Getting Nosy: Sniffing Exercises Can Benefit Dogs In Many Ways

By: the Cloud Star Staff

What’s a dog’s most important “tool” for collecting information about her environment?  Everyone knows it’s the nose! 

Dog love to sniff – everything.  No surprise, because they’re amazingly gifted at picking up and reading scents. Just by sniffing, a dog can tell whether other dogs, critters and people have been in the area and how long ago. Dogs can detect diseases like Covid and emotional states such as fear through their noses.  And they’ve long been valuable to law enforcement for their ability to sniff out things humans can’t smell like drugs and explosives. 

A dog’s sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than humans’, according to the AKC. So powerful is the canine nose that it can detect one teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized pools!

A look at the canine olfactory system shows why dogs’ sense of smell is far superior to our own. Dogs have upwards of 200 million scent receptors, compared to 6 million for humans.  And they sniff much more often than we do — 5 to 10 times per second versus just once every 1.5 seconds for us. Plus, dogs can make much finer distinctions between different odors because the area of their brain that processes scents is 40 times larger than ours.  

With all the stimulation and intel it gives them, sniffing is as vital to our furry friends’ mental and physical health as rigorous exercise. Canine behavior experts say that allowing a dog to sniff freely for 20 minutes can be as enriching and tiring as a fast-paced one-hour walk. Sniffing lowers dogs’ pulse rate and releases the mood-elevating hormone dopamine.  This can make all pups happier and have an especially valuable calming effect on anxious and stressed-out dogs.  Slowing down to “sniff the roses” can also get hyperactive dogs more focused, making them easier to train.

A study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science suggests that sniffing might even make dogs more optimistic. When presented with a food bowl that the canine subjects had been taught may or may not contain a treat, dogs that had participated in sniffing exercises beforehand approached the bowl significantly faster than those that had alternately been given heelwork exercises.  This indicated that the dogs involved in scent work were more eager to reach the bowl, being more optimistic it would yield a treat.

With all the positive effects sniffing has on dogs, professional trainers might want to consider channeling this innate canine behavior into their classes and activities.  You can do this by incorporating scenting games into your regular training classes, by offering special nose work sessions, or simply by introducing sniffing exercises to clients on a one-to-one basis.  The beauty of scent work is that it can be done by all dogs, regardless of their age, physical condition or level of training.   And it takes very little to get started, mainly some high-value treats with an enticing aroma and flavor for dogs to sniff out.

Cloud Star’s Tricky Trainers Soft & Chewy dog treats are ideal for use in scenting exercises. These irresistible bite-sized goodies, which have been the choice of professional trainers since 1999, have the soft and chewy texture dogs love and are made with highly palatable Pork Liver as their first ingredient.  Tricky Trainers Soft & Chewy come in a variety of scrumptious flavors to tempt and motivate every dog — Liver, Cheddar, Salmon and Peanut Butter.  And because they are low in calories – just 3 kcals per treat – they can be administered repeatedly during sniffing exercises, without worries about weight gain.

Pick the Hand

Get dogs started in nose work with the most basic of scenting games, “Pick the Hand.”  While your client’s pup is distracted, she should place a Tricky Trainers treat in one hand, then clench the fists of both hands and hold them in front of her dog, saying, “Find it!”  When the dog sniffs the correct hand, she should praise him by saying, “Good, find it!” then open her hand and give him the treat. She should repeat this exercise, alternating hands randomly so the dog learns that the location of the treat varies and that the only way to find it is through his nose.

Magician’s Shell Game

We only have two hands, but you can increase the difficulty of “Pick the Hand” by getting three or four sturdy cups to use as hiding spots for the treats. Your client should place a Tricky Trainers treat underneath one overturned cup and move it back and forth, saying, “Find it!”  When the dog sniffs at it, lift the cup and give her the treat. Next, add a second cup. Place the treat under one cup, then move the two cups back and forth like a magician playing a shell game.  Wait until the dog sniffs the correct cup, then praise and give her the treat. Repeat until she reliably picks the right cup. Then add a third cup, and a fourth, and repeat – moving the cups around with your “magician’s hands” — until she gets it right on the first try every time. At that point, you’ll know that she’s using her nose and not random choice.

Muffin Tin Puzzle

Add variety to “Find the Treat” by using different types of objects for concealing the treats.    Introducing such environmental variables makes the game more fun and challenging for dogs and reinforces their grasp of the underlying concept behind scent work. One fun game is the “Muffin Tin Puzzle.”  Take an empty muffin tin and place Tricky Trainers treats in a few of the holes.  Then cover all of the holes with tennis balls.  Give the tin to the dog and let him figure out which holes contain treats by sniffing. Each time you play, change the location of the Tricky Trainers treats so your dog knows he must rely on his nose to find them.

Detecting Non-Food Scent

Once your dog gets good at sniffing out treats, you can take her scenting ability to the next level by training her to detect non-food odors.  Essential oils such as birch are often used as scents in canine nose work competitions, and this is a good place to start. Introduce your dog to the birch oil scent by putting a few drops on a cotton swab and placing it in a small glass jar. Get in front of your dog, holding the jar in one hand with a Tricky Trainers treat in your pocket, commanding her to “Search!” When the dog sniffs the jar, praise her, move the treat right next to the jar and give it to her. By using the familiar Tricky Trainers treats she already associates with sniffing games, you are establishing the notion that she will be rewarded for finding the new birch oil scent. When she consistently noses the jar in your hand on cue, move the jar to the floor, repeat and reward.  After the dog has mastered this step, begin hiding the birch oil-scented jar in boxes, closets and various other spots around the room. Reward her when she sniffs it out on command. By following these basic steps, you can train your dog to detect and alert you to virtually any scent!

If your clients find that they and their dogs really enjoy sniffing exercises, they may eventually want to get involved in the growing sport of canine scent work competition. But even if they just want to keep it casual, they will have great fun “nosing around” together and strengthen their bond through a shared activity, while their pup gets to do something she loves!