Karen Wenzel

Karen Wenzel has had dogs her whole life, but in 1991 she and her husband got their first dog, a Rottweiler named Heidi. Karen was soon hooked as Heidi was eager and fun to train, and in a few years, earned her AKC Utility Dog title. Since then, she had two more Rottweilers and four Labradors. Early on, she embraced positive methods over the more traditional force based training methods popular at the time.

It was in 2022 that Carol Wilson convinced her to try Nosework with her then 4-month-old energetic lab puppy Rocky. And she also convinced her that her other labs would enjoy it too. She was right. Rocky is currently working on his NW3. Before retiring from trialing, her now 14-year-old lab, Kodi, earned his NW2, L2C, and L1V. But he still loves to play the game. Sadly, her 8 year old lab Zadie had just earned her ORT in December 2025 and was looking forward to a fun career in Nosework before passing away suddenly in March 2026 from an autoimmune disease.

When she isn’t training her own dogs she enjoys helping others train theirs to achieve their goals. She taught group Obedience and Rally classes for the Del Valle Dog Club of Livermore for 19 years and is currently teaching Rally classes for the Fremont Dog Training Club in
Fremont. Karen retired from a career in Computer Engineering to raise her two children in 2001, but always found time to teach, train and learn from the dogs. “I never stop learning”, she says. Every dog and handler is unique with their own set of talents and challenges! Training takes time and patience. In the end, the time you spend with your dog helps you build a powerful relationship together!