Rotts-n-Notts Nosework

06/09/2026

Huge thanks to the Del-Otse-Nango Kennel Club for hosting another spectacular scentwork trial this weekend at the Otsego Christian Academy in Otego NY !!! 🏞️ There is always such a positive energy at every trial, where we all feel like family.
Such a privilege to co-judge with Carol Bond, Stephanie Crawford, Lauren Bachner, Nathalie Lussier and Denise Malone !🫶
Co-Chairs Char Carentz and Kelly Branigan once again went above and beyond with their organizational skills and amazing multi-tasking!! 🏃‍♀️‍➡️🦸‍♀️🏃‍♀️Trial Secretary Jennifer Fuller and Assistant Terri McTighe Sherman kept all those score sheets tallied and results posted quickly 📋🗂️🖨️so that The Royal Ribbon Team of Barbara Duffy and Molly Beth could hand out so many beautiful title ribbons for all elements and levels!👑
It takes a village of incredibly dedicated club members and volunteers to run a trial and we had the best of the best! They are kind, supportive, helpful, always willing to lend a hand and a smile making the long days fun ! Special thanks to my A-team: Julie, Dena, Suzanne, Pat & Cathy for being so wonderful ! 💕
It truly is an honor to watch all the outstanding teams throughout the weekend, who came to the line with a smile every single time. Everyone had moments of brilliance worth celebrating. You are all superstars in my book! 🥳👏⭐️ This year the club offered Judge's Awards for Exceptional Teamwork and it was such a pleasure to present these lovely ribbons!
And to my Purple Princess 💜 Her ViNess, who did her Demo Dog duties diligently, working 18 searches over the two days and making sure those hides were behaving themselves. When she wasn't on duty, she was either resting or mooching treats from everyone!!! I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful partner on both sides of the cones 🥰
Thanks to the club for inviting me again to judge, and for the thoughtful judge's gift.

All my debriefs have been posted on my YouTube channel! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0RM0mXVdrGqj-5gi3iJRg

05/31/2026

Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club
🔍Spotlight Sunday🔎

🐾 Concept: Sock Search 🧦
🐾 Goal: To create a pooling odor picture away from source
🐾 Variables:
📌 Air flow: bellows effect from two doors opening and closing + intermittent HVAC
📌 Aging
📌 Team Experience
🐾 Learning Objectives for dogs:
✅ use information collected away from source
✅ use of vertical surfaces
✅connect the dots leading back to source
🐾Learning Objectives for handlers:
✅observe dog behavior in non-productive pooling odor
✅allow the dog to expand the search space to collect information

Although this was a simple search, the observation of dog behavior in pooling odor is invaluable and gave the handlers important information. Five classes did this search throughout the day! Well done teams! 👏👊

05/24/2026

Team Vi went to the NACSW ELT trial in Lancaster PA hosted by Lisa Basial/Nose-it-All and came home with our ELT-2 title !!! 💜
It was a fun trial with great parking lot company and challenging searches by our CO Jessica Miller👍
Grateful to Sandy Banthem and Meg Grady, our judges, for the kind comments 😊, to the score room for their efficient work and to all the volunteers who braved the rainy weather with a smile 😃🌧️!

On to ELT-3 !!!

05/19/2026

🏞️🌅🛝☀️🌳🐾👣
Awesome weekend in the Catskills presenting my 2-day Exterior Element seminar graciously hosted by Del-Otse-Nango Kennel Club at Fortin Park in Oneonta NY!
Thank you for your hospitality!! 🥰🙏
It was a perfect venue with perfect weather ! We had lots of options for searches ranging from Novice to Detective: a playground, open grassy areas and nice vegetation, old airplane hangars with metal walls & picnic tables and a variety of hide placements using thermal influence and some nice wind!
All the teams did a wonderful job solving the puzzles, observing all the different (and similar) changes of behavior in their dogs, and we had great interactive discussions!
It is always a pleasure to come up to this beautiful area ! Thank you for the opportunity! Looking forward to doing it again next year! 😊

05/12/2026

My 💜is full...we had an absolutely wonderful Mother's Day weekend of searching, laughing, caring and celebrating !! It felt more like a picnic than a trial...🫶

A myriad of thanks and appreciation go out to:
🐾Egg Harbor City Public School District, PreK-8 - in particular Ryan Heriegel (Facilities Supervisor) for the incredible support and for granting us the privilege of using the Havana Avenue school for the second year in a row....so many lovely comments from our attendees on the beautiful school 🚌and the artwork🎨
🐾🦸‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️‍➡️Lori Capaccio & Aspen Scent Work 🚀: Our AMAZING Volunteer Coordinator 💪who ran a perfectly orchestrated trial down to the last detail, and who seemed to be everywhere whenever she was needed, and sometimes even before she was needed 🥰
🐾 Our Volunteers 🙋‍♀️🙋🙋‍♂️😊🥰💐 the heart and the backbone of our trial - we all owe every one of you a huge THANK YOU for being so efficient, kind, supportive, helpful and dedicated to the collective success of our weekend.
I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends!
🐾 Valerie Bunn Casperite from K9 InScentives: our amazing Certifying Official for setting fun, challenging searches and creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and positivity
🐾 Sergio DeRojas and Nina Sorochynskyj our awesome judges for their kind comments, encouraging words and a lot of laughs in between!
🐾 Our Score Room: Matt Woodard, Raegan Ruiz and Marty Smith 💻🖨️⏱️🎥📋 for being so efficient, thorough and prompt with all the amazing results and ribbons!!!
🐾 Our Dogs in White: Carol Creamer and Bea, Susan Hinson and Sonia, Faith Beiser and Xan: finding all the hides and making sure they were behaving...
🐾 Paws for Snacks, LLC for once again making those amazing Cheddar Parmesan cookies for our Super Sniffers
🐾 DZK9 Designs for the fun stickers!!!
🐾 Mister Softee - what's a picnic without ice cream!!! 🍧🍨🍦
🐾 To the Weather: thank you for cooperating! There was wind 💨but no rain and then beautiful sun ☀️
🐾 and to the Sniffer Teams👣🐾: both the Rotts and the
"Notts" were so well represented all weekend!!! Thank you for creating such a positive atmosphere in the parking lot - it's where so many long-lasting friendships are made🤗 You were all ready to step up to the line, watching out for each other, keeping each other company....just what a perfect parking lot should be!
Congratulations on creating wonderful memories with your dogs!

05/09/2026

Perfect weekend for a NoseWork trial!!
Thank you to the Egg Harbor City Community School for their hospitality and support! 💪🏻😃🐾
L3I and NW1 today and NW3 tomorrow!
It’s going to be great! 💜🩵🥳👍🏻

05/04/2026

📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️
I have two drop-in openings for my Nosework class on Wednesday May 6 at 2PM at Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club

Dog must be able to source Birch, Anise and Clove and work multiple hides. Please PM me if you are interested!
Thanks! 😃

04/29/2026

⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️📌⬇️

There are still openings in my L3I and NW3 in Saturday May 9 AM trial and Sunday May 10 respectively 😃

FEO openings are also available for these two trials at a 50% rate.

Sign up links are below: would love to have you join us! 🥰

SAVE THE DATES ! * SAVE THE DATES ! * NACSW TrialsOctober 3 & 4 - Lakewood NJNovember 7 & 8 - Mays Landing NJ NACSW L3I / NW1 / NW3May 9 & 10, 2026Egg Harbor City - NJRegistration opens March 25 Premium Volunteer Link NW1 Entry Link NW3 Entry Link L3I Wait List L3I Entry Link NW1 Wait List NW3 Wait....

04/28/2026

🙏🙋‍♀️🙋🙋‍♂️🙏VOLUNTEERS NEEDED !! 🙏🙋‍♀️🙋🙋‍♂️ 🙏
I am in need of volunteers for Saturday May 9 AM trial and Sunday May 10 either AM or PM (or both) - right now the tally is
💪💪 for Saturday AM
💪💪💪💪 for Sunday

Saturday PM is well covered and I thank everyone in advance for signing up! 🫶💜🫶

If you can spare some time we would all be very grateful!! 😊 No experience necessary and we take VERY GOOD care of our volunteers !! 🥰

Link is below:

VOLUNTEERS ARE THE BEST, and we want to THANK YOU for offering your time and talents to help us with this trial! Please complete the volunteer registration form. Contact the Volunteer Coordinator (Lori) with any questions: [email protected] List of Volunteer Jobs: Timer: Uses a stopwatch to....

04/27/2026

Huge thanks to Adirondack Scent Work Club for hosting me this past weekend!!! 🥰👣🐾 I had such a wonderful time meeting or revisiting with everyone and watching some amazing searching and teamwork!! 👣🐾
From Beetle & Kansas (Chihuahuas) to Flapjack (the Mastiff) and everyone in between....from smooth transitions & elevated hides, sidewalk ground hides to mirrored ones, blank areas and unproductive ones, close proximity hides and inaccessibles... large search areas and the mock Detective runs...everyone was awesome! 💯
Looking forward to doing it again! 😊