The Sniffy Game

One of the joys of dog ownership is simply watching our dogs be dogs. Sniffing out the source of a smell is a very natural behavior for dogs, and it’s pretty cool to watch, too. Games that involve your dog using her sense of smell are a lot of fun for your dog and are great mental stimulation. If you’re looking for a way to tire out your dog’s brain, sniffy games are a great choice. One of the nice things about sniffy games is that they aren’t very physically demanding for the human, so just about anyone can play. It just takes a little training to get started.

Bella sleeping on the couch

Sniffing Out Food

Playing hide and seek with treats is a great, simple sniffy game that doesn’t take much training because your dog naturally wants to sniff out food. Even though it’s a natural behavior, your dog won’t necessarily be very good at it right away. Sniffing out a scent, even food, is a skill that your dog will need to develop. So the key is to start off easy and gradually get more difficult.

  • Place a stinky treat in a holder such as a Kong, and show your dog that there is a treat in the Kong, but don’t let her have it.
  • Take your dog out of sight and place her in a sit/stay or close her in another room.
  • Place down the Kong in an easily visible location.
  • Release your dog and say “find it,” which will be your cue for this behavior.
    • Praise your dog when she grabs the Kong.
    • Repeat a few times with the Kong easily visible until your dog eagerly anticipates the game.
  • Next, start placing the Kong in out-of-sight locations so your dog has to sniff it out.
    • Start with easier locations and progress to more difficult ones.

Sniffing Out Non-Food Scents

You may want to take your sniffy game training to the next level and train your dog to sniff out a scent other than food. I trained my dog Bella to sniff out birch essential oil. I think it is much cooler for her to sniff out a non-food scent than to simply sniff out treats. The best part is I can reward her with plain old kibble for finding the item rather than using stinky treats, which I don’t want to feed in excess. I can feed Bella her whole day’s worth of kibble by putting some in a Kong as a reward for each time she scours the yard to find the birch scent.

Air scenting kit example

Here is an example of an air scenting kit I put together. I ordered the birch essential oil off of Amazon and the metal container off of Etsy.

Below you’ll find more specific instructions on how to train your dog to sniff out a scent. For the audio and visual learners, we also have a detailed video on our Youtube channel.

  • Place a piece of Q-tip soaked in birch essential oil in a container with holes in the top. Make sure not to get any on your hands.
  • Place the container on the ground and sit down in front of it, encouraging your dog to investigate the new item.
    • The moment your dog’s nose gets close to the container, mark with your marker work (mine is “yes”) or click your clicker and feed your dog a treat.
    • Repeat until your dog is targeting the container with her nose immediately after eating the treat.
  • Move the container a little bit away from you so that your dog has to take a step or two to target the container and return to you for the treat.
    • Continue to mark the moment your dog’s nose gets close to the container.
    • Get your mark and reward in early, before your dog tries to mouth the container or scoot it around.
    • Don’t reward your dog for mouthing or scooting the container.
  • Once your dog is good at targeting the container a little distance away, begin waiting a moment to mark and reward until your dog turns back towards you for the treat.
    • You are now marking and rewarding your dog for targeting the container with her nose and then looking at you.
    • This is the behavior that your dog will use to show you she has found the item.
  • Once your dog is consistently targeting the container with her nose and then looking at you, move the container to a new location.
    • Gradually increase the container’s distance from you as your dog is successful.
    • Once your dog can target the container and look at you with the container on the other side of the room, you’re ready to move on.
  • Place your dog out of sight and put her in a sit/stay or close her in another room.
  • Place the container with the scent down in plain sight, then release your dog and say “find it.”
    • Praise and reward your dog with food when she targets the container and looks at you.
    • Practice several times before hiding the container out of sight.
    • Gradually increase the difficulty of the hiding places.
Bella playing the sniffy game
Bella sniffing out the container
  • Once your dog is good at playing this game in one room of the house, you can begin playing in other rooms or even take the game out into the yard.