The sense of smell in the dog is highly developed, so much so that it is about 10 times more sensitive than ours since it has between 200 and 300 million olfactory receptors, compared to the 5 million that we have.
For this reason it is very important to know how to stimulate the dog's smell, since with the sniffing sessions we can get them to calm down or, on the contrary, have more courage to continue with the training.
What are sniffing sessions?
They are minutes in which the dog goes to look for and find pieces of food that we have hidden previously in easily accessible places such as the floor, furniture, etc. It is a way to keep him entertained and also to make him tired and relax a lot.
To give us an idea of how beneficial these sessions can be, I can tell you that a trainer told me that 20 minutes of sniffing could be the equivalent of 40 minutes of walking (at a brisk pace). Although that yes, that does not mean that the ride can be substituted. The dog needs to go outside to smell new smells, meet people and other animals, and exercise.
How to stimulate your smell?
For that we can do several things. The most common is putting pieces of food, such as hot dogs, on the ground or on grass, But also can be placed on furniture, hidden a bit between blankets or towels, or in the bark of a tree. In addition, it can be very interesting to leave a different smell at home that is pleasant and stimulating for the dog, such as the smell of another person in his feeder that we will have filled with his favorite food.
As you can see, it is very easy to stimulate the smell of our dog, so do not hesitate to do it to make it happy.