Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. He is the county champion in walking off leash, he has a pretty secure reall and a 100% secure jackpot recall, furthermore its his responsibility that I dont get lost, not the other way round. Which Hand? We do something a little different, that does require scent skills and not just visual in the really deep snow. Twitter. Find the treat! Shipping | Next job is to teach Willie and Maggie to pick it up, dust off the snow, and then find the matching glove that I actually lost track of sometime in November. This way, you avoid the dogs coming into close contact with bleach or disinfectant smells and maintain their house training as well. https://www.kqed.org/science/1938255/how-your-dogs-nose-knows-so-much, Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus. This dog Covering Game plays around the classic kid game that lots of us may know, but were using the same concept to scent work with your pet. The dummy is helpful to train shape recognition while ensuring the dog doesnt get a poke from a real, hard, heavy shed and make them shed-shy. I should say, for anyone who does nosework, that what we did was really an introduction to nosework we never get past the treats in boxes stage. And this course takes you from zero to hero! Put nosework study in the subject line so I can sniff it out. Tonight Im going to play the Klutz game (Jim might say I do that all the time), and drop my glove on our walk. However, when it comes to the game called giving a place to, it can be wearisome as outdoors is a spot for that game and outdoors means direct contact of your pets with unwanted parasites. Susannah Charleson and Cat Warren wrote two of my favorite dog book/memoirs, Scent of the Missing and What the Dog Knows about dogs using their remarkable sense of smell to locate missing persons or their bodies. Place 12 inches of snow on top of the ice, then sprinkle with sleet to taste. Alexandra Horowitz wrote her fantastic book, Being a Dog, about scent as the center of a dogs world view. Experienced staff or volunteers should guide the activity, and keep safety for the dog and human in mind when choosing dogs to participate. (The heelwork group also got matching treats through their sessions, of course). My favourite dog is a 7 1/2 years old mini schnauzer, and for the last 7 years I have walked him 3-5 km a day off leash in the countryside. They LOVE poking their heads in the snowbanks of the field near us. About snow: My buddy, the mini schnauzer, is a distinctive nose dog, and watching him I get the impression that the smells in nature are even more distinct and durable in snow and frost, as they dont sink into the ground. Hi Trisha, Help your dog adopters and foster caregivers manage and train leash-reactive dogs by downloading and sharing this PDF. However, when it comes to efforts, this activity can range from moderate to difficult depending on your dog's interest in scent work. I thought about teaching Obi Oops, wheres Habi? last year, when she was quite deaf and showing the first signs of cognitive impairment and we were still doing (careful) off-leash walks. Whoops! She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. This can get really tricky for scent-challenged primates, who do things like scenting the orange oil cotton ball with fingers that just touched lavender. (Were excluding the smell of Cinnabons in an airport. She calls it What a Klutz!. oh Willie! A normal February would be bumping along a few degrees above freezing with rain and sleet; instead we have had a week of strong sunshine temperatures more like June. He is the county champion in walking af leash, he has a pretty secure reall and a 100% secure jack pot recall, furthermore its his responsibility that I dont get lost, not the other way round. I havent played scent games with our dogs in a while and it would be a get change of routing for them. Just start by putting something a few feet away that you know they love and saying Find It. 0. To Linlins concern: the cognitive bias test is well established as a test for what is considered optimistic or pessimistic tendencies in non-human animals. Once everything is soaked sopping wet, dust with an inch of snow and refreeze againI think youre about caught up. K9 Nose Work is essentially are casual form of the canine scent activities used by professional scent dogs. He gets so excited when he comes off the porch and smells the birch odor. My blind border collie loves nose work and tracking. She was soon entering strange places and meeting strangers like any other puppy. My Cairn is the youngest a year next month and he seems to have to best nose; or maybe hes just more exuberant than the other two. best wishes from us and our pups. Our last dog, a French Bulldog made amazing snorting noises as she sniffed her way down our road during a walk. (I liked this article by Suzanne so much that I printed out and am taking it home to remind me of fun games to play with the dogs.). And this was a hat that neither Mike nor I had ever touched. If you spend any time walking in the woods with your dog you may as well train them to bring you these natural treasures. The most simple way to engage your dog's sense of smell is to hide a treat, then We just have to watch them like hawks.). Wanted to share this with others who are similarly enthralled: Ventilate kennel areas well, since many cleaning chemicals bombard those sensitive noses, increasing stress levels. After breakfast, I hide treats for Phoebe in the house before I take Olive outside, and then vice versa. We used to play the find me game with my blind greyhound. Scent Work saved both my rescue dogs! Phoebe will find scattered treats while Olive likes you to really hide them. By. Nose Work is Great Exercise for Dogs! You shuffle and slide them around, and then let The man was amazed (as was Mike). Why wouldnt dogs who have been reinforced for sniffing boxes not be faster to sniff into, uh, boxes? Olive is learning to spot the tiny hole, then sniff, and dig out a treat. But people in Obedience Competition do it all the time, so check this out if youd like to learn more. You have ice and sleet and snow and gales and more ice and more sleet and more snow we have Rowan-the-Hooligan. Try team cleaning have a staff member or volunteer walk each dog as their kennel is cleaned. Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA - Published: August 17, 2017 Updated: April 23, 2019. About Us | It is certainly time to expand Konas scent game skills. The simplest version is a kind of Find Me game, in which you have food in one closed fist and nothing in the other. The description of the nose work that the dog does was amazing and led me to appreciate even more the mighty power of the nose. Y favourite dog is a 7 1/2 years old mini schnauzer, and for the last 7 years I have walked him 3-5 km off leash in the countryside. As a poodle he is not at all food motivated (although he would run/swim till his paws fell off if there was a ball and a river involved! Playing flying disc, or Frisbee, is a great alternative to throwing a But watching Maggie plunge her nose into the snow, a nose that could clear a 200 acre dog park of poop in an hour, no matter how deeply buried in snow, reminds me how important scent is to dogs. I normally start this with tennis balls or other of my dogs' favorites). Basically youre teaching your dog to learn to track, which is much of what they use their noses for on their own. Hide and seek with Phoebe would be very long day(s) in hiding for the person . Moreover, the engaging food-related games have been good-to-go games for dogs and it can also stimulate their appetite as well. No fair to the dogs.). And this is an opportunity that feels especially important to me right now, because 1) Its too slippery to work the dogs on sheep except for the simplest and most essential of chores, 2) Its been too slippery to let the dogs play much outside at all, and 3) Its too cold and icy and snowy to exist without wondering why you live in a freezer compartment that keeps getting defrosted, then refrozen, then defrosted, then refrozen. Marc Bekoff just posted a good read on the topic in Psychology Today, and Companion Animal Psychology posted about the same study by Duranton and Horowitz that suggests dogs who use their noses are more optimistic than others. I respect her need to sniff and try not to hurry her along on days like today here in Maine when the wind was gusting over 40 mph. That seems like a monumental stretch to me. About snow: My friend, the mini schnauzer, is an distinctive nose dog, and watching him I get the impression that the smells in nature are even more distinct and, We have about 50 acres of woods behind our home and Ive been having a good time teaching my dog to (hopefully, someday) find shed deer and moose antlers with a rubber antler dummy and a bottle of scent and now weve moved on to a real antler to find. Granted, this scent game is like a magician's trick. As sometimes she just knows where something is when Id swear its impossible to either hear or smell them. Although there are different versions of the test, the one we used asks how quickly the subjects approach an ambiguous bowl one midway between what has been established as a bowl that always has food and bowl that never has food. We did not see that either nosework or heelwork group increased in speed to approach the bowls with food after the two weeks if the nosework group was just being trained anything might have food! then wed see faster approach there. Yes, Wisconsin weather is not for the feint-of-heartIm so ready for spring. Any dog can develop mantrailing skills with the right training. Very similar to your here in Nova Scotia! https://www.kqed.org/science/1938255/how-your-dogs-nose-knows-so-much. When I We live on our boat with our almost-10-year-old rescue Beagle and Aussie cross. Slide the cups around the floor, and see whether your dog can sniff-out the cup containing the treat. The wind was howling at about 40+ mph, so I cant say it was blissful, but it sure was beautiful. Pat. She had her spleen removed because there were, as it turns out, 3 tumors on it. I have been wondering if my young Aussie is scent challenged apart from poopsicles and pee mail! ).That means any dry biscuits (I think that is kibble in American?) This is a more advanced scent game, but extremely useful to teach the dog the concept that only one object is desired from a group of similar objects. And you? ONE & ONLY This is a more advanced scent game, but extremely useful to teach the dog the concept that only one object is desired from a group of similar objects. Privacy | Scent Games for Dogs. Never the less my buddy recovered much faster after the trauma, than I did, and now he is his own well balanced self again. When thrown, she will stick her whole head under the snow, rooting around to find the actual snowball to eat, the returns for another. Retrieval games. I have read Duranton and Horowitz paper. Id love to hear your opinion on this. I was really excited to see the paper but Im not convinced by the methodology they used. MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Heres the weather recipe from south central WisconsinStart with a truckload of snow, then stir in large quantities of sleet/freezing rain. The surprising thing is - playing scent games with your dog can not only help these struggles but moves you from a world of trying to compete with the environment to one of BEING AS FUN AS THE ENVIRONMENT! Scent games and scent working helps satisfy this need. Make the game gradually more challenging by not letting him see you hide the food. I so enjoyed reading this post. The control group is doing heel work for 2 weeks. To play, hide several smelly treats under one cup, and keep the other two cups empty. Make it easy to find for you too, i.e., dont lose your keys. Find mom is a basic one I start with puppies, as well as easily found treats on the floor, working up to other things. I recently read a novel called Suspect by Robert Crais. A quick learner, she hasnt made the same mistake twice (except for pooping in the house a work in progress). Granted they enjoy sniffing but often they are not educated in how to use their sniffer until we teach them. This may seem like an easy task, but most pet dogs consider their nose more of an ornament than a tool. Im not a scientist, I only have my own anecdotal knowledge to rely on, but I do find Benkoffs and Horowitz conclusions highly plausible. Contact Us | Here are but a few ideas to allow them to do that. Since then she has found cats in garages and sheds (and hidden under beds), and finds people she knows in quite challenging places (it can mean going the long way round in a large shop or market, though, if following the sister who loves to look at everything, several times). Put in the deep freeze so that everything is icy. But she has taught me so much and I just love watching any dog enjoy a good finding game! Basically another variant of Find It!, except this time you are whats hidden. We call it Oops, I lost it! and Obi is fantastic at it. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals. Pick from a variety of scents for training or breaking your dog on scent early. When most people hear agility, they think of specially trained dogs I just said Find Jim and he left me and said vacuum alone and went to find his favorite guy. Not to mention how snowy winters give dogs less opportunity to use their noses. She is a moyen size poodle and at times acts like a hunting dog. 1. Experienced staff or volunteers should guide the activity, and keep safety for the dog and human in mind when choosing dogs to participate. I would put a small treat in one and then shuffle them for quite a while. Play Find It: Its easy to teach dogs to use their noses to search for something. Id say more now but Willie and I are bushed. I hope Willie is okayand you as well! Good to know that Willie and Maggie are surviving winter! All our dogs loved to sniff. I am convinced that he has recovered mainly because of all the sniffing in calm nature. It gave the first one a place where she could succeed when it looked like all she would ever be good at was escaping and counter surfing. Anyone interested in reading the publication themselves, but without access to a library that has a subscription, Id be happy to send you a pdf. Eventually wed do it under circumstances where there wouldnt be an immediate, obvious scent trail and Gryphon started air scenting (except at the beginning, the person being found wouldnt say anything unless he needed a clue). ! (Luckily, we have a vast armory of treats that make it easy to reinforce our Recall or Leave It cue, and avoid being licked by dog whose breath smells like a sewer. Get creative by tossing ingredients such as yogurt, bananas, peanut butter, and carrots into a blender with a little water or, for picky pooches, chicken or I compete in nosework with my reactive/fearful dog and I teach nosework classes. - Your faithful friend can be taught to find those lost car keys, tell you if your food contains minute traces of nuts, or even locate a missing person, and in such a way that these nose games are great fun for both of you! With this Nose Work game, use four containers (recommend cups) that the pup cannot break or easily knock over. ", Allowing the dog to work independently, problem-solve and build perseverance with minimal human interference can really build the dogs confidence.. Right now we have a post-op in a cone who can barely reach the ground with her noseonly 2 more days, thank heavens. There are lots of variants to this game, including laying a scent trail (scented pieces of paper for example) leading to a tennis ball with the same scent. She will dig through the snow and layers of ice over snow over ice to get to something she finds irresistible buried down deep. He is en extremely well balanced dog with an extremely good dog language. Hide and Seek. As a former search-and-rescue dog handler, I have been amazed at dogs abilities. Thanks the refresher and reminder of ways of working the nose (or allowing the nose to work) during this most awful winter! She added that there was nothing like the smell of rotting leaves exposed by melting snow, also a vital mail drop. But she was focused on her job. with a nozzle for easy no mess dosing. While this one got published first, we are prepping results of another study for publication which looked at levels of reactivity and anxiety after two weeks of nosework classes and practice at home Ill be excited to share that when we can. She can be reactive but she is able to work through it with me. That didnt happen (and fortunately was never needed), but now that youve reminded me, Ill put Oops, wheres Rowan? on the Games to Train list. Lavishly reward your beagle when he finds the right box. Make your dog sit and wait whilst you place the treat on the floor. Set Up Dog Agility Activities. While you are out on a walk, take a treat from your pocket and show it to your Outside I hide them in the yard, and its like Easter everyday! Keep yourself from wondering if your dog is bored with these fun backyard ideas for dogs to play. Your email address will not be published. 1.25 OZ SKU: 7510 4 OZ SKU: 7520 I know she can probably smell it without seeing the hole, but she is not inclined to sniff it out unless the odds are good it will reap a reward. Basically youre teaching your dog to learn to track, which is much of what they use their noses for on their own. But then, really, otherwise we would have been reading in bed, and think of the exercise we would have missed. Initially lots of dogs will use their eyes to find the toy, but most quickly learn to use their noses. Half her body is snuffling under the burm after I throw an item. Download this brochure for tips on working with and handling shy and fearful dogs in and out of the shelter. Unfortunately it can be anything from deer poop to a dead mouse. So each morning on our walk I toss the biscuits into the grass at the local park one at a time and tell him to find it. I hide them in old bones, on chair rails, in cushions, etc., all over the first floor and Olive gets everyone. Zasu, however, seemed even more intense when sniffing. Charlotte Duranton and I did this study as I have been so impressed over the years in seeing the changes in dogs who do nosework along the lines of the commenters here. Elementary scent work or nose games can exhaust a dog just as quickly as hard physical exercise. You can give simple scent tasks to particularly frustrated or bored dogs a job may be just what they need to boost their moods, and the games keep their minds active. He was savaged, and had surgery with four drain tubes, and in his skin you could count not only the four canine teeth of the Grand Danois but also the incisors. We begin right from foundation and work up through the levels. Play with the dog for several minutes with the One & Only object you'll want the dog to find. Hunt the Treat is the favourite rainy day game here, and walks are mostly sniff walks, off leash and at a leisurely pace. He loves this game and his little tail wags constantly (while he is usually quite reactive, he is completely focussed on this game) and best of all he eats a full serve of healthy biscuits while playing! He always seemed to really enjoy it! Its great fun to watch them do it, and a window into a world that most of us primates dont get to enjoy. Teach your dog to catch a Frisbee. Scent games are a staple in this household! Check out some resources: Dogwise has an entire section on books related to Nose work for Dogs. Last summer Mike and Obi were out hiking, and found a gentleman poking around the sagebrush looking for his hat. Also there are often goodies buried in the snow she specializes in pizza and reverently visits a spot where she almost got a slice of pizza about four years ago . We feared hemangiosarcoma but the pathology was negative, yaay! An old standby when it comes to games for dogs to play, fetch is simple for both kids and dogs. I imagine there is a treasure trove of critters just begging to be found there. Ah, poopsicles, my current competition for Willie and Maggies attention. . March 18 2018 without any kind og warning he was attacked by a young male Grand Danois who seriously tried to shake him to death. We played Find it with Cookie when she was recovering from an injury. Due to our success with off leash walking, his owners also walk him several km a day, off leash and sniffing as he pleases. She would watch intently, and after a few false turn overs with her nose, she got so she picked the right one 90% of the time. OK, not supposed to stand on the dining room table. Thank you for the article (and for including a link to my blog). Our sympathies on your winter, though be careful if you have to go up or down any of those hills! She can be in the Blind with the other dogs and handlers. Print. Thanks for this. Hello from sunny England, where we are having the warmest February on record! I have a competition scent sports Rottie in various venues and sports, and her half sister who doesnt compete but who is also adept at scent games. People participating in a Mantrailing Scent Dogs course share an interest in enjoying their pets and the outdoors and encourage newcomers both dogs and owners to develop their skills. Batter Up Game. March 18 2018 without any kind og warning he was attacked by a young male Grand Danois who seriously tried to shake him to death. I will try something more specific to compensate for the frigid weather! Im not a scientist, I only have my own anecdotal knowledge to rely on, but I do find Benkoffs and Horowitz conclusions highly plausible. My girls adored eating hard packed snowballs (which are covered in scent with my bare hands.) Only lately hes expanded his skill set to counter surfing- using your nose and getting treats, really not much of a stretch, is it? Welcome to an ongoing inquiry about the behavior of people and dogs. Love the blog on scent games. At Courteous Canine, Inc. the Fun Scent Games class focuses on your dog finding food. I do believe she has an additional secret sense to detect them, though. All containers are 1.25 fl oz. So thats one concern. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can. Initially, either my husband or I would hold his leash, the other would walk away, and wed tell Gryphon to find the other person. . We all have a great time with it. Her first AKC Scentwork trial the entrance and the Containers were facing toward the spectators section as we came in and I thought uh oh! She still has a long way to go but armed with your books and something that she loves to do I really think she will live a happy life instead of always being afraid. Read on for great ways to make the most of the outdoor play time with entertaining pet games for dogs and for you to enjoy as well. Find it is my best way to distract Olive from a trigger and also change her mind when she gets too reactive. I just have to work harder to manage everything. He was always very motivated to be with his own people and he went blind gradually, so it sort of arose naturally. I give him for breakfast would sit in his food bowl for a week if I didnt get creative. We definitely need to go to the source here, but I share your skepticism in spades at the moment. But heres the good side, from a walk the BCs and I took after it had snowed enough on top of the ice to make it walkable. The training system is fairly inexpensive online and its fun, you should do it. Her first Barnhunt trial she triggered on a gate steward just as we entered the ring and I thought that was the end but we got ourselves back to focusing on our work and she Qd. We play all kinds of games like this inside as well as outside. Sometimes we go for miles and other days I feel like we have just gone around and around in circles! Share these behavior tips with foster caregivers and adopters living with intact dogs and cats when spay/neuter surgeries are temporarily unavailable. Scent games allow dogs to channel their love of sniffing while also enriching their minds. Lately I have been so aware of my dogs need to sniff. Thanks for this wonderful post! But she does have to check out the boundaries. It wont last, but I did get the first of the vegetable beds prepped today, and have been washing all the bedding while it is possible to line dry it. I was going to call you today but my Willie and I spent the entire day at the vets. Everyone out in t-shirts, and during a long walk yesterday the dogs were looking for patches of shade to flop down in. treatment hotline: Jill Marie OBrien, co-founder K9 Nose Work, 2021 American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, While the dog isnt looking, put a treat in one of the boxes, As she finds the treat, offer praise and a few bonus treats, Put a fresh treat in the same box and rearrange the boxes, Encourage the dog to find the treat box again. Loud and joyful praise for the finding adds to the fun for her. Testimonials | Both dogs and handlers develop their knowledge and ability whilst supporting each other. I play the find it game with Kona (toy poodle) every morning on our walk. Never the less he recovered much faster after the trauma, than I did, and now he is his own well balanced self again. Our weather has been such a freeze and thaw that the layers of ice, snow, ice, snow look like a core sample from a glacier. I put him on a sit or down wait. I love this post and the fantastic ideas for scent games. Due to our success with off leash walking, his owners also walk him several km a day, off leash and sniffing as he pleases. My favorite scent game with Cecil is just simple tracking with a double-scuffed, winding path to a treat of some kind. to reward and regroup. Allow dogs to sniff while on walks, and walk them in different areas each day if possible. How about the kitchen counters? The OBrien household is very lively these days. In a similar vein to the nosework games mentioned above, you can play the Cups or Shells game with your dog as well. I place tiny treats around the boat for her to find, many of them hidden in plain sight because shes not LOOKING for the treats. Place the box among other empty cardboard boxes. . Dogs experience much of the world around them through their sense of smell. She suggests dropping something behind you while on a walk. Ive written before about the importance of letting dogs use their noses in Take Your Dog on A Sniff, and Im not alone in my belief that dogs need to use their sense of smell to be truly happy. Just apply to your Scent Strip Dog Training Dummy and its ready to use. Sniffing dogs make me happy. That picture above couldve been taken at my house.I have 2 westies and a cairn terrier. Imagine setting-out on a sunny spring day for a walk in the woods and 500 yards down the path your pet locates an exciting treasure; perhaps a glove, sock or wallet to his delight and yours. Play with the dog for several minutes with My favorite variant is in Suzanne Clothiers great article on Scent Games for dogs. So, I wanted to see if we could validate some of those impressions. Start training your terrier using her favorite treats or toys hidden in boxes in one room or a patch of garden. Say Find It as you walk back searching for it. But what are we nose-challenged primates to do about our dogs need to use its nose to explore the world when its covered in a blanket of ice and snow? Then I hide. If thats the case, do what we doactively teach your dog to Find _____. All dogs love to sniff out new smells and messages - their very own p-mail! This Holidays4Dogs article will provide a few ideas to get you started on training your dog to play tracking and seeking games using their incredibly sensitive noses. If your dog doesnt seem interested in giving up the item theyve fetched at first, Bassett recommends using two fetch toys. Youll need five to eight cardboard boxes and super yummy (and highly scented) treats. Share these resources with dog adopters and foster families to help them recognize and treat the signs and symptoms of separation anxiety. There are no time constraints like on the morning walk so Kona can choose the direction and follow whatever scents he chooses. Teach your dog how to find and paw indicate a scent using this easy and fun game using materials you have at home. Pheasant, Duck, Grouse, Quail, Rabbit, Deer Breaking, Dove, Training Scent 1.25 OZ or 4 OZ. Its not always possible to go ashore for walks, so we use the Find it game as a wonderful energy release. When she was in lock down with her knee, I developed a game like the old shell game. Its come in handy for more than just games, because Ill use it as a distraction when I need to refocus Willies attention. Ask them him then to choose between cotton balls of lavender and orange oil under upturned cups. Print this one-page how-to. Scent games are an excellent way to keep your dog mentally and physically fit and active and most dogs just love playing scent games! Facebook. Play Frisbee, dig to China, take a romp in the water, or teach your dog to body surf. I discussed this with Izzy the BBC (Brooklyn Border Collie) and she said its much easier to read the pee mail when its on top of the snow . So many wonderful questions to ask! Find it while on a walk. My sports girl loves to look for *anything* and one of her favorite specifically is at home is articles. To keep him entertained I usually have a full lineup of frozen treat toys every night that I hide throughout the house.