“Phoebe thinks she’s in heaven” was the comment made by one owner during our search-the-area-to-find-a-specific-scent-on-articles nosework session last month. She did. I’ve never seen her look so happy and satisfied with herself after that (very successful) search.
Gus did well too. There were some gunshots around (which he’s fearful of) but as soon as I said the magic words “find it” he completely forgot about the noises and searched for the scent with gusto.
We all know that our dogs love sniffing. They get to behave naturally and make their own choices, both important elements of welfare.
But is encouraging them to do nosework and scent games really good for them? Does it make them happy?
A study published last week gives us some fascinating answers.
It started from the basic premise that an individual’s perception of something they are not sure about is influenced by their emotional state. (It’s posh scientific name is a cognitive-bias test)
In other words, if you are feeling positive and happy, you are likely to have an optimistic reaction. Conversely, if you are feeling negative and low you are likely to have a pessimistic reaction.
This phenomenon has been well-studied in humans and in captive animals, where it is used as a measure of welfare. But only now has the same experiment been carried out in dogs.
Pet dogs are “captive” in that they are not free to choose their own daily activities and they can’t choose what or when to eat.
The researchers gave a group of dogs a cognitive-bias test, then split them fairly into two groups. One (experimental) group was asked to do nosework activities for two weeks while the other (control) group did obedience heel work training. Then they repeated the test.
They found that the delay between seeing the ambiguous article (a pot) and going to investigate it declined significantly in the experimental group, while there was no change in the control group.
In other words, the dogs who practised nosework increased their positive judgement bias, or “optimism”.
Finally we now have some scientific proof about what good owners have known for years – that nosework activities are really good for dogs and make them happier.
So make sure you let your pooch sniff as much as they want when you’re out on walks.
It’s good for them – we have proof of that.
Keep training,
Carol