Dog Enrichment: The Importance of Sniffing!

Let them sniff!

So often I see people walking their dogs and pulling them on when they are engrossed in sniffing something.

Personally I think we need to reframe our walks in our heads. Are we out for a walk for the dog, or for us? If we are out for a walk for the benefit of the dog, then we should let them sniff.

Sniffing is such an important part of walks. The sense of smell in a dog is unrivalled. They can detect medical conditions through scent before machines can pick them up. They are sniffing machines, it is what they are designed to do.

The primary sense for dogs is that of smell. There is an entire other world out there that they are bombarded with when they leave the house, that we are oblivious to. Let them explore it. Let's not keep pulling them away from it and asking them to ignore it.

It's like walking a child through the aisles of a toy shop and telling them not to look at the shelves all around them. Frustrating much?!

For many many breeds of dogs, we have deliberately selected for them, over thousands of years, to use their nose to go off hunting and bring stuff back to us. Now we often ask those same dogs to ignore their DNA and every instinct hardwired into them, and to stop sniffing and walk on. Let them do what we have deliberately bred them to do.

If you have allocated half an hour for a dog walk, allow them to use that half hour how they want to. It isn't particularly important how far you go, what is important is allowing them to connect with the environment and explore it through their nose.

Doggy sniffing - information and relaxation!

Sniffing and licking are both stimulating and very relaxing for the doggy brain and you will find that your furry friend is more exhausted from the mental stimulation of sniffing their way around for half an hour than by running around like a lunatic for half an hour.

By sniffing a lamppost, your dog learns about who is around, their age, health status, gender etc there is a whole doggy profile left in the pheromones of their urine. Let them learn. It's like us finding emails stuck to lampposts, getting engrossed in one then being pulled away before finishing reading it - how annoying is that?!

We micro manage every move they make, when they can eat, what they eat and how; where they can toilet and when; where they sleep and when; what behaviours they are allowed to do, with who and at what times.... Every moment of their day is controlled by us. If they are going for a dog walk, let it be a dog walk. Their time. Let them use those precious 30 minutes to sniff for as long as they want. It is their time to be a dog.

Go on a sniffari with your dog. Let their nose lead the way. They will thank you for it!