Smell is one of the senses that dogs have since they are born, unlike hearing and sight, which take between 10 and 15 days to develop and more than 6 months for them to orient themselves through them. The morphology of its nose makes the dog one of the animals with the greatest olfactory sensitivity. For this reason, taking care of your smell throughout your life is very important so that you do not lose this property and continue to be the sense that characterizes you.
What are detection games or olfactory games?
The detection games, also called olfactory games, are usually a good tool that will help the furry to educate and work on this sense. These are games whose objective is to make the dogs’ main interest focus on sniffing to find a hidden object and have a final reward for the work done.
Profits
The main benefit that results from these games is, logically, the development of the olfactory sense and its exercise, which will make the dogs develop it while having fun. For them it is a very useful game because they end up obtaining a final reward: what has been hidden and that they end up finding, making them feel victorious and triumphant, this being another of the benefits of the olfactory game.
Games
Although it may seem like it, dogs are not born taught. For this reason, involving them in olfactory games must become a path in which they mark the pace themselves. If it has never been practiced, it should start with easy and simple games in order to amuse the furry and not frustrate him.
For beginner dogs, it is recommended to start by throwing an object already known to them and very recognizable by its smell (a snack or one of their toys). Throw it away while visualizing it. To order him to go after him, you must have a keyword, for example, “search”. By repeating this game, the furry will end up associating this keyword with the action of fetching the object.
When you have understood the order (look for an object or snack) you can go to the next level: hide the object so that you can search for it using your nose. The first few times it is advisable to do it in a place that the furry knows perfectly, such as a room or throughout the house. Knowing the place will give you confidence and make your search easier. Once the furry has mastered the game, you can go out and practice it anywhere.
You can also play games that do not involve having to move. A good example would be to hide a snack in one of the hands and have the furry guess in which hand it is hidden. So that they don’t end up getting bored, the owner can get involved in the game, being the one who hides himself and who has to find the dog.
These are games that stimulate the smell and the mind of the furry, but it should not be forgotten that they are precisely games. Therefore, fun must prevail. It is very important not to overwhelm the animal if we realize that it is not to its liking and to adapt the game, as well as its rhythm, to its preferences.
