Adding Scent Work with Your Dog
Scent Work is fun and can be used indoors and outdoors. With my experience I have found this creates a bonding experience between the handler and dog.
I started by using "Find It' a useful cue that helps to get the dogs nose busy. The steps I took was to have the dog see a soft treat and then I will drop the treat to the ground and say "Find It' generally it doesn't take a dog a long time to figure out the game. Most dogs are food motivated.
Once the dog has learned "Find It" this can be so useful. A great game for the rainy and cold days. Even those hot days when we all need to keep activities low.
Scent Work is more tiring than physical activities like fetch. Once I have used "Find It' several times with a dog. I will then start too randomly place treats in different areas and then have the dog search for them. I will follow along and say "yes" and continue following the dog. I think it is fun to watch the dog sniffing and searching for the scent. You may find this is a great activity for you and your dog too.
I also use "Find It" when a dog is reactive and needs something to do. This is something that you will need to work up to. This is used for those times when you notice you need to do something quickly to get your dog from going over threshold. Using the emergency U-turn and saying, "Let's Go" and walking away to safe area to use the "Find It".
I enjoy the Scent Work when walks are short for the day. You can be creative and use boxes, the grass in your yard makes out to being a big sniffing area. Using a bush or other small containers that are safe. Dogs naturally use their noses these taps into a dog's natural instinct. Scent Work fits any dog from puppies to senior. Dogs that are on restricted activities enjoy this too.
I offer Scent Work in my services to help get people started with their dog.
Adding this into your life with your dog is bonding, rewarding and fun.
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