Find Your Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast- Training Tips and More !

Jill Kovacevich
  • 5.0 (10)
  • EDUCATION
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

K9 Scent Fix—Find YOUR Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast JOIN THE FUN ! Canine Nose Work coaching tips and tricks to help fix your training and trial challenges with an open mindset. Offering methods and techniques that might be new to you or outside your "usual". Chatting with the experts, experienced nose work coaches and guest speakers exploring new ideas, how to use them and build solid training resources with Mountain Dogs and Release Canine. Join us for the LIVE podcast via Zoom - watch for each LIVE podcast announcment and interact with your Hosts Jill Kovacevich from Mountain Dogs and Aleks Woodroffe from Release Canine. Email us at mtnnosework@gmail.com OR aleks.woodroffe@gmail.com WITH your Topics or Comments. We love to hear from you our K9SF Handlers ! Recorded Podcast released within 24-48 hours or during the first week of each month. Look for the Podcast posting at k9scentfix.buzzsprout.com  

  1. 5D AGO

    Two Wheels, One Blurt Alert and A Rogue Cheese Cube- Elite Trial Recap - Lessons from the Desert

    Dust, heat, and a whole lot of critter scent—this elite nose work weekend had it all. We headed to a Western movie set and came home with a sharper game plan: how to spot channeling odor, decide when to finish early, and build independence without frying your dog’s brain. Along the way, we faced a classic trap—two hides on one side of a truck—and turned that miss into a concrete progression using off-leash discovery, long-line refinement, and short-leash control. We lay out our exact drills with chairs and boxes, why we set sources deeper off the plane, and how we balance elevation work with ground hides that ride up walls and read “high.” You’ll hear how a six-foot leash can calm a fast dog’s acceleration, how structured pre-trial exercise trims arousal without killing drive, and why “benefit from a no” is the skill that separates steady teams from spirals at elite and summit. We share the timer habits that actually help—halftime alerts, risk thresholds, and knowing when a quick finish beats burning minutes on a hide nobody solved. There’s honest talk about handler errors too, including the cheese cube heard round the leaderboard and a timeout that cost placement, plus the mindset shift from “find them all” to “bank points and build skills.” If you’re prepping for NACSW Elite or eyeing Summit, this is a field-tested roadmap: converging odor realities, site-specific prep for schools vs desert sets, elevation progressions without guesswork, and low hides that teach patience. We’re candid, curious, and focused on decisions, not drama—so you can leave your next trial with clearer notes and a smarter plan. If this helped you think differently about your recap, subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a quick review. Tell us: what’s your toughest call—stay and hunt or finish and bank? Send a text

    1h 2m

  2. JAN 29

    Invisible Odor, Visible Skills- Training the Inaccessible Hide

    Send a text

    1h 12m

  3. 12/31/2025

    READY SET GO- FIRST SEARCH SUCCESS

    Send a text

    1h 5m

  4. 12/31/2025

    HOST SUPPORT - Hosting Smarter: Facilities, Flow, And Flexibility

    Send a text

    1h 17m

  5. 11/26/2025

    The Pathway to Source- Training and Trial Tips and Tricks

    We explore how dogs navigate changing odor pictures and what handlers must do to support their dog's odor pathway to source. From haunted houses to school gyms, we share Handler, CO and judging insights, trial lessons, and practical training setups that build dog and handler odor recognition of the multitude of odor puzzles we encounter in nosework and scent work trials. • defining pathway to source and odor availability • why heaters, humidity and doors reshape odor pictures • balancing handler support with canine independence • single-hide training to build handler literacy • vessel choice and orientation changing scent flow • natural versus object hides and containment effects • staying patient on edges versus rushing coverage • reframing no calls as odor picture feedback • practical resets, leash use and area support • upcoming trials, seminars and community updates Thankful you’re all listening and learning with us Send a text

    56 min

  6. 10/28/2025

    The GOOD CALL - Calling The Hide: Training Vs Trial

    THE GOOD CALL- or is it ? AI offered various titles to our October podcast- MY ALL TIME FAVORITE: My Dog Said Trash Can : The Judge Said No !  If you’ve ever called “alert” on a hot object only to hear “no,” this conversation is your map back to clarity. We unpack the gap between a fair training call and a fair trial call, and show how to build a dog that presses all the way to source—even when the environment throws pooling, trapping, and convergence into the mix. We start at the foundation: imprinting, odor importance, and the nose-on-source "good habits" that help keep our reward standards tight at ORT and NW1 on up to Summit. From there, we layer timing and reward strategy—when to mark effort, when to wait for more, when to expect contact, and how to use remote rewards without teaching self-release. You’ll hear practical frameworks for accessible versus inaccessible hides, two-step reinforcement that opens the door and still pays at source, and why revisiting “easy” anchor hides is essential insurance against fringing. Then we climb into advanced odor problems. Elevated hides get a stepwise progression that favors safety and intellect over flashy stretching dogs, using channeling surfaces so dogs can solve "source is up"  cleanly. We dissect Summit-style puzzles where odor pools on trash cans and chair racks, and explain how judges decide consistency and when stretch calls make sense. Along the way, we focus on handler craft: reading behavior instead of forcing a final response, trusting the dog after a no, and managing the clock so you search effectively instead of bailing early. If you want sharper calls, steadier performance, and a dog that knows the difference between hot air and true source, this episode gives you the blueprint—tight training standards, smart setups, and resilient trial habits. Subscribe, share with your training group, and leave a review with your biggest “aha” from today’s search talk. Send a text

    1h 12m

  7. 09/22/2025

    OPTIMIZING YOUR TRIAL SUCCESS- USING THE WALKTROUGH & DEBRIEF VIDEOS

    NACSW and AKC (and other venues) utilize pre and post search videos for Handlers to preview or review actual "real life" trial searches. These videos are captured by the Certifying Offical or Judge with the goal to provide search and hide placement analysis for your competition day prepartion or post trial review. The videos are an amazing tool for experiencing what a trial search looks and "feels" like in "real life" on that trial day. Optimizing this virtual experience tool can help shape your trial day and/or shape your pre or post trial training. The online videos are real life search scenarios from NW1 and Novice to Summit and Detective.  These videos provides a wealth of information from start line to finish, environmental awareness, search area size, boundaries, distraction areas and a virtual map for Handler review.  Before the trial, the Walkthrough Video provides a Handler's SNEAK PEAK and private viewing that may be used to  gain search area awareness and potential search condifence much like building a search map in your minds eye to better understand your dog's search as it unfolds and better prepare for areas within that search that may be easy to miss or dismiss. After the trial- Its the analysis of what that search looked like, hide locations, areas of odor pathways, odor collection, pooling and trapping and transitiions moving from one area to another and building your muscle memory for the "types" of searches and parameters for the level at which you trial with your dog. These videos are so much more than the depictiion of "yet another search area" and are an amazingly important tool to build awareness and confidence in our Handler understanding and search expectations on trial day. Send a text

    1h 5m

  8. 08/07/2025

    Trial Preparation: Maximizing Your Performance When It Matters Most

    Time management could be the missing key to your nosework competition success. In this candid conversation, Jill Kovacevic and Alex Woodruff share their summer training approaches and fall trial preparations while diving deep into critical skills for effective competition. Jill reveals a breakthrough in her handling technique that transformed her Elite trial performance—taking full advantage of search time rather than calling "finish" prematurely. This simple adjustment allowed her to find hides that would have otherwise been missed, demonstrating how our handling decisions directly impact our dogs' success. Alex complements this with insights on training during Arizona's summer heat and her preparation for welcoming a new working cocker puppy into her home. Both experienced handlers explore the psychological differences between training and trial environments. Why does your dog work differently in competition? How can you maintain the same patience and trust you have in training when under trial pressure? The answers involve understanding convergence zones, odor puzzles, and the unique challenges of different competition levels. The discussion provides practical solutions for common competition challenges: using timers effectively, reading your dog's subtle communication cues, recognizing when your dog has detected source versus investigating pooling odor, and developing targeted training plans based on honest assessment of your current skills. Whether you're struggling with the transition from NW3 to Elite, preparing for your first competition, or looking to refine your handling for championship-level performance, this episode offers specific techniques to elevate your partnership with your dog when it matters most. Be sure to join us for our next episode where we'll continue exploring the fascinating world of canine scent detection with more coaching tips and practical training advice. Send a text

    1h 17m
See All (48)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

K9 Scent Fix—Find YOUR Fix- Sport Dog Scent Detection Podcast JOIN THE FUN ! Canine Nose Work coaching tips and tricks to help fix your training and trial challenges with an open mindset. Offering methods and techniques that might be new to you or outside your "usual". Chatting with the experts, experienced nose work coaches and guest speakers exploring new ideas, how to use them and build solid training resources with Mountain Dogs and Release Canine. Join us for the LIVE podcast via Zoom - watch for each LIVE podcast announcment and interact with your Hosts Jill Kovacevich from Mountain Dogs and Aleks Woodroffe from Release Canine. Email us at mtnnosework@gmail.com OR aleks.woodroffe@gmail.com WITH your Topics or Comments. We love to hear from you our K9SF Handlers ! Recorded Podcast released within 24-48 hours or during the first week of each month. Look for the Podcast posting at k9scentfix.buzzsprout.com  

Information

You Might Also Like