7 Sniffing Games for Dogs

Dogs have a nose that can smell 50 times better than our own. A dog’s sense of smell is the dominant way that they perceive the world around them. Don’t let your dog waste his natural talents. Sniffing games are a great way to both entertain your dog and develop his natural skills.

While your dog may not go on to find lost children in the woods or trail a criminal, she will surely find the scent games you play very rewarding.

Benefits of Sniffing

• Sniffing tires dogs out more than simply walking the dog does
• Sniffing develops problem solving skills
• Sniffing can relax dogs and distract them from anxious behaviors
• Sniffing skills can be turned into a variety of tricks, entertaining both you and your dog
• Sniffing is an activity that your dog can do alone or with you as a bonding exercise

1. Scattered Food

A simple and easy way to start your dog sniffing is to scatter food for them to find. While some people start with the dog’s kibble,we have found that it’s easiest to start with something smelly and very rewarding for the dog. Just make sure whatever you use is either visible for you to find and clean up or something you don’t mind sitting around if the dog doesn’t find or eat it. While eggs are a great option and dogs love them, you may not want old eggs hiding around your yard.

You can simply scatter it on the ground or up the difficulty. Try scattering it in piles of leaves, under a blanket, or on top of an obstacle like a tree stump.

2. Which hand?

This scent game is easy enough for puppies to learn and can turn into a cute trick. All you need is a dog and a treat to get started. Start with clean hands in order to not confuse your dog. A smelly treat like a piece of cheese is the best way to get started with this trick, especially if your dog is not used to using her nose to find her food.

Call your dog so they are standing near you and can see what you are doing. Taking a treat, hold it in your hand palm upwards so the dog can see. Close your hand and ask your dog, “Which hand?” She should go straight for the hand that holds the treat. As soon as she touches your hand with her nose, open your hand so she can eat the cheese and tell her what a smart dog she is.

Once she catches on how the game works and is finding the treat every time you can up the difficulty of the game. You can start by not showing her which hand holds the treat, switching hands on her, and using treats that are harder to smell.

3. Shell Game

Dogs that are breezing through the “Which hand?” trick will be ready to play the shell game. Start with two identical containers that you cannot see through. We use red solo cups because they are easy, identical, and cheap. Place a smelly treat under one cup and ask your dog to find the treat. She should sniff at the cups until she indicates which one holds her snack. Flip the cup over and reward her for finding it.

Once she understands what to do, make it more difficult by moving the cups and adding more cups. This is a casino game in which the dog always wins!

4. Fun Trails

You can make paths for your dog to follow to find a hidden reward. This can be inside or outside and even outside of your own backyard. At first it will be easiest to trail a very smelly treat to make the path. We drag a smelly bone on the ground outside for our pups when training this one. Other options include sardines, cheese, bacon-scented dog treats, or any treat that smells strongly. If you think it smells strongly your dog’s nose will go wild!

You can change it up to make it more interesting for your dog and to see what they are most interested in finding. Try tying their favorite toy to a string and dragging it to make the trail, a piece of fur from an animal, a cloth rubbed on a doggie friend, or a smelly work glove.

5. Hide and Seek

A fun game for puppies and children alike, hide-and-seek is a great way to build engagement with your dog while working their nose. For this game, you will need help from a friend or very good stay skills.

Have your friend hold your dog while you find a place to hide or put them in a stay if you can trust them to hold it while you are out of sight. If you aren’t confident in their stay, don’t try it as your dog can quickly pick up the habit of breaking it early.

Find an easy place to hide if your dog is starting out with this game. Don’t try to make it too difficult at first! We hid in the corner of a room in plain sight to start. Once you do it a few times the dog should catch on how to play the game and you can make it increasingly difficult. You can also play this with multiple people by asking the dog to find people by name.

6. Trailing

Trailing trains the dog to follow the scent of a person through an environment. It’s helpful to start this after your dog has already learned to find the trails of treats or toys. Like the fun trails, you can start by making it very easy.

It’s best if you have help to train this trick. Have a friend hold your dog while you go out of sight and hide. To start with, go directly to your hiding place. Make sure that you’re not going too far away at first- if your dog must search for a long time, she will most likely get bored and find something else to do instead. Once you are hidden, your friend can release your dog with the command “Find _your name_”. Your dog will probably go in many wrong directions at first. Patience is key when training this trick.

Once your dog understands the concept, you can have fun making more difficult trails to follow. Try looping around and back on your path, going across different kinds of surfaces, and hiding in different kinds of places.

7. Commercial Sniffing Games

While not necessary, you can purchase toys to develop your dog’s sniffing instincts. Puzzle toys are good ways to occupy your dog and develop her sniffer. These can range from treat-dispensing toys like Kongs to toys that require the dog to move multiple parts to get to the hidden treat.

Like any other toy, don’t give these to your dog if they are not supervised. Most puzzle toys have moving parts that the dog can dislodge and choke on. Common sense can prevent potential tragedies.

If you find that your dog has a talent for smells, check out Nosework competitions. They are a fun way to introduce competitive dog sports to dogs that may not be into the more physical competitions like agility. While this is a new sport, they are available in most major areas.