About

SniffDogtorate started at the intersection of necessity, science, and a deep love for dogs.

I’m a Type 1 diabetic and medical alert dog handler. While training my own dog for scent-based alerts, I quickly realized that many scent discrimination setups were bulky, expensive, or hard to store in small spaces. So I did what any PhD student with coding skills and a 3D printer might do — I designed my own.

What began as a practical solution for our training sessions became something I wanted to share with the broader scent dog community: an affordable, functional, storage-friendly scent wheel. I'm grateful to share my skills and also be able to learn more about different types of scent work. I'm particularly interested in conservation detection dogs, and would love to add a community science element to my dissertation, which focuses on urban coyotes.

Photo of myself and lil nas dressed as Tank Girl for Halloween. 

Orange and teal scent wheel with orange scent cover cups, discs that have a grid of small holes to allow odor through
Scent wheel with bright orange scent cup holders and rotating spinners on a sturdy teal base and arms, built for professional detection dogs, AKC scent work trials, etc. scent cup holders have 4 oz glass jars for target odor.
Scent wheel with bright orange scent cup holders and rotating spinners with a sturdy teal base and arms, built for professional detection dogs, AKC scent work trials, etc. scent cup holders have 4 oz glass jars for target odor. Photo shows scent wheel taken apart, with the base, spinner, 6 cup holders, 6 arms number 1-6
Scent wheel with a green base, green glass cup holders, green screens over the glass scent-holding jars, and orange arms on a wooden floor
Scent wheel with lavender purple scent cup holders and rotating spinners on a sturdy black base and arms, built for professional detection dogs, AKC scent work trials, etc. scent cup holders have 4 oz glass jars for target odor.
Large wheel with purple cups, black arms, a green spinner, and a purple base
large scent wheel with mint green base and arms and sakura pink spinner and glass cup holders
medium scent wheel with klein blue base and arms and bright yellow spinner and glass cup holders
Photo is a close of up assembled orange and blue wheel, showing detail on the number on the arm and how the glass cup holders fit into the scent wheel arms.