Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast E471: Julie Symons - Handling Your Nosework Dog
Jul 30, 2026
Julie Symons, FDSA faculty and Savvy Dog Sports owner who teaches nosework and agility. She talks about what effective nosework handling looks like. She explains using video to evaluate movement. She shares ways to practice trial-like behavior, adopt a consistent, dog-driven search strategy, and start improving pace, movement, and cast-out behaviors.
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Record Every Search And Narrate Your Review
- Do video your searches and review them; narrate what you see to make assessment concrete and actionable.
- Julie recommends reviewing footage alone or with an instructor to spot noisy handling, movement habits, and unnecessary suggestions.
Stay The Same Person In Training And Trials
- People handle differently in training versus trials; being yourself and calm helps dogs perform the same in both settings.
- Julie suggests practicing in public and deliberately staying relaxed so your dog doesn't experience a different handler at trials.
Use A Consistent Dog Driven Handling Method
- Adopt a consistent handling method like the dog-driven search to reduce anxiety and decision overload in the search.
- Julie says following a systematic rule set (match pace, face the dog, stop when they stop) made handling feel easier for her.
