Thank you to everyone who sent or posted a story recently about why you have the dog breed(s) you do. I’ve loved reading them and the range of reasons why people chose their dog breed is amazing – sometimes their dog chose them too!
But some things are common with every dog, irrespective of breed. One of those is using their noses and their amazing scenting ability. I can honestly say I’ve never met or had a dog that didn’t like scent games of some sort.
Gus’s favourite game is searching for his tennis ball, but he also enjoys looking for food as you can see in today’s video. Playing short scent games on a walk is a simple and easy way to make your walk more fun and also to tire your dog out – it doesn’t take long for dogs to tire themselves out when using their noses.
You can hide treats on piles of stones as I did, or even simply drop treats into grass or on gravel or just about anywhere that’s safe for your dog. On the beach (how I wish I could get back there at the moment) I’ll hide treats around the rocks, as long as there aren’t too many sharp edges or barnacles.
Another way to use treats on a walk is as a distraction away from something your dog might react to or bark at. Use a “treat party” to distract your dog – say the cue in an excited way then drop one treat after another on the ground for your dog to snaffle until the distraction has passed by.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a new Training Tip about grooming (thanks to Catherine!)
Keep training and keep safe,
Carol