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September 30, 2009

When Lilly and I took our first in-the-ring “obedience” exam when she was about 9 months old, we lost a few points because she sniffed the ground during HEEL. She still took first place, by a LONG shot, but looking back (knowing what I know now about dogs and training), I have to laugh. I understand that in such a formal setting doing anything other than the task at hand is akin to a balk or refusal in the agility ring, but seriously, sniffing is not a crime. With that in mind, I’ve been paying attention to Lilly’s need to sniff on our walks lately, and here are my “clinical” observations.

Lilly sniffs less during the out part of our out-and-back route. The distance gone before turning around does not matter. If we go all the way to the ridge, where we can see the Continental Divide, or if we merely go to the top of the first hill, she sniffs more along the edge of the road on the way back. So, it isn’t time or distance. It’s retracing our steps that causes her to sniff more.

That seems counter-intuitive to me. Any ideas on why that might be?

I also work hard NOT to tug, cajole, or otherwise convince her to move on. Whereas Tom regularly hurries her along, I consciously let her sniff because I learned during research for a magazine article I wrote recently on keeping a dog’s mind busy that dogs truly live their daily lives awash in smells of all kinds. Where we typically live in a visual reality, dogs live in a scented one.

Think if it like a constant news ticker running up their noses and into their brains. It’s like a CNN news crawl inside their snouts. Or like learning a foreign language in your sleep, or listening to books on tape while you drive.

So, using a strategy I learned from Gigi Moss, our trainer, I let Lilly sniff as much as she wants, then reward her with either click/treat or praise/treat when she picks up her head and moves along of her own accord. Essentially, it’s a way to teach that tuning out the smell-sensory overload and turning back into me is a rewardable action.

At the same time, though, she knows (I hope) that I understand that the mental work of sniffing is as much fun and as important as the walk itself and time together.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. Hiya, just wanted to let you know that I tried to add you to Technorati but wasn’t able to. Not sure what the problem was but I got this error message (below). Just thought I’d let you know.

    Great blog!
    Rowan

    Sorry, http%3a%2f%2fchampion.wpstagecoach.com%2f2009%2f09%2f30%2fsniffing-is-not-a-crime.aspx is not a valid URL. Please try again.

  2. Dogs read their “newspaper” when they are out on a walk. They also read it when you come in from an errand or from work. I like my dogs to sniff but I also like to be able to control it when I think we may be walking through a spot where I don’t want their noses to touch ANYTHING at all☺

  3. When you were writing about it being a news ticker for them, I was reminded of an article I read that said, “Let your dog sniff. It is just like you picking up the morning newspaper, this is how they learn who’s been where and what’s been happening.”
    I let mine sniff, but my husband is also more impatient.

  4. It sounds silly, but maybe she’s sniffing on the way back because she’s wondering to herself “hmm, I think I’ve been here before and it smells like it..”

    Going to have to try clicking when Marge picks her head up – she LOVES to sniff, and has NO recall when she is sniffing. I usually let her finish and then call her to me. It’s one of the big reasons why she’s seldom offleash.

  5. My dogs do the opposite. They sniff more on the way out, and seem happy to move along steadily on the way home. Because they’re off-leash in ‘our forest’, they can sniff as long as they want. They’re so darn fast that they can sniff and catch up with me easily (but don’t worry, I never let them out of my sight).

    When we’re in an on-leash environment, then I do have to remind myself not to rush them. I agree with you that scent is their world, and we should let them investigate whenever possible.

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