Nosework is fantastic for tiring your dog out so you have a happy, relaxed dog.

Here are some ideas hoow to teach basic nose work skills and give your dog lots of fun:  you can teach a “find it” cue to ask your dog to search so he knows what you want him to do.  Dogs have AMAZING noses but we need to give them jobs to do with that nose of theirs..

Don’t do this for too long, a few minutes at first each time – little and often is the key so you keep it fun. Using his nose is exhausting.

Find the treat 

The most simple way to engage your dog’s amazing sense of smell is to simply hide a food treat then allow them to find it. You can use a release word like “find it!” before allowing them to go search. At first, make it super easy by allowing him to watch you hide the treat, somewhere like under the edge of a rug or at the side of the sofa and help him find it, get involved! Then you can up the ante by hiding treats in increasingly difficult hiding spots around the room or even in your pockets or in the garden. Don’t increase the challenge too quickly though, because you don’t want your dog to get frustrated and give up. Use super smelly treats to keep your dog engaged. 

The Hand Game 

Ask your dog to focus on you and let him see you put a treat in one of your hands. Close both of your fists and put your hands out towards your dog and say “find it!” and let him choose. He may nibble or paw at your hand at first, if he does, take your hands away…if he wants to play he must be polite! If your dog chooses the correct hand, use a marker word (I use “yes!!”), open up your hand and give him the treat. 

If he picks the wrong hand don’t tell him off, just open both of your hands to show him the treat (but don’t let him eat it!), then close your hands and try the game again. If he keeps stuggling to use his nose try a stronger scented treat. Remember as with the cups game if you swap hands both hands will smell of the treat – his nose is that good!! 

The Cups Game 

Your dog can use this nose to find the treats in the Cup game. Place three plastic cups upside down on the floor and put a treat under one of them. Then let your dog work out which cup contains the treat. At first he may knock over all the cups until he find the treat but don’t worry he wants to find (and eat)  the treat as he can so he will start going for the correct cup straight away. 

Remember his sense of smell is amazing and if you move the cups around on the floor or put the treat under a different cup each time the floor  will still smell of the treat that WAS there. To get round this you could put cardboard under each cup and move that around with the cup. 

The box game 

This is a fun game to play: Find a box that your dog can easily get his head into and scrunch up lots of sheets of newspaper and fill the box with paper balls.  Now let your dog see you bury a few treats in amongst the paper balls. To help him with impulse control you could ask him to “sit” while he watches you. Ask him to “find it” and encourage him to rummage about with his nose to find the treats. 

When he reaches expert level, you can make the game more challenging.  

Have a few empty cardboard boxes, hide a treat in one box and ask your dog to “find it” and let him use his nose to sniff the boxes and open the box with the food in. He will love this!!