We have a 17 month old standard poodle and all our walks involve him sniffing as he wants to. I’m fine with it, he gets really tired out, I think we also do a nice balance of him walking and sniffing (and peeing). I think the main thing is around the dog parent mindset, it’s about being willing to literally stop and smell the roses so to speak and not be as focused on going from point a to point b in a certain time period; and it’s about thinking who is this walk for? When my dog is doing his thing I look at trees, flowers, listen to bird song, breath in the air, and treat the walk as part of my daily mindfulness.

As a guide dog puppy raiser we try to discourage sniffing unless it's allowed by the handler. A colleague visited a blind persona to check on their somewhat older guide dog. On examination she realised something was wrong with the dog and a Vet confirmed the dog was also blind. It could still function as a guide dog mainly because of it's nose.

My dog was never trained to be a service dog, but he is excellent with my anxiety. He warns me of an impending panic attack with excellent accuracy. He also knows how to calm an attack that’s already happening. I never trained him for any of it. We got him from a shelter.

Its never occurred to me to not let my dog sniff as much as he wants! He lives for his walks. And I just love watching him enjoy it. My old elderly dog had a little cart he could get into when tired. Id push it up to his favorite sniff spots for him, and you could tell how much he apprieciated it. Great video!

I loved this episode, it's fascinating how the senses work. The emphasis on not suppressing instinctive behaviors is really important. I think it's easy for people to see sniffing as a way to be lazy/avoid walking, even though it isn't. Understanding how the dog's olfactory system works is really helpful in being more empathetic and effective in your training.

This is now my favorite video of yours. I learned that sniffing burns MAJOR calories (if a dog sniffs for 10 minutes, they burn as many calories as if they’ve taken a 1 mile walk). They use their noses to tell time, too! I have a dog client who has pretty severe people/dog reactivity and so we start each walk with a 10 minute snuffle mat session, and the reactivity reliably goes down afterward on our walk.

I had a dog that picked up the blood sugar thing on her own. My grandson is type 1 diabetic and my friend got us a puppy to bond over. When she got older, I would hear him whining in the other room going, "papa the dog wont leave me alone." I'd go in there and she'd be pushing him toward me. We'd check his blood sugar and it would be off every time she did it.

Zak, I've learnt so much from you! I have my first puppy and thanks to you she has learned so many things already. People ask me if I have had dogs before, since I seem to be such a good trainer. Of course I tell them 'no' and tell them about you. Thank you for helping us!

I get to take my dog to an off-leash forest for one kind of walk (heaven!) and a town walk. On the first she’s free to sniff the whole time. On the second she gets to sniff at her pace for the first third, then it’s stop and go for the rest. I use a form of “Let’s go” to break it up. I loved all the science in this video. Very informative. And respectful if dog’s’ biological needs. As usual. Thanks Zak!

One thing I've learned is to change up the environment and take them to a park or trail to give them a new area of sniffs. Sometimes (especially in cities/suburban areas), a dog can get very bored, smelling the same area over and over. Also, I take a moment to hide treats without my dogs in an area. (Multiple treats) Then let them go in and search around. In a multi dog situation like I have I have to separate them and allow each of them in so there isn't a fight. Since I've had dogs I never understood why humans were so bent on stopping a dog from be themselves...as long as you have a boundary set up for them...I just let them sniff and go on when they are ready. The walks are not about my 'exercise routine' but them having the time to explore their world I brought them into. So I've been doing these smell walks for years and boy does it wear them out.

very interesting. Sometimes I get upset with the amount of sniffing my dog wants to do on a walk. I now see it differently. Thank you

I love watching my dog having a good sniff when we go for a walk. I find myself imagining his world and slightly envying it.

I have two commands for walks, one for "walk for exercise" and one for "sniff away" lol. We tend to do half the walk sniffing, and half the walk walking at a greater pace

Also the reason this was so timely was because I’ve had problems with this the last month or so. I figured out just before your video it’s because I wasn’t giving her enough sniffing time. I was doing a group class for obedience (not serious more like skills to live peacefully with your dog all force free) then I had mantrailing and a reactive dog class and a 1-2-1 agility. As she was doing so much I knew I’d have to cut down on walks in between. This is where I had the issue that during obedience no matter what I did or had she would not bring her nose up. I realised that actually by giving her cortisol breaks after filling up her week I’d actually eliminated all her chances for sniffing. Today I went to a 25 acre private dog field rented just by us and let her have the best time ever

I’m in the uk and have a reactive dog to people and dogs. We do a thing called mantrailing which is basically search and rescue but for fun. It’s done with so many reactive dogs because they love it. When doing mantrailing my dog will go up to anyone and eliminate or indicate if they are the person. We could not do that in real life. Fun fact when you said about odour changes over time. In mantrialing we learn it’s a soup of your skin cells and sweat. The scent therefore behaves like bacteria and if it’s a cold day with frost it’s harder for the dog as the bacteria doesn’t grow. If it’s warmer it grows and is a lot easier. They can also take routes which might seem slightly off track to the person they are finding however this is because scent sticks to things like water in a pond or walls etc

I say "what do you smell? When he puts his nose high in the air to smell something on the breeze. Then I make sniffing noises with my nose. It gets him really excited that I'm taking part in the activity and recognizing how good the scent is. Ha!

I simply have 2 commands. One is heel walk and then free time, when he can smell whatever he wants. My standard poodle is so bloody clever, that we can actually communicate quite well. So when we walk with the heel command and he smells something he can't resist, he stops and looks at me and I know exactly what he wants, so I let him 💁‍♀️

We just did a course on finding mushrooms! It was amazing to see my dog work and she was happy-tired after and has been sleeping next to me for hours ❤❤ Normally she is very intense indoors. Someone in the class asked the instructor about problematic sniffing. The answer? Is he sniffing the same place more than 10-20 minutes? Then you can consider it too long. Be patient. The walk is for your dog.

Such a unique and fascinating video! If you’re up for it I’d love to see more videos like this every now and then. 💜

Great video! This is something I can personally use. I really appreciate you showing the entire process the way you did.

Dogs are so fascinating. I have a blind Pug and she does trouble navigating but at home, as long as we don't switch things around, she's comfortable getting around. I taught her "step" so she knows when we're going up or down a curb or steps and she also stops immediately when I say "watch out". The one thing she does that gets her in trouble is pull far to the side. She falls off the curb a lot.

Playing "find it" with my dog is one of my favorite things to watch him do. It's like his brain changes how it's functioning- he might be sniffing out a treat he would be able to see but takes extra time to find with his nose because he is simply not looking with his eyes. It's amazing and so fun and he gets better and better at finding things the more we play the "find it" game

My English 1000% can smell emotions. Just a feeling of sadness felt completely alone on thee couch when he is across the house brings him to my aid. He gives me a gentle dog hug for as long as it takes until I feel better.

My dog is a 5 year-old field retriever. He follows his nose everywhere and that can get frustrating for me on our walks. Thanks for the insight into his behaviour. You gave me some good ideas about managing him.

I usually let my dog sniff. He has certain areas where I know he enjoys his sniffing the most, so we spend more time in those areas for him. It is interesting to watch his behavior and I always laugh when he does the rolling routine. He looks so happy. 💖💖🎶🎶

As a certified dog trainer your my favorite on YT and i love your methods. Im against DD and what hes doing to dogs mental health. 😢 He needs to be shut down and stop abusing dogs. People seem to not understand dog psychology and the proper way to train isn't fear or dominance over dogs but giving dogs confidence and being able to be calm by reading there body language and helping them get to being calm. Adversives are very risky. When i went to dog training school adversives are no no's. Love you zak!

I taught my dog “go sniff “. I like the idea that this helps him relax. He is my service dog so he helps me a lot. I like to help him too. I have found that hiding a treat is really fun for kids. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks!

I see my own dog mirrored in Inertia on those walks! Something you didn't mention, I know you know this but worth bringing up anyway, is using Go Sniff as a reward instead of food for dogs who find sniffing to be a highly rewarding activity. Sure we love hot dogs, but that's not the only source of positive reinforcement we can use to our advantage!

Years ago we started doing a leisurely morning smell walk and found there is less sniffing on the afternoon and evening walks. It also really calms our dog down.

My Jocko partakes in "recreational sniffing" for the first 20 minutes of each walk. He then settles into an occasional sniff mode for the next 30 minutes. It's all cool with me. I also find he sniffs more on his morning walk than his midday walk.

It's so great to see training working with the dog rather than against. My boy is fearfully reactive and all the training is promoting prong collars and other awful things. My dog isn't aggressive but I currently walk him late at night so he can get exercise and SNIFF. We've been playing sniff games as part of his training so this video was great! Thank you, I won't hurt my dog and I often compare their sniffing to our scrolling on Facebook

Love the video! Mark Rober did an awesome fun video on search and rescue dogs that put one through a series of challenges to find him!

thank God a real trainer and excellent teacher for us stewards Amen!!!

What you said about our own Jacobson's organ bring vestigial is so interesting. I wonder if it still works in some people because there's a lady on England called Joy Milne who can sniff out Parkinson's disease and there's actually a new test being rolled out here based on what researchers learned about the scent she can detect. The test accurately diagnoses Parkinson's before any symptoms show up which means treatments should be more effective. 😊

I read when dogs are sniffing and "Marking" this is also hunting to them. Fulfilling their basic instincts. So, I give my dog more free time when walking.

Is there anything better than watching a dog use their nose? Its their superpower and never fails to amaze me. I think i get more excited to play "find it" than my dog does 😂

Smells great!

My dogs go on sniffing walks and walking walks. They know the difference and are happy in either one. All it takes is a redirect once when they sniff, then it’s walk without sniffing or pulling or wandering.

Personally I walk my dog on heel when on the lead and then let him be a dog and do whatever he wants off the lead. He was a rescue and when I first got him he would launch on lead to get to a smell and yank my arm, only way to stop it was to keep his focus on staying next to me and not let him sniff about, but I'd do this with all dogs I have in the future, makes the walk so much better for both of us.

my dog watches yhe video too! love it!!! i have to train him to be calm and safe around our chickens

Last night my girl was very interested in a dog on tv. I noticed that my boy sniffed it out, and then he became interested that she was interested. That part in the beginning about dogs essentially smelling each others feelings made what happened last night very interesting

I let my new puppy sniff when he wants too, it satisfies him, makes him more tired, and he doesn't drag me across the neighborhood (Also, it gives me a moment to relax before he pulls again, I haven't been able to give him much walks. It's way too hot here, but I'm going to teach him to not pull in the fall, tons of walks through fall, winter, and spring!)

My dog loves finding treats inside! We ask her if she wants to play a game and she gets so excited! She is getting very good at waiting until she is released to find them. It is fun to watch and fun for her. We let her do a lot of sniffing on walks. Sometimes I have to correct her because she will yank backwards to something behind us. I will bring her around and put her into a heel or sit until she is ready to move forward again. It does get annoying sometimes when you have to stop at every bush, tree, mailbox, etc., but she is so happy when she gets to go on her walks. It is definitely good for her emotional well-being 😊

When we are in a busy place with lots or people and dog traffic, my dog will want to sniff every tree/lamppost. One thing that I find helps, is to actually encourage her to sniff. I let her sniff one lamppost for a bit, say let’s go and then run with her to the next lamppost for another sniff. After doing a few times, her interest in sniffing reduces and we can walk with very minor stops.

What a great video and I am so glad I found your channel..and I of course subscribed. I love taking my dogs out for smell walks. I wish they could tell me what they are smelling because some of those smells they will really get their noses in deep. Just watching them smell things and seeming to derive such pleasure just brings me joy..what makes my dogs happy makes me happy..

Thank you for making this video! I've been searching for a video like this everywhere. No one seems to address it. This is very helpful :)

My Labrador is being trained as a seizure alert dog: he can smell an oncoming seizure over a minute before it happens. Dogs are incredible!

Thank you for this video topic Zak!

Every time before I eat my dog barks even when it doesn't see me , besides their exceptional sense of smell im convinced that dogs can see through walls too

Yep for a service dog they can detect migraines, cortisol, seizure oncoming, heart rate change, its insane! They can also smell different objects and areas are are able to guide handlers, for example to the bathroom. Or they can smell what the bag or container of meds smell like and are able to find it we play a game, heel then touch = smell or same thing, find it c:

My rescue dog wouldn't sniff for a long time due to anxiety and also guarding me. Having encouraged her to sniff and training to teach guarding me isn't necessary ,she now loves her walks. She spends lots of time sniffing but will also want to just walk. I go with what she wants because it is her time.

We do some nose work classes. For tracking I say “spor” (means track in danish), for lavender search, I say “search”, and for finding snacks around the house, I say “søge”, which means search in danish. And for jus go sniff, I say “snuse”, which is danish for sniff.

The more I learn about dogs, the more I marvel at how they're able to live with us and understand us so much more than we understand them

I’ve got two German shepherds, I walk them on 8metre retractable leads, now both dogs are avid sniffers, and because they share my home with me, getting out is their time so I let them sniff, they pull a bit at times and both dogs will walk to heel either side of me but they are so miserable doing it, they look so bored, so I let them do what dogs do best, sniff! They are just so much happier.

Feeling like you made this video for me after liking my comment lol. Much appreciated

This is awesome! Thank you! Soo interesting!

Adding another comment lol. Although my dog is reactive and I’ve read that they can sniff and therefore feed if your emotions. I have found the opposite to be true. If I go out and I’m happy she’s her usual self. If I go out and I’m panicky or nervous she takes over the situation for her both. She would do voluntary look backs at every trigger we see and just show me what she can do and that she can handle the situation for both of us

We had 3 dogs that was killed by sniffing. Because of chemicals that were used on plants , poisonous plants and dead animal corpse. I allow sniff only in our own yard. I will also play sniffing games with my dogs and bring in new cents maybe a blanket from one of my friends dogs or stick from a area I worked in a few leafs or anything that is save for them to sniff. When I work on a farm I like to bring home some samples of the animals I worked with. Meaning ( fur or feather or grass samples) This is how I stimulate them safely.

Great video. Many useful ideas to train.

Thank you so much for all your videos! Your videos have helped my husband and I so much with a rescue pup! Especially, the body language videos and videos like this one have help us understand him so much when he is nervous, anxious and all other emotions!

My Frenchie starts excessive sniffing as a stalling method when he realizes we are headed back home. He also knows the route to the local coffee shop where he flirts with the baristas and gets his weekly pup-cup. If he ever wanders off, I know where to find him. LOL

thanks again for such an informative, inportant, and enjoyable video. So many things regarding dog smelling i did not know. this was a great video for me. You are the best. We ruff you- Carol... and Toula & Telly & baby Nia. my pups love- go find it!!

My doggo loves some scent work, we learnt it mainly off the books and on our own, as there's not much free content specifically about scent work. We use a bottle with a deer scent on it, and he'll hunt round the whole house for it and bring it to me for a few bits of kibble. Would absolutely love to see how a professional approaches teaching scent work to see if we were on the right tracks

As always, brilliant - Thank you Zak, your clear n precise training videos are just the best !

Phone must have been listening in on the fight between my dog and I on our walk yesterday about this very thing. Creepy, but thanks Google. This was helpful.

Hi, I and my standard poodle like to watch your videos. Unfortunately, in the summertime, I can't let my dog ​​sniff freely because of poisonous vipers. I've seen several this summer. To keep my dog safe, I check the area first. My dog enjoys treatsearching in- and outdoors.

Hey Zak, I'm buying both of your books today, in spiral bound form

Probably important to point out sometimes exercise and dog walk can't be coupled together. If one is trying to kill two birds with one stone, it'll be frustrating. Probably a separate walk for exercise purposes for the owner is necessary if dog likes to constantly stop and smell.

Where is the training?

Thanks! Well-timed for us, we were just wondering how to manage this. Our vet informed us that our pup cannot play with other dogs for a couple months because of a virus. This is a bummer because it’s his #1 joy. Any and all advice while he is quarantine is appreciated!

I jokingly say that my girls are just "reading each page of the morning paper." 😂

Our Golden Retriever loves sniffing around So I've taught her to "Go Find" & I scatter some of her training treats in the garden. So she gets a reward while sniffing. Always has a snooze afterwards, which makes me happy as she's brain tired which I've learnt if as important as being physically tired ❤

I have a German Shepherd with limited hearing. I've found this seems to have heightened his sense of smell, loss of one sense, seems to be compensated by another. Also, my two male shepherds pee over and over each others urine, often 5 times on the same tree! I wonder if it's also a dominance thing, as the older shepherd is ALWAYS the last to pee on the tree!😂

Zak do you have videos l can show my puppy to learn from? You're a great help with our new puppy, thanks.

can u please do a haul of training products?

Thanks for the great info as always! Have you found the cross country travel has changed Inertia and Veronica’s mental map? Specifically registering the travel time/process? We have been doing cross country travel for a couple years and have always been curious if our pup know where she is, or where she is headed.

Zak George. Are you able to give training to a hyper aggressive dog that is on the euthanizia list? He needs help desperately or he will be put down... Can you train him?

I 100% hundred percent completely understand if my dog is sniffing every block every step and exploring at first when I got him when he was eight weeks old I was at times a little frustrated but then I learned as the weeks and months when I’m like you know what I’m just gonna let him do that whenever he wants because it genuinely stimulates him which makes the walk a lot shorter than just having a longer walk with no sniffing Maybe I’m wrong but I noticed 20 minutes of him sniffing around and exploring equates to his energy loss of just walking straight for one hour Although every dog is different. Also, there are cases where you gotta guide them away from sniffing if there’s something harmful or it just matters from circumstance circumstance but obviously when I’m just walking around my neighborhood and he’s super high energy dog sniffing all the time really helps in regards to when we get back home. He won’t be jumping off the walls as usual. (Shiba inu)

Great ideas, my German Shepard is a super sniffer, some games and boundaries might help

Excellent episode Zak 😎

And then there is Coco, my boomer dog, which is mostly Shih Tzu, and luckily doesn't smell everything while walking, because the breed is known for a far less strong of a nose :P

I play a fun game with my dog & peanut butter in my back yard. I hide 2 bowls with a modest amount of peanut butter putting them behind trees and bushes. Then I come back into the house. I open and close the jar of peanut butter in front of my dog and then cue him to " find it " outdoors. Such fun for both of us!

Great video! I learned some new things.

The scent rubbing is so strange to me and it's so frustrating that science doesn't have a clear answer to it. My current dog always rolls around on the bathroom floor after I used a specific hair detangling spray (for myself). It does not matter how careful I try to be and spray only on my hair. There must be tiny little particles that still make it to the floor and she rubs it all over herself. At least it is better than my first dog who was a lot more traditional and preferred the typical dog perfumes such as dead critters and cow manure! 😂

Thanks for the reminder of allowing some sniffing time on walks. I used to do this consciously but, I realized that I have recently hurried them up too much. I would add that I never let my dogs sniff poop if I can see it before they do. They have gotten giardia before from contact with a poop that they probably sniffed and then licked their nose. Sorry dogs, poop sniffing is just not worth the risk.

VERY INTERESTING VIDEO!!! Dogs noses are unbelievably amazing. ✨ 👃🐶✨ I have to admit that I allow my dog to really sniff everywhere on walks and take her time (most of the time, unless it's the end of the walk and raining!) because I see that it's important to her and she really enjoys it. Other dogs have sent her 'peemails' so I feel obliged to let her 'read' them with her nose and reply with her own pee. 😁

Amazing video, thank you!!

Hi zak love your content keep it coming inertia is my favourite 😍 ❤

Very informative! Thanks so much

We exclusively do sniffy walks. I believe it tires him out. I’ve never really seen the point in walking in any other way. We can hustle if needed, but that’s very rare.

That was funny. When Zak said “Sniff!“ my dog’s ears went up and she looked (so I threw her a treat to find 😉)

So interesting, thank you!!

A daily sniffari is my dog’s favorite activity

Looking forward to watching this

Love you channel ❤

Dont you think the leash and collar like that is painful for the dog

If you really want to let your dog indulge in sniffing games, look into barn hunt, NACSW nose work, AKC scent work, AKC earth dog, AKC tracking to name just a few. Fun for dogs and humans!!!

aaw I wanted to buy the barkbox but its not for Europe I just found out. Ashame

If you listen to this guy, a walk will take 4 hours and pulling will happen the whole time. Your dog doesn’t need to sniff everything

this guy reminds me of the Brandon Robertson of the dog training world