All About Scent Work
- nmasterton
- Mar 13
- 5 min read
My first experience of scent work was for my Romanian rescue, Rascal. After being diagnosed with joint issues, I was looking for a new low impact activity that would burn some energy and tire Rascal out without miles of joint pounding walks. Then, post lockdown, my latest rescue dog Cassey became incredibly worried around people she didn’t know. Being introduced to mantrailing was a game changer for us, helping Cassey build positive associations with strangers.
Bringing scent work to pet dogs is my passion. It could be perceived as a specialised skill, only applicable to working breeds or police dogs but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Scent work is accessible to every dog and it’s becoming an ever more popular activity for our pet dogs.
WHY CHOOSE SCENT WORK?
Dogs experience the world through scent. It’s their primary sense, much like vision is ours. Scent work is one of the best, and most natural, enrichment experiences we can offer our dogs. Our pet dogs have evolved to live alongside us as companions but that doesn’t mean they have lost their natural instincts to hunt. Scenting is part of the initial stage of the dogs natural hunting pattern. Who hasn’t watched their dog follow a scent trail on the ground or hold their head high to sniff a distance scent on the wind? We can use scent work to meet our dog’s natural needs, giving them an outlet for their desires, all while building a strong bond as you participate in it together.
The dog’s nose is an amazing piece of kit! For every breath they take, approximately 12% of that air goes straight to their olfactory (sniffing) system. Their internal nasal structure is intricately designed to accommodate hundreds of millions of scent receptors, compared to our human equivalent of 5 million. And those little slits at the side of your dog’s nose? They are designed to expel air in such a way that it doesn’t disturb the intake of air through the nostrils, and the expelled air currents actually help draw air into the nostrils. Your dog’s nose is simply amazing!
In addition to meeting intrinsic needs through natural enrichment, what are the other benefits of scent work?
Mood enhancing
When our dogs sniff with an end goal (to find food, a toy or a person), the neuro-transmitter dopamine, is released into the body. For our scent work dogs, dopamine is all about anticipation and the feel-good feelings attached to it. It’s the excited feeling of anticipation the night before Christmas when you were a child, or the anticipatory butterflies before a first date! Dopamine feels good!
Confidence
When it comes to scent work, our dogs are the real experts. They are using their own natural abilities to problem solve and earn a reward. This is a huge confidence boost for them!
Focus
When engaged in scent work, many dogs will ignore distractions that they would normally react to. This intense focus (combined with the feel-good factor mentioned above) makes scent work an ideal activity to use as part of a desensitisation programme.
Mental and Physical Workout
In an effort to tire out ‘high energy / always on the go’ dogs, many guardians will increase physical exercise without increasing mental exercise. Scent work is tiring, both mentally and physically. Independent problem solving along with an increased respiration rate will result in a very tired and satisfied pooch (and therefore human!). The next time your dog finds an interesting scent or trail, listen to the change in their sniffing. It becomes louder and faster. We call this high intensity sniffing. This is the type of sniffing that will tire your dog. At rest, your dog has an average respiration rate of 15 breathes per minute. On average, this increases to 30 breathes per minute for an on-lead walk and 60 breathes per minute for normal off-lead exercise. When engaged in high intensity sniffing this respiration rate can increase to approximately 150 to 300 breathes per minute! Our pet dogs are likely to be at the lower end of this scale, but that’s a huge difference from normal daily activities!
WHAT EXACTLY IS SCENT WORK?
Any activity that encourages our dogs to search for, or follow, a specific scent is considered scent work. In its simplest form, hiding food for your dog to sniff out is a form of scent work. There are many different activities that come under this heading but here are some of the most common;
Scent detection. We train our dogs to recognise, search and indicate on a specific odour. This can be likened to the drug dogs searching luggage at the airport. Many beginner classes are now using the odour of red KONG, again meaning that this activity is accessible to everyone. More advanced classes may use odours including gun oil, cloves and truffle oil.
Scented retrieve. This involves teaching our dogs to search for a scented item, pick it up and return it to you. Typical scents include catnip and human scent. Beginner items are usually made from softer materials as these hold more scent, making it easier for the beginner dog. More advanced classes may use materials such as wood or plastic that hold less scent.
Tracking. We train our dogs to follow the scent of disturbed ground. This can be likened to the police dogs following the track of a suspect fleeing from a crime scene. We may also put human scented items on the track for the dogs to find. Beginners tracking classes are usually carried out on grass surfaces because the crushed grass emits substantially more odour than hard surfaces such as tarmac.
Mantrailing. Humans are constantly shedding thousands of scent particles including skin cells, hormones and bacteria. As we walk, we leave a trail of this unique human scent and we can train our dogs to follow it and us. Mantrailing can be likened to the search and rescue dogs looking for a missing person.
Trail Hunt. This is most similar to mantrailing except that we can lay the trail ourselves using an odour pod. The dogs follow the odour trail to find their reward.
With all of these options (and more), which type of scent work should you try? My advice would be to try a few and see which you, and most importantly, your dog prefer. My dogs definitely have their favourites! Taster sessions or workshops are a great way to try out different activities. Also, consider how the class environment will work for your dog. Some classes may only have one dog working at a time, ideal for dogs that would not be comfortable in a group environment; this is how we run our mantrailing and trail hunt sessions. Many scent work instructors will try to accommodate nervous or sensitive dogs because we understand the positive benefits scent work has for them, but it must be the right environment for the dog. If in doubt, look for, and speak to, an instructor with experience of dogs with additional behavioural needs.
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
There are many scent work organisations now. Do your research on local trainers that offer scent work sessions. What qualifications and experience does your trainer have? Do their ethics align with yours? When you have found a trainer that ticks all your boxes, give them a call for a chat. It’s our job as the trainer to make sure that you and your dog are in the most suitable environment and are trying the activity best suited to your needs. Most trainers will be keen to discuss your particular situation. If they’re not, walk away and find another that will.
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