PSA: My dog's leash reactivity vanished after 6 weeks of nosework games

I seriously thought my rescue mutt would always lose it at every squirrel and jogger on walks. Started doing 10 minutes of nosework hiding treats around the house before heading out. After 3 weeks I noticed her sniffing the ground instead of lunging. By week 6 she walked past 4 barking dogs without a single freakout. It's like sniffing drains all her extra energy and makes her focus on smells instead of threats. Anyone else had their dog chill out from just letting them sniff more on walks?

2 comments

2 Comments

craig.john13d ago

Ngl, I gotta disagree a bit here. My dog is a professional sniffer and still loses his mind at every passing dog. Sniffing helps a little but it didn't fix his reactivity the way training did.

julia_anderson13d ago

Respectfully, I see it kinda different. Sniffing ain't a magic fix for reactivity, but it's not supposed to be - it's more like the foundation. Training taught your dog what to do instead of freaking out, sure, but sniffing helps them actually calm down and think first. Without that decompression time, the training stuff is way harder for them to even focus on. I've seen dogs that just get worse when you skip the sniffing part cause they're always on edge. It's more of a combo thing, not one or the other.