Sniffing
A dogs world is made of scents. Its how they learn, recognise and feel their environment.
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What
The visual and verbal Go sniff cue involves teaching your dog to start to sniff a certain area.
Why
- Great way to help dogs feel comfortable when they feel anxious.
- It helps us to teach our dogs polite manners when meeting other dogs and people.
- It is a great tool to create a calmer walk during your leash walks.
- It can help prevent pulling, barking and other undesirable behaviours.
- It's a great tool to help socialise your dogs.
- Putting the sniff on cue can even help dogs that tend to sniff excessively by making them focus back on you.
How
- Wave your hand a few inches above an area, say “GO SNIFF,” and scatter some food on the ground, preferably in the grass or on a snuffle mat.
- Ask the dog to "GO SNIFF" with the action when the dog puts their nose to the ground and starts to sniff mark with your GOOD marker and throw a few pieces of kibble on the ground for them to find.
- As the dog gets good at this, try to only use the verbal marker and fade out the hand signal.
- Once you are ready, add difficulty by asking the dog to "GO SNIFF" when outside, when there are other dogs and distractions in the distance and even ask for a sniff to redirect away from certain objects or people.
Once you can reliably cue your dog to GO SNIFF, it can be used as a reinforcer or a reward for specific behaviour.
A Sniffari is a great way to enrich your dog's walks and can help young pups and anxious dogs relax in their environment.
Here are some videos from trainers around the world showing how they teach the behaviour.
