Alert! Scent Work

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/

For some, scent work is more than a sport and winning ribbons. It’s a shared process that can change both dog and human.
Lisa Quibell is a competitor, trainer, and judge with UKC and C-WAGS. Lisa shares how scent work challenged her not just as a handler and a trainer, but as a human, and how working with very different dogs has shaped the way she competes and judges.
We talk about scent work as a confidence builder for dogs who struggle in the world and for handlers who are still finding their footing. Lisa explores what it really means to let the dog lead, how to recognize when not to interrupt, and why giving dogs real decision-making power changes the search for both dog and handler.
We also dig into something most competitors wrestle with: how to celebrate and reward after a search that didn’t go your way, and why the reward is still about the relationship, even when the search doesn’t end with a Q.

In this episode, I talk with Jill Kovacevich about the idea that changed how I see scent work forever: pathways to odor. From clear, direct routes to faint odor tendrils that never quite connect to the source, Jill explains how dogs collect information long before they reach source, and why searching is a process, not a moment.
We also dig into NACSW judging versus certifying roles, how judges determine a "yes" vs a "no" in a search, and the challenge of wearing multiple hats at a trial without letting those roles bleed into your own searches.