What makes a search fun — not just technically challenging, but genuinely enjoyable for dog and handler together
How she thinks about setting hides and what she hopes competitors take away from her searches
The parking lot conversation after a low Q rate — and how to turn post-search analysis into something productive instead of just venting
Cherish the engagement — what she means by that and why the bond you build through scent work is unlike anything else
Seven 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 judges

Find Vicky:
Scent Work University: https://www.scentworku.com/collections/meet-vicky-lovejoy
AKC Judges Directory — search Victoria Lovejoy to bring her to your trial Based in Eastern Washington — travels nationally
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.com
Follow along: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/