Daphne Melillo

Daphne Oliver Melillo started in the competition world in riding, showing, and training horses. After having had several family dogs, she found her first potential performance dog in Kotah, an Australian Cattle Dog, in 2008.

She took her first nose work class in 2012, and was hooked! She started trialing with NACSW in 2014, and took Kotah all the way to compete at Summit level in 2020. She also trialed him to Excellent Level with AKC and dabbled with PSD in 2021 before losing him at 13.

Her other accomplishments include: Multiple NW3 ELT and ELT dogs, currently competing at the Summit and Elite Level with her own personal dogs. Her teamwork with her dogs has brought them search placements, overall placements, and High in Trial honors.

Daphne has long been a student of nosework, as well as a competitor. She has attended many trainings over the years to include GA Nosework camp between 2015-2019, and 2022. Various workshops, seminars, and coaching from sport and SAR team members over the years. Finally, she is currently in NACSW’s CO (Certifying Official) Training program, and is a Regular judge for ASCA’s new all breed Scentwork trials.

She is also a current member of the ASCA Scent Detection Committee. Daphne started teaching in 2016, and currently has students of all levels, who have also earned their own honors such as High in Trial, Multiple Pronounced ribbons, and was instrumental in helping Aiko win his episode of America’s Top Dog on A&E in 2021.

She is a master at mixing instruction and ideology from both the professional detection world and the world of competition scent work. Her approach to Nosework focuses on building confidence and independence in dogs while fostering communication and teamwork between the dog and handler.

She loves watching dogs do what they do best - and helping handlers build a stronger bond with their four-legged partners through this exciting and fast growing sport.