Everyday when I am driving around in my local town, or I am out walking with my dogs I see other dog owners pulling and yanking on their dog’s lead. The dog is usually engrossed in having a good sniff of a lamppost and the owner is in a rush to get their 30-minute walk done before they need to get to work or pick the kids up from school.
The dog is trying to read some pee-mails and get important details about who else is in the local area. Is there a female dog who has just been past? Is she looking for a boyfriend? What about Billie their cocker spaniel pal who they play chase with on the field, has he been on his walk already this morning? All this information can be found out by the dog by having a good old sniff.
We live in a society where we have it ingrained into us that dogs need to go on a walk, twice a day, every day! So, we get ourselves into this mindset that we need to tire them out physically. If we don’t walk them as far, they will be “naughty”.
Dragging them along and forcing them to complete a certain length walk in your time scale is often counter intuitive. I’m not saying that dogs do not need physical exercise but, in some cases, you would be far better off walking less distance and allowing them to have a good old sniffari! Sure, you may not get those smart watch “steps” in, but you wouldn’t be dragging your dog along and the experience will be much more enjoyable for both of you.
Sniffari – A dog walk led by your dog’s nose. Follow where they go and at their pace with no set destination in mind.
So why do dogs sniff everything?
Well quite simply the way they view the world is different to you and I. We use vision, whereas dogs prefer smelly vision!
Their sense of smell is just phenomenal with 300 million scent receptors compared to our measly 6 million, they have the ability to breathe independently through each nostril and even have an extra organ at the back to their mouths to “taste” smells with. To put into perspective just how good their noses are, scientist Alexandra Horowitz describes it as “if humans can detect the smell of one teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee, the dog equivalent would be one teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized pools!” Pretty impressive!
So how can you use this to help your relationship with your dog?
Firstly, let them sniff! Do not drag them along on walks, they need this opportunity to process the world. It does not just help them to survive but can also help them to thrive. Sniffing releases, a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine has beneficial effects on stress and anxiety. So, sniffing really could help to calm your dog back down again after they have found something difficult or stressful.
Here’s a few easy things to try:
Sniffari
Have a sniffari!
Deliberately pick a walk each week where your dog’s nose chooses the route you go on. You can do this on or off lead. This can be hard to get into the swing of at first, because we are so used to leading the way, but it is an activity that requires little input from you other than to follow your dog. I particularly like doing this in wooden areas with my dog Rico we start on a path and then we step off the main trail into the woods and I follow the route he wants to go down. If you’re worried about getting lost, then make sure you enable the “find my car” feature on your phone or start in a clear open area like the beach!
Rico, Rachel’s 7 year old Kokoni leading the way on sniffari!
Scatter Feed
Encourage some foraging behaviour with your dogs. Instead of feeding them out of the same bowl every day, simply scatter their food on the floor or even better outside in the long grass to make a natural “snuffle matt” for them to sniff out and enjoy their dinner from.
Rico sniffing out his kibble/biscuits in the long grass.
Teach your dog to “find it”.
The start of some easy scent work for your dog is to teach a “find it” cue.
To start simply have some small pieces of mild, low fat cheddar cheese in your hands. With your dog looking at you say, “find it” and drop from an open palm a small piece of cheese on to the floor.
Repeat this a few times from your right hand, then your left hand, then your right hand again.
This time when your dog has started to understand that the words “find it” mean that some cheese is going to be on the ground to eat, you are going to check that they use their nose rather than watching or hearing the cheese fall.
Throw a piece of cheese out in front of you, and while your dog is away getting it. Place another on the ground (without your dog seeing you!). When the dog comes back and looks at you, you are going to repeat the same hand action and say “find it” towards the piece you have already put on the floor.
The dog should then start to sniff to find the piece of cheese. Don’t worry if they do not find it instantly, they will be using their nose not their eyes so although it may be clearly visible to you, they are seeing a different picture!
As they get better at this with practice you can start hiding the pieces of cheese in novel places, stick them on to trees on your walk, fence posts, skirting boards in the house and then let the dog come into the area. As they enter say “find it” and let their lovely sniffing nose do all the hard work.
A good “find it” cue is the start of many nosework or scentwork courses, so if you dog enjoys this little game then you could always look to join a scent work course and give them a new hobby for their nose! Courses are run in person and online by many Animal Training Instructors, so even if your dog does not particularly like being around other dogs, they can still join in with some nose work fun!
The scentwork world is growing at a huge rate in the UK so if this has piqued your interest you could always explore the world of man or pet trailing. Where you teach your dog to find a “missing” person or dog – think hide and seek for dogs and you will be along the right lines! Whether you decide to go down a formal scent work route, or simply allow your dog some more sniffing time on walks I can promise you this, your dog will thank you for it!
Rachel Pet Trailing with Rico
Bio
Nose to Trail is a pet behaviour service run by multi award-winning Clinical Animal Behaviourist Rachel Rodgers.
Rachel has a Master’s degree in Applied Animal Behaviour and Training. She is a full member of the APBC – Association of Pet Behaviour Councillors and APDT – Association of Pet Dog Trainers. She has worked training rescue dogs for over 10 years and continues her love for rescue dogs by offering them discounted training with her company.
She lives in Cheshire with her two small dogs, Rico – a rescue from Portugal, and Maisy a Jack Russell cross Pug.
07506059019
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Rachel with her two dogs Rico and Maisy
