Understanding and utilizing your dog’s nose

A dog's sense of smell is a trillion times stronger than ours. On the other hand, we see people much better than dogs. It is therefore obvious to compare smelling in dogs with seeing in humans.

“Now imagine that every time you see something beautiful, someone pulls you away from the view and you never manage to fully take in the entire surroundings. At some point you probably no longer feel like looking at something beautiful and lose your joy in it.”

There are hardly any dogs who don't enjoy using their keen sense of smell and many who are never fully occupied without nose work. How much nose work is necessary for exercise varies from dog to dog. Just as the demand for physical exercise varies. A hunting dog usually has a much higher need for exercise than a leisurely Labrador. If a hunting dog is still not fully exercised after a lot of exercise, it may be missing work with its nose. The mixture is just exercise or just nose work is not enough for any dog.

5-10 minutes of intensive nose work, e.g. B. during mantrailing, is just as strenuous for a dog as 45-60 minutes of exercise while walking. As I said, just nose work or just exercise is not enough to fully exercise a dog, some also need mental work (e.g. learning tricks) but it is certainly justified that we dog owners suggest sniffing games at home for uncomfortable rainy days become. A dog, like us, wants to use all of its senses to be balanced. The olfactory organ is the most pronounced in dogs. Just as we want to see everything, he wants to smell everything. We stop in front of shop windows or at least take a quick look at the products as we walk past, and dogs stop at house corners, paws and flower pots. They smell blades of grass as they walk past and, like small children with the visual impressions at a weekly market, they quickly become overwhelmed by the smells on offer.