About me

Hi, I’m Oksana

I’m the founder of K9 Trail Slayers, where I teach mantrailing, focused trailing and scent detection, and spend a great deal of time thinking about how dogs understand and carry out scent work tasks.

My own journey into scent work began in 2023, when I discovered mantrailing with my Labrador, Otis. What started as something to enjoy with my dogs quickly became a much deeper interest in scent, behaviour and the decisions dogs make while they work.

Before K9 Trail Slayers, I spent more than a decade working across academic research, science communication and innovation. I have a PhD in Chemistry, but the part of that background I draw on most is not the subject itself. It is the habit of asking careful questions, examining the evidence and being willing to change an explanation when the observations no longer support it.

That way of thinking now runs through everything I do. In training, it means looking beyond whether an exercise was completed and considering what the dog may actually have learned. In equipment, it means creating practical choices and explaining the differences clearly. Through The Field Lab, it means exploring research, structured observation and ideas that can help us understand scent work more fully.

I have completed Ilkka Hormila’s Human Identification and Scent Tracking programme with my Labrador, Merlin. I am continuing to develop my practical tracking experience with my Belgian Malinois, Rudy, with the longer-term aim of operational lost-dog tracking.

I continue to learn across mantrailing, tracking, scent detection and canine behaviour because none of these subjects stands still, and neither should the way we think about them.

I don’t believe there is one method, one piece of equipment or one answer that suits every dog. I am far more interested in helping handlers notice what is happening, ask better questions and make informed decisions for the dog in front of them.

Because better understanding leads to better training.