Nose work
What is scent work for dogs?
Your dog's nose is its main way of knowing the world, and most days it gets a few seconds at a lamppost. Scent work gives it a job. Here is what the activity involves, why it is so tiring, and how to start it at home or at 210 Eastern Ave.
The basics
Scent work means searching for a target by smell, from treats in boxes to the four odors of the AKC sport
At its simplest, scent work is a find-it game: you hide a piece of food, the dog searches until it finds it, and the find pays. Built up over weeks, the same game grows into searches of whole rooms, vehicles and outdoor areas. The AKC's sport version mimics the work of detection dogs. In its Odor Search division, dogs hunt for cotton swabs scented with the essential oils of birch, anise, clove and cypress, and novice searches use birch alone.
AKC Scent Work runs searches in four elements: containers such as boxes, interior rooms, exterior areas, and buried searches with the odor hidden under sand or water. Dogs entered in trials must be at least six months old and registered or listed with the AKC, and the Canine Partners listing is the route for mixed-breed dogs. You do not need to compete to get the benefit. The AKC itself says training can be done at home, and most pet dogs never go near a trial.
- Food or toy searches: the starting point for every dog
- Odor searches: a trained target scent, as in the AKC sport
- Four AKC elements: container, interior, exterior and buried
- Trial dogs must be six months or older; mixed breeds can list through Canine Partners
Why it tires
Searching tires the brain because it takes concentration and hard, fast breathing through the nose
A dog's nose does far more work than ours. The AKC puts human scent receptors at five to six million, against 100 million or more in many dogs and around 300 million in a bloodhound, and adds that the way something smells tells a dog more than how it looks, feels, sounds or tastes. A search asks the dog to process all of that while deciding where to go next, which is why many dogs come out of a short search ready for a nap.
The AKC's article on sniffing spells out the physical side too: scent work increases a dog's respiration rate, which makes it surprisingly tiring, and mental exercise can be as exhausting as physical activity. There is a mood effect as well. In a 2019 study by Charlotte Duranton and Alexandra Horowitz, pet dogs that practiced nosework daily for two weeks approached an ambiguous cue faster afterward, which the authors read as a more optimistic outlook, while dogs given heelwork did not change.
The Sniff Room
At Dogtown the Sniff Room is a $7 add-on: find-it games and scent work in a quiet room
Our Sniff Room takes scent work out of the noise of the playgroup. Find-it games and scent work happen in a quiet room away from the play floors, and the menu describes the result in one line: it tires the brain as much as the body. It costs $7 and can be added to any daycare day, Academy day or overnight stay, booked online through MoeGo, in the Dogtown app or at drop-off. Tell the front desk what your dog already finds easy at home.
On Academy days, scent games are already part of the enrichment rotation, and from April the sensory garden gives dogs raised beds of herbs to work through. The Sniff Room is the version you can add to an ordinary daycare day or a night of a stay. It is not training for AKC trials. If your dog takes to it and you want to try the sport, the AKC's Scent Work pages explain how to get started and where events are held.
- $7 on any daycare day, Academy day or overnight stay
- A quiet room, away from the play floors
- Booked through MoeGo, the Dogtown app or at drop-off
- Scent games are already built into Academy days
At home
Start at home with a box search, and let the dog win early and often
The quickest way to put a dog off scent work is to make the first search too hard. Begin with the food in plain view, then barely hidden, then out of sight, and say your cue word, such as find it, just as the dog starts to look. Stop while the dog is still keen. Three or four short searches make a session; a dog asked to search for ten minutes on day one may decide the game is not worth playing.
Cape Ann's weather makes scent work a handy indoor skill. A nor'easter week, a July heat wave or the March and April mud on the trails all shrink a dog's walks, and a few searches around the kitchen fill the gap. Keep sessions shorter for flat-faced breeds and on warm days, since searching raises the breathing rate, and ask your vet first if your dog has any breathing problem. Count the treats as part of the day's food.
- 01
Show your dog a treat going into one of three open boxes
- 02
Let it find the treat, and pay a second treat at the box
- 03
Close the lids loosely, then shuffle the boxes
- 04
Add your cue word as the dog starts to search
- 05
Spread the boxes around the room once it searches confidently
- 06
End after three or four finds, while your dog still wants more
Who it suits
Scent work suits almost every dog, from shy rescues to seniors, because the dog sets the pace
Scent work asks for no great fitness, no social skills and no tolerance of other dogs, which makes it one of the few activities that suits nearly everyone. A shy or reactive dog can search a quiet room without meeting anybody. A senior with stiff hips can search a few boxes on the floor. A young retriever or spaniel that patrols the house looking for a job gets one that ends in a nap rather than a chewed shoe.
If your dog has never been to Dogtown, start with the free evaluation on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM; after that the Sniff Room can go on any day. Tell the front desk about food allergies or a prescription diet so the handler uses something that suits, or bring a labeled portion of your dog's own food. A dog that searches happily at home will usually settle into the room quickly, and one that finds the group a lot often enjoys the quiet.
At Dogtown
Where your dog can search
The Sniff Room on any day, scent games built into every Academy day, and daycare days to book them on.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Is scent work the same as a sniff walk?
What age can a dog start scent work?
Do I need a special scent kit?
How long should a scent work session be?
Can my nervous dog use the Sniff Room?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- AKC: what is Scent Work?
- AKC: why does my dog sniff everything?
- AKC: is sniffing a dog's version of social media?
- Duranton and Horowitz (2019), Let me sniff: nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Put your dog's nose to work.
New dogs start with the free weekday evaluation. After that, add the Sniff Room for $7 to any daycare, Academy or overnight day.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
