Scent Work Is A Natural Behaviour That Will Change Your Dog's Behaviour.” - Sam Hughes

How Scent Work Improves Your Dog's Behaviour

Introduction:

Your dog's ability to scent is amazing. Dogs have around two hundred and twenty million scent neurons in their nose to detect scents. Humans only have five million receptors. 

Studies show that training your dog in scent work improves your dogs cognitive skills, increases optimism and improves their behaviour 

Whether you are a beginner to scent work or a pro, this blog will reveal why scent work is amazing and how it will improve your dog's behaviour.

Why Is Scent Training Good For Dogs?

Thousands of years ago dogs descended from the grey wolf. Wolves hunt, using their ability to scent and catch prey. Although hunting has mostly been bred out of pour pet dogs through domestication, their fantastic sense of smell has remained. It is their primary sense and they need to practice it. Dogs that do not get the opportunity for sniffing can suffer from depression.

The dog's nose is amazing. Each nostril can detect individual odours. When cooking, dogs can detect the odour of each ingredient. Scent neurons in the nose detect and pass scent to the brain to determine its importance and what to do with it. 

It is the olfactory bulb where the magic happens. Scent neurons pass directly to the limbic system which is responsible for emotional, reflex behaviour.

There are significant benefits when you regularly train your dog in scent work.

How Early Should I Start Scent Training With My Dog?

Dogs are born with one sense, the ability to smell. If you are a breeder or have a young puppy early scent work can develop a more confident, better-behaved dog in later life.

Start as soon as you can, but remember young dogs need rest and scent work is tiring, so short training sessions are essential.

What Are The Benefits Of Training Your Dog In Scent work?

• Sniffing induces feel-good hormones, serotonin, which regulates moods, enhances good feelings and reduces aggression inducing calmness

• Scenting is fun and enriches your dog's lives

• It builds a  strong bond and improves your relationship 

• It’s low-impact, but also a physical workout which is great for older dogs or those that cannot walk.

• It relieves boredom

• It physical and mental energy that walking for hours won't.

• Time saving, burns energy in a short time

• It is proven to reduce anxiety and depression 

• Increases optimsim

• A find gives your dog a dopamine hit increasing motivation and invigorating the seeking system.

Ten minutes of scent work burns more energy than an hour's walk it will tire your dog out.

Scent Work And The Dogs Brain

The dog's nose is an amazing organ. Olfaction in dogs is essential for learning about their environment, recognising individuals, making decisions, and learning. Their nose picks up scent simultaneously through each nostril, making little hurricanes that increase scent detection. 

They have millions of scent neurons and epithelial tissues to transport neurons on their journey to reach the olfactory bulb which is forty times larger than ours. The olfactory bulb acts as a relay station that sends the neurons to the necessary areas of the brain to work their magic. 

The neurons are sent directly to the olfactory cortex which consists of

The Amygdala controls the dog's emotions - so we know that scent work impacts your dog's emotions.

The Piriform Cortex is responsible for behavioural, cognitive and contextual information - Scent is linked to learning and the context of scent is important. 

The Entorhinal Cortex - responsible for perception and memory - the scent is remembered and a familiar cell is encoded in the scent neurons

The Anterior Olfactory Nucleus - regulates social interactions, aids recollection of odour memories 

The olfactory cortex transmits information to various parts of the brain related to learning, storing scent memory, the reward system and regulating emotional responses.

Scent work can help reactive dogs become calmer and reduce reactive episodes

Is Scent Work Good For All Dogs?

Scent work will benefit all dogs, no matter the breed, age, size or health status

• Puppies have endless energy that needs to burn. When they get the zoomies, scent work will help calm them down and improve their focus! 

• Adolescent dogs, whose behaviour will benefit from more self-control, focus and
  stillness.

• Over-aroused dogs struggle to calm and rest as they have endless energy to burn.
  Scent work bourns physical and mental energy. Ten minutes of scent work burns more energy than an hour's walk.

• Working breeds benefit from a fun activity to keep them busy and give them a task to do. If your dog has been bred from a working line,  scent work will be a great exercise that burns energy and utilises their need to work.

• Scent work is great for elderly dogs, who may not be as mobile as they once were, but still have an active brain.

•  It’s also good for dogs recovering from surgery or injuries who can't go out for walks.

• Great for nervous dogs. Studies show that dogs trained in scent work are more optimistic!

• Ex-sporting dogs that still need something to do but can’t continue with agility, etc.

• Blind and deaf dogs can engage in scent work easily as you don’t have to use verbal or physical cues for them to engage in it.

• Dogs that can’t be let off the lead - you can use scent work on walks to make walks more fun and burn more energy

• Overweight dogs who find exercise difficult but need to lose weight and burn energy. Scent work uses the heart and lungs to burn calories.

Scent work is low-impact, stress-free and enjoyable.

What Is The Best Scent Training For Dogs?

All types of scent training will benefit dogs in some way. However, depending on the dog, food searches may not be suitable and may increase arousal. And they don't get the full benefits of searching for a target scent. This is because of the Neuro transmitter dopamine. Dopamine levels rise and the dogs need for the hit increases so the searching becomes overly engaging for them and not as calming.

Searching for a target scent is more beneficial, as it is slower and more methodical. The dopamine hit comes from the find, not searching for food.

Conclusion

Scent work is a necessary activity for all dogs. It has several amazing benefits. Give it a try and see your dogs behaviour improve.

Uk Sniffer Dogs have instructors all over the UK and if you are in Leicestershire Sam at Rovers Return Dog Training offers workshops regularlarly. 

Find a great scent work trainer near you.