Scent Work, AKA Nose Work, is a stimulating activity that engages your dog’s natural sense of smell. As a game your dog will use his nose to search for a favorite toy, food, or other item. As a competition sport, your dog will search for hides containing specific odors, such as Birch, or Cypress.
This mentally stimulating activity builds your dog’s confidence as it reduces stress and anxiety, and strengthens the bond between you and your dog. Scent work is a fun searching activity for virtually all dogs and people. It can be performed by dogs and people that are older or have some physical limitations. This activity builds confidence in shy or timid dogs, and helps high energy dogs learn how to focus.
Scent work is different from other dog sports in that the dog doesn’t require commands from the handler to know what to do. A team is built between the dog and handler: the dog must communicate to the handler when he has found a hide, and the handler must learn to detect what the dog is communicating.
Scent work is a game where the dog is immediately rewarded with a treat when he finds the hide. This reinforces his knowledge of the game and increases his desire to play some more.