Sniffing

As I said on my FB page yesterday; I was on a walk and spotted my blog inspiration for today.  I was out with the girls doing our snail walk when we spotted a lady coming our way with a nice black lab.  I was just about at the car and Jessie found an amazing scent.  She was stuck there for some time, getting as much information as she could.  I waited and watched the lady coming our way with her lab.

He started to sniff and she angrily yanked on him, he hunkered down.  With his ears back he shot a look at her and sort of ducked.  He was obviously anticipating more yanking.  She grabbed his collar and tried yanking him away from the spot where he'd planted himself.  He had no intention of moving away from the scent that he had found.  The owner was growing angry; she walked behind him and shoved him with her feet at the same time as yelling at him.  I could not understand why she wasn't letting him have a sniff.

Many trainers will tell you not to let your dog sniff; they need to follow along with you and not be indulging in their sniffing.  WRONG; dogs need to sniff, it's what they do.  I do not think that you need to stop at every single  bush or pole, after all you make the rules right?  But part of those rules must be taking some portion of your walk and giving it to your dog.  Even if you are a marathon runner; you can do both.  Allow your dog sniffing time at the beginning of your walk; then get your power work out in.  Often I want to do a really great exercise session of speed walking; of course that means I have Luke with me and not the girls.  We move out and if he attempts to sniff I tell him "let's go."  He understands what this means and we move.

Sniffing is imperative for dogs; especially when they are old like my girls.  It is what makes their day; so while they sniff I watch and like today I got my inspiration for this blog.  :)