Scent work in dogs is a great way to provide your furry friends with both mental and physical stimulation, but from the comfort of your own home. By using their scavenger nature to our advantage, we can create a variety of fun games to keep their brain active whilst enhancing their natural ability to sniff things out!

SCENT WORK WITH FOOD

If your dog is food motivated, there are many ways you can keep their mind busy and active
through the use of scent work games. Here are our top tips that you can start with your dog straight
away without having to buy anything.

Find it

‘Find it’ is a great interactive game to play with your dog that will not only mentally stimulate them, but it can also strengthen your relationship.

• Start by showing your dog that you have their favorite tasty treat in your hand.
• Say ‘find it’ and immediately throw their treat across the floor, encouraging them to go and get it.
• Once your dog has found the treat and eats it, say a clear ‘yes’ so they understand that they have performed the correct behavior.
• You can now begin to hide the treats around the room and then instruct your dog to ‘find it’.
• Your dog will use its nose to sniff out the treats and earn their tasty reward.
• You can develop this game to become as easy or as complex as you want to meet your dogs needs and ability.

Scatter Feeding

‘Ditch the bowl’ is a powerful movement that encourages dog owners to make mealtimes more fun, and it’s as simple as it sounds, ditch the bowl! Start feeding your dog in a variety of ways that encourages them to use their nose and work their food. Scatter feeding is a great example of this, and there are many ways you can do it.

When it comes to meal time, instead of putting in a bowl, scatter it around your home or garden instead. Be sure not to make it too hard at the beginning as we want to avoid the dog from becoming frustrated. But if done correctly, the dog should enjoy sniffing around and being sure to find every last piece of food! You can also keep it interesting by mixing it up with a bit of cheese sprinkled in there as an extra reward for using their nose.

SCENT WORK WITH TOYS

Not all dogs are motivated by food, and you might also need some ideas of how you can get your dog using their nose to find their toy instead.

Find it

‘Find it’ is a great interactive game to play with your dog that will not only mentally stimulate them, but it can also strengthen your relationship.

• Ask your dog to sit and stay (if possible), or have someone hold their lead whilst you hide their toy.
• Keep it simple to start with, make sure they can see where you hide it, so they learn how the game is played.
• Once the toy is hidden, release your dog and give the cue ‘find it’. After a few attempts, your dog will start to understand the game.
• Now you can start increasing the difficulty and hiding the toy in more unusual and challenging places, encouraging them to really sniff it out.

Top Tip!
For dogs advanced in this game, you can hide the toy in your house before going on a walk, and give them the instruction to ‘find it’ as soon as you get back home. This game can help to calm your dog after a long walk, and it’s a fun activity to come home to.

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek can be played both inside the home and out on a walk. It combines two types of scent work including ‘tracking’ (sniffing along the ground to follow you) and ‘wind scenting’ (sniffing the air to find you).

If your dog doesn’t have a good sit and stay, you might need someone else to hold them whilst you hide out of sight. Dogs will know their owners scent more than anyone else’s, so when you call them, they should begin tracking your scent until they find you. Be sure to give them a lot of praise and reward each time, before continuing to make the game more complex.

These are all great ways to develop a stronger bond with your dog, whilst also increasing their mental stimulation.