You aren’t alone if you have a dog who loves to sniff! Most dogs enjoy using their nose to explore the world around them, and with good reason. Dogs smell between 1,000 to 10,000 times better than humans. Smells that we don’t even notice are very present to our dogs. Essentially, their keen sense of smell provides them with information about the world.
Human vs. Dog
Dogs have 100 million receptors in their nose for understanding and analyzing scent. For scale, as humans, we only have six million scent receptors. Although it can be frustrating to feel like you are always stopping so your dog can smell, it’s important to let your dog get their sniff on! Below are some reasons why sniffing is so important for our dogs.
Sniffing As Exercise
The main reasons dog owners prevent their dogs from sniffing is to keep them moving, provide physical exercise, and tire them out. Although you might take your dog on the same walk route, a walk with lots of sniffing leads to better exercise than a rushed walk. When dogs stop and use their nose, they’ll be more satisfied and relaxed after the walk. This helps prevent boredom-related destructive behaviors and helps your dog to settle and relax at home. Even if you took your dog on the same or shorter walk, an outing where your dog stops and sniffs, it would be better exercise for many dogs than a faster walk without sniffing.
Emotional Benefits of Sniffing
Most importantly, letting your dog sniff more has been shown to impact your dog’s mental and emotional health positively. It has been shown that dogs who are given more opportunities to sniff are more optimistic and adaptive when facing new situations. This can make your dog’s life better and be helpful with positive dog training approaches like counterconditioning. Smelling helps with self-regulation and resilience in dogs when confronted with stressors.
One way to provide stress relief and even enrichment is through designated sniff walks. For these walks, plan for extra time so you won’t rush your dog. Then, let your dog lead where you go and what speed you walk. These sniff walks can even help your dog relax and recharge after a stressful situation, like a vet visit.
Indoor Sniffing Enrichment Activity
If it’s too hot or too cold to go outside, try an indoor sniffing game with your dog. Grab a handful of treats or high-value food, like UnKibble. Then, ask your dog to sit and wait. As your dog sits and waits, hide food around the house. Once you’ve finished hiding the food, release your dog and let them go and sniff to find the food. Start small (with one or two hiding spots) and build up to multiple locations!
Outdoor Sniffing Enrichment Activity
If you have access to an outdoor area, try a sniffing game with your dog outside! Grab a handful of treats or high-value food, like UnKibble. Then, ask your dog to wait. This time, throw a handful of treats in the grass or on dirt. This way, your dog will use their nose to find the food. You can make the activity more challenging by scattering the food in different areas of a backyard or bigger outdoor space!
Explore Sniffing Sports
There are a variety of canine sports designed to channel your dog’s amazing scenting ability. Three common scent-based sports for dogs are: tracking, scent work, and barn hunting. For tracking, dogs follow a scent pat, finding different objects that have been dropped along the trail and guiding their handler through the scent trail. For scent work, dogs search for hidden essential oils. The dog must alert their handler to the location of the essential oils when they smell it. For barn hunts, dogs search for hidden pet rats and alert their handler. No rats are harmed in the sport and they are kept safe in dog-proof tubes.
Challenging your dog’s sense of smell provides new experiences for both you and your dog. As part of training, you’ll learn how to read your dog’s body language as they search. Eventually, you’ll be able to judge when your dog has found the hidden scent.
These activities are fun way to bond with your dog while providing a stimulating outlet for dogs who love to sniff. If you’d like to get involved with your dog, check out dog training facilities near you to see if they offer any introductory classes.
Conclusion
Although you might feel bored while your dog stands in the same place and sniffs, think of how enriching it is for your dog. Just like you might spend time scrolling on your phone to self-soothe, the same is true for our dogs when they sniff on walks. Ultimately, sniffing opportunities make walks more enjoyable for your dog and help them feel their best.
