Karen Allen | How Much We Impact Our Dogs Without Realizing It

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.

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.

We also both got into something we're each actively working through — what happens when your dog stops searching and starts asking you questions.

And inaccessibles. What makes them challenging, and she and Scot talk about how their dogs each handle them.

What we talk about:

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

What changed in Aspen after scent work

Newton, who is deaf in one ear and very sound sensitive — and Larkin, who can shut down easily

How Karen plans a search — the Cirrus tool, the yes zone, and videoing search areas before trial day

Sniff and dismiss — and why patience matters more than most competitors realize

Collection, false alerts, and nerves — why it's more complicated than it looks

What Karen loves to see in a team when she's judging — and what she admits she's still working on herself