Where can you best engage your dogs nose at home?
Engaging your dog’s instinctive behaviours is a great way to help them feel fulfilled. If your dog has to think as well it’s even better and a wonderful way to tire them out. A large portion of the day in the life of wild canines requires foraging and scavenging for food.
The key to keeping a dog interested in anything is to quit before they get bored or tire of the exercise so take charge of the activity with this in mind. This means varying the ways a dog has to find a scent and varying the types of scents he/she has to find. Making finding a treat or toy easy to begin with and building up the challenge over time is best to build confidence. Give a verbal command for the game to begin and make a big fuss when he/she succeeds. If you have a conformist dog who is reluctant to try breaking away from obedience mode you may have to encourage and demonstrate a little for them.
You can hide a single ‘extremely high value’ treat under one of a number of boxes (cardboard boxes are cheapest and easiest). It’s ok to let your dog see you place the treat the first time before you mix up the boxes. In the beginning you are just trying to build the desire to seek. Over time you can increase the amount of boxes making it more complex.
Or maybe you are just hiding something in the interior of your home. When we hide our dogs Kong and give the command ‘go find’ your ‘Kong’ they get sooo much more value out of the experience than simply delivering it right to them. ‘Find’ games outdoors are enormously satisfying and goodies can be hidden under, or behind something, slightly off the ground or even in a crack of the pavement.
Don’t underestimate the fun of hiding in your home and getting the dog to find you; they really love this one. But you’ve got to make it worth their while, so don’t forget to go crazy (good crazy) once they’ve got you. All of the above nose games work really well if you have a partner to help you but it’s not essential.
A snuffle mat is an excellent way to create a scent game. This engages the mind while they exercise their natural foraging instincts and is also handy when it’s raining outside.
Check out the link below for a fabulous example of a home made snuffle mat.
https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/blog/diy-make-your-dog-or-cat-a-snuffle-matt/
Leah & Angela O’Meara
Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding & Dog Boarding, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Doggy Day Cares Brisbane)