What to listen for:

Our hosts, Robin Greubel, Stacy Barnett, and Crystal Wing, do a deep dive into their recent Intentional Handling and Hide Setting camp where, during a sweltering week in Iowa, seventeen detection dog teams discovered how unconscious body positioning can make or break a search!

The breakthrough moment came on Thursday during an outdoor search. A handler, diligently following instructions to avoid "going full frontal" on hides, had positioned herself away from the actual hide, directly facing an odor pool instead. Her dog searched frantically in that pool, unable to solve the problem.

"I want you to go full frontal on the hide," Robin instructed, breaking her own rule. Without saying another word to the dog, the handler simply shifted her feet toward the actual hide location. The dog immediately moved to source and alerted.

This demonstration crystallized the camp's core philosophy: intentional handling means making conscious decisions about every movement.

As Stacy explains, "It's about purposeful handling in a way that supports the independence and autonomy of the dog, but in a way that's also making the search effective and efficient."

The sweet spot lies between abdicating responsibility—just following your dog around—and micromanaging to the point where the dog loses all autonomy.

Crystal's Six C's framework provided the mental component. When handlers move with purpose, dogs search with confidence. But intention goes beyond physical positioning. It also shapes how handlers approach each search mentally. Starting with curiosity allowed students to observe without judgment, opening them to discoveries about their own unconscious patterns.

The camp's structure reinforced these lessons through repetition. Watching 34 team runs of identical problems revealed how subtle handler movements created dramatically different search patterns. Aged hides, left for 24-36 hours, produced disconnected odor pools that challenged even experienced teams. One hide in a hay field, placed nowhere near any landmark, forced dogs to use pure scenting ability rather than visual triangulation.

By week's end, handlers learned to track coverage areas while reading airflow patterns, leaving their dogs free to locate odor.

Key Topics:

• Crystal's Six C's Framework (03:33)
• The Full Frontal Demonstration (15:44)
• Defining “Intentional Handling” (18:06)
• Handler Movement Restrictions Exercise (30:36)
• Aged Hides and Disconnected Odor Pools (39:23)
• Hay Field Hide Challenge (45:11)
• Final Takeaways on Intention and Gratitude (49:24)

Resources:

• Intentional Handling (image mentioned in episode)

We want to hear from you:

• Check out the K9 Detection Collaborative FB page and comment on the episode post!
• K9Sensus Detection Dog Trainer Academy
• K9Sensus Foundation can be found on Facebook and Instagram. We have a Trainer’s Group on Facebook!
• Scentsabilities Nosework is also on Facebook. Here is a Facebook group you should join!
• Crystal Wing (CB K9) can be found here!
• You can follow us for notifications of upcoming episodes, find us at