Day 7

A supercharged scent activity that will ignite your dog’s sense of curiosity and leave them happy and fulfilled.

If you have a high-energy dog you can even do it before you go out on a walk to take the edge off that excitement. It’s also the perfect rainy day activity.

You need:

• Scent for your dog to find e.g. food, a toy or target odour 
• A range of safe items for your dog to search e.g. boxes, pots, containers, toys, etc 

Method:

1. Set up your search area with the items. It’s supposed to look messy and thrown together in a pile!
2. With your dog in front of you watching, place the scent just out of sight. Use a search cue (e.g. ‘Find t!’) to release them.
3. Once your dog is easily finding it, place the scent down in one position but pretend to put it somewhere else. This is called a ‘dummy drop’ and gets your dog using their nose instead of their eyes. Release your dog with your search cue.
4. Now start to set up your hides with your dog out of the room. Make it easy at first to ensure they succeed. Open the door and release them with your search cue.
5. Spread your items out so your dog has to move between objects to search. This makes your dog’s mind, body and nose work harder, increasing their search stamina and leaving them tired and relaxed.

How to adapt this for less confident dogs: don’t put the items in a pile that might move and spook them. Place the items with space in between and start by hiding the food/toy/odour on the edge of the search area.