Puppies love to sniff! But what happens if they love to sniff EVERYTHING and the fifteen-minute walk in between your meetings turns into thirty minutes and now you’re running late? Here are a few tips for more focused walks!
Sniffing is just something all dogs, puppies to adult dogs, do to get the lay of the land, mark their regular routes in the neighborhood, and sniff out familiar scents from other dogs marking those spots.Scent sniffing also helps them understand if something, or some new dog, is in their area.
Let’s make it clear from the get-go, your puppy will always sniff and we’re not trying to stop this behavior altogether. It’s how they communicate and understand the world around them. But, there are a few ways to get your puppy focused on walking instead of stopping to sniff every few feet!
Note: If you haven’t already read our previous blogs on teaching your puppy to walk nicely on leash, or if you’re new to our blog (hi there and welcome!) head over to “Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: Tips to Master Walking Outside with Your Puppy!” to start working on the foundations of walking on a leash while distractions are present.
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Start indoors first!
Being able to get your puppy’s attention to stay on you instead of the wonderful smells around them begins with teaching then to focus on YOU first! You have to remain more relevant to your puppy than to anything else around them. To do this takes a little time, but putting in the work now can make walks a breeze in just a few weeks!
Doing some simple training routines with your puppy (which we’ll get into below) can help establish this habit of your puppy always checking in with you, and working indoors will help eliminate the majority of distractions!
Build focus with food
Using your puppy’s meals, hand feed your puppy’s food for 2 weeks, while you work on basic stationary commands like Sit and Down, and encourage eye contact by pulling the food up to your eye. Reward them with their food each time they look and you or perform the command! Your pup is learning that you are the source of food and they get it when their attention is on you!
Next add in movement by walking back and turning, having them follow you. Make sure to add in their commands and eye contact while you are walking too! This is the perfect time to start practicing their Heel indoors so they get used to good walk manners.
Take it outside
Once your pup is doing well indoors, it’s time to practice outdoors! But don’t venture out around the entire neighborhood just yet! Start right around your front porch or walkway to see how they do, using food to get their focus and lure them back to you if they start moving towards sniffing an area.
As your pup gets better, you can start slowly extending the walk areas to practice more and challenge them.
Let your puppy sniff specific locations
This might sound counterintuitive but stick with us! New puppy owners often ask us if they should ever let their pup sniff, and the answer is: of course! The key is making it permission-based while you’re walking. This keeps the walk itself more like a job for your puppy to do, which helps them stay focused.
Our advice: pick a spot or two for your pup to explore on your walk for a limited amount of time. For example, this could be for several seconds at their favorite potty spot. Letting your puppy sniff the same spots along their route will encourage them to focus on going to those spots consistently versus sniffing aimlessly. Allow your puppy little sniff breaks along the walk to decompress from walking alongside you in Heel and get their fill of scents.
Just make sure over time they don’t start pulling to those spots! They should only be sniffing when you give them their release word (like “Break” or “Ok”). If they do pull, as you approach the area and you anticipate them about to go for it, ask for a Sit or do a Heel turnaround to get their focus again, and have then pause before releasing them to the area.
After their allotted sniff time, it's then back to the regularly scheduled walking alongside you in Heel!
Teach your puppy to walk in Heel position
As we quickly stated in the above section, if your puppy already shows a tendency to want to go sniff everything they pass by, give them something to focus on! Heel training takes time and a lot of practice indoors and out to get your puppy to check-in by looking at you and following your lead through distractions.
Luckily, we have a lot of resources to help you work on Heel training including our blog “How to Teach Your Puppy to Walk on Leash!” and our class in the online puppy school!
WE’VE TRAINED THOUSANDS OF PUPPIES…NOW WE CAN TRAIN YOURS, RIGHT FROM HOME! LEARN MORE!
Use leash guidance and rewards
When you start working on walking your puppy outside and notice them going off to sniff, your puppy’s leash will be a very handy tool. We don’t mean drag your puppy where you want them to go, rather combine the command “Let’s Go!” and slight pressure going in the opposite direction of what caught your puppy’s nose. If you've been praticing this indoors consistently for the last several weeks, this muscle memory your pup's built with it will help immensely now that you're outdoors!
The moment that you notice your puppy dip their head to the ground, they’ve caught on to an interesting scent. This is your cue to turn on the excitement, say “Let’s Go!” and slightly apply pressure on your puppy’s leash guiding them in the direction that you want them to go.
“Let’s Go” is a very motivational command and far more relaxed and fluid as opposed to “Heel”. It’s meant to be delivered in a fun and upbeat tone of voice which makes it far more attention-grabbing for your puppy! Though it won’t stop your puppy’s drive to want to stop and sniff, it may help you refocus your puppy so you can move through distractions easier. You can learn more about working on “Let’s Go” in our blog “Puppy Training 101: Introduction to Walking on Leash!”
Finally, don’t forget about treats! We recommend that whenever you’re working on training your puppy to walk on a leash outside for the first time, or are in the throws of advanced Heel training, make these walks your puppy’s feeding time. Allow your puppy to work for their food while learning good manners. The addition of food rewards will create a positive experience for your puppy and make them want to walk with you and less inclined to go toward a new scent or distraction! And in case your pup doesn't seem to be interested in their regular food when you're outside, use some special high-value treats that you reserve just for walk time to pique their interest and help bring their focus back to you!
How did these tips work out for you and your puppy? Let us know in the comments! If you find that you still need help getting your puppy to stop sniffing everything, join us in our next live puppy training q&a! Wednesday’s at 1 pm PT on our Instagram @thepuppyacademy.
Also, our new online puppy school is available! We cover leash manners, Heel training, working through distractions outdoors, and much more! Plus, you get to work with puppy trainers live and join a community of puppy parents like you!
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