Alert! Scent Work is a podcast for everyone who's fallen down the scent work rabbit hole — and loves it there. Scot sits down with judges, competitors, and community builders from AKC, NACSW, ASCA, UKC, and beyond for the conversations you've always wanted to have but never had time for on trial day. We talk nose work and scent work training philosophy, competition mindset, and the perspectives that shape how we think about this dog sport. We celebrate the wins, laugh at the disasters, and dig into origin stories — because how did any of us end up here, completely obsessed with watching our dogs use their noses? Whether you're trialing every weekend or just discovering K9 nose work and scent work for the first time, this show is about the whole scent work life — the sport, the dogs, and the community that makes it all worth it.
Alert! Scent Work
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Podcast Overview
Alert! Scent Work is a podcast for everyone who's fallen down the scent work rabbit hole — and loves it there. Scot sits down with judges, competitors, and community builders from AKC, NACSW, ASCA, UKC, and beyond for the conversations you've always wanted to have but never had time for on trial day. We talk nose work and scent work training philosophy, competition mindset, and the perspectives that shape how we think about this dog sport. We celebrate the wins, laugh at the disasters, and dig into origin stories — because how did any of us end up here, completely obsessed with watching our dogs use their noses? Whether you're trialing every weekend or just discovering K9 nose work and scent work for the first time, this show is about the whole scent work life — the sport, the dogs, and the community that makes it all worth it.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
7/23/2025
1 verified contact email on file for Alert! Scent Work
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Recent Episodes
May 11, 2026
Kristi Murdock | The Smellevangelist Behind WeSmellBetter.com
<p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>What we talk about:</p><ul><li>The origin of wesmellbetter.com — holiday complaining, a visiting brother who knew how to scrape websites, and Doug deciding to learn Python</li><li>What other competitors say about the site.</li><li>The alerts feature — Kristi's current infatuation and why you probably want to sign up for them</li><li>The Trial Finder, the achievement section, and the NQ tracking most people don't know about</li><li>How the site changed the way Scot thinks about titles, and why Kristi blames herself for his new spending habits</li><li>The story of Kristi's first nose work dog — and what she figured out years later that explains everything</li><li>Nose work as rehabilitation — how it became the right tool at exactly the right moment</li><li>Handler challenges — living in the moment and what Kristi calls odor goggles</li><li>What coaching finally taught her about her job as a handler</li><li>Stress management for dog sports — Hélène Lawler's curriculum and what it actually addresses</li><li>Seven 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.</li></ul><br/><p>Find Kristi: <a href="https://wesmellbetter.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wesmellbetter.com</a> — sign up for a free account and the alerts feature</p><p>Facebook: We Smell Better</p><p>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.</p><p>Listen to the podcast and find everything here: <a href="https://www.AlertScentWork.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.AlertScentWork.com</a></p><p>Follow along: Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork</a></p><p>Subscribe to the newsletter: <a href="https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/</a></p>
April 27, 2026
Karen Allen | How Much We Impact Our Dogs Without Realizing It
<p>I ran under Karen Allen at a detective trial and didn't Q. What stayed with me wasn't the result, it was the feeling walking away. She was rooting for us. That's who she is as a judge, and it's a big part of why I wanted to have this conversation.</p><p>One of the threads running through this whole conversation is how much we impact our dogs without realizing it. Body chatter. Disappointment going down the leash. Turning away at the wrong moment. Not opening your body to give permission. A lot of us are probably in that same place.</p><p>We also both got into something we're each actively working through — what happens when your dog stops searching and starts asking you questions.</p><p>And inaccessibles. What makes them challenging, and she and Scot talk about how their dogs each handle them.</p><p>What we talk about:</p><p>Karen's origin story — a cattle dog rescue who was hard to do activities with, and how scent work became the thing that finally worked</p><p>What changed in Aspen after scent work</p><p>Newton, who is deaf in one ear and very sound sensitive — and Larkin, who can shut down easily</p><p>How Karen plans a search — the Cirrus tool, the yes zone, and videoing search areas before trial day</p><p>Sniff and dismiss — and why patience matters more than most competitors realize</p><p>Collection, false alerts, and nerves — why it's more complicated than it looks</p><p>What Karen loves to see in a team when she's judging — and what she admits she's still working on herself</p><p>How much we impact our dogs without realizing it — what Karen sees as a judge and what Scot admitted about Murphy</p><p>What counts as a win when you don't get the Q</p><p>The boundaries — what newer competitors get wrong about them</p><p>When your dog stops searching and starts asking you questions</p><p>Inaccessibles — why they're hard to call and why we don't practice them enough</p><p>Escential Nosework ABCs — Karen's new business and what it focuses on</p><p>Seven questions with Karen</p><p>Find Karen: AKC Judges Directory — search Karen Allen</p><p>Escential Nosework ABC: noseworkabcs.com</p><p>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.</p><p>Listen to the podcast and find everything here: <a href="https://www.AlertScentWork.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.AlertScentWork.com</a></p><p>Follow along: Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork</a></p><p>Subscribe to the newsletter: <a href="https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/</a></p>
April 6, 2026
Judith Guthrie | The Judging Framework That Makes You a Better Competitor
<p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>What we talk about:</p><ul><li>Judith's origin story — SAR dogs, retired police dogs, horses, protection sports, and how Buddha brought it all into focus</li><li>Why scent work was such a powerful tool for a genetically reactive dog — and the important caveat that goes with that</li><li>What made Buddha and Judith such an effective team — and how she built that foundation from five weeks old</li><li>Ron Gaunt's thumbs up / thumbs down feedback method — frustrating and brilliant at the same time</li><li>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</li><li>How time pressure fits into the 100 rule — and why a short time limit isn't what you think it is</li><li>Independence — the number one lesson from professional detection work, and why it matters in sport too</li><li>How to build hunt drive in a dog that goes flat when there's no odor at the start line</li><li>Regional trends in scent work — why you should be putting yourself in front of judges from outside your area</li><li>The names judges give to odor puzzles — and how closeness and inaccessibility work as modifiers</li><li>Why two hides of the same odor close together is not the problem your human brain thinks it is</li><li>Shrimp, demo dogs, and why training a dog to show you the whole odor picture can become a competition problem</li><li>Seven questions with Judith — including what it means to honor the dog, her signature distractor, and why her dog would call her annoying</li></ul><br/><p>Find Judith: Facebook: Nose Dogs Detection Services Scent Work University: scentworku.com — search Judith Guthrie for classes and webinars</p><p>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.</p><p>Listen to the podcast and find everything here: <a href="https://www.AlertScentWork.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.AlertScentWork.com</a></p><p>Follow along: Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/AlertScentWork</a></p><p>Subscribe to the newsletter: <a href="https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.alertscentwork.com/newsletter/</a></p>
24 total episodes available
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