Dogs Sniffing - it's even more important than I thought

 The first blog I wrote was 'The Importance of Sniffing on a Dog Walk'. Please check it out if you haven't seen it already.

I've been inspired to write this further blog on sniffing because of information I've learned recently from an online talk¹ by Shay Kelly BSc (Canine Behaviour Consultant and author) and a webinar² by Katrien Lismont (International Pet Dog Behaviour Trainer).

I knew that through their sniffing, dogs get interesting information about the other dogs that have passed that way – things like their age, health and so on. Generally interesting stuff for dogs. They also love investigating non-dog related stuff of course – things like discarded food wrappers for example!

What I had never considered before Shay Kelly's talk is that dogs can smell the emotional state of other dogs³ (and people). They can smell stress chemicals, for example. This will form part of the information dogs are assessing when they are out for a walk with us.

Scent is everywhere for dogs, not only discernable in other dogs' urine but in scent particles in the air and on the ground. 

“No animal evolved to have all its decisions made for them by another species” (Shay Kelly)

Say your dog stops to sniff, then moves on, that is your dog making a decision to move on having obtained information relevant to them. The freedom to make decisions is so important for all of us.

We humans are over-riding the dog's thinking process by moving them on from their sniffing. I know people aren't thinking they are doing that! They are just getting on with the walk.

If we let our dogs sniff instead of rushing them along, they can get the information they want, hopefully find that there is nothing to worry about and continue with their walk. Should they want to take a different route, and it's safe to do so, let them.

The benefits may be huge – they have had the opportunity to fulfil a natural behaviour and make a choice; they have seen that their person understands them; their confidence in themselves and in us will increase. 

So interesting!

Sniffing as a way of communicating and moving through the world

Often sniffing isn't about a dog getting information from the world around them but is a dog's way of communicating with others or giving themselves time to process things.

Dogs may use sniffing the ground/other things in the environment as a signal that they are just going about their business and don't want or intend any interaction with others.

Also, sniffing may be used as part of polite greeting behaviour – for example – sniff the ground while still at a distance from each other to signal peaceful intent before approaching each other using curved routes.

There is also displacement sniffing, used when a dog is under stress. This type of sniffing is not so much conscious communication, but the dog's way of trying to escape mentally from what is concerning them by going to their familiar activity of sniffing.

After watching Katrien Lismont's webinar I had a real sense of the extent to which dogs use sniffing as one of their means of 'buying time' to process what is going on in the world around them and to help them move through it.

The dogs in the Katrien's videos were given the time to take in the things going on in the environment – someone on a park bench, other dogs, parked vehicles and people in the road etc. The dogs were supported by their people when required, but the message was to give your dog time to do their “doggy stuff”: sniffing, using space, stopping, using features in the landscape like posts, bushes etc. for some cover while they process things.

Bella and the beast at Minnowburn

Here is a great video of a dog being given the time to make her own choices and using sniffing to help herself. The dog's name is Bella. She is a nine month old German Shepherd Collie cross.

At the start of the video Bella moves from sniffing the ground to giving us a great demonstration of how dogs use space – she gives the scary wooden 'beast' a wide berth by taking a big curve away from it.

This 'beast' is a wooden sculpture. I've put a couple of my own photos of it in the 'Notes' at the end of the blog and you can see from its shape how it could give a dog the impression that it might be a real creature. Especially a puppy which Bella still is at her young age.

From Bella's actions I think she might suppose it to be some sort of strange creature.

Her bouncy, playful-like actions look like 'testing' behaviour, where a dog is seeing what reaction they might get from another. Her barking seems to be another way of her trying to communicate with it and also alerting her people that there is something here that needs attention.

She lies down in an indirect position from the beast, watching it. Then she looks round at those with her, perhaps checking their reaction to what is happening.

It is what she does next that really stood out for me when I saw this video – she uses sniffing to bring herself closer to this object of her interest and concern. She is using, to borrow Katrien Lismont's nice term, “doggy stuff” to help her negotiate the situation. Bella's tail wags gently during this.

She then takes fright and spooks, taking a big bounce backwards to a safe distance!

Bella's owner Linda explains that what happened at the end was that they accompanied Bella over to the beast and she made friends with it.

This is a such a lovely example of a dog getting to investigate her environment in her own way. It was safe for her to do so. Then, when needed, she was supported*. Bella's people had only got her 4 weeks prior to this adventure in the video. I think Bella has landed on her paws with them.

On her next walk at Minnowburn, Bella walked straight past the beast.

Ursula Linton

References, Notes and Acknowledgements

1. Shay Kelly did an online talk for The ISCP (The International School for Canine Psychology and Behaviour Ltd.) on 19 Sept. 2021

2. “MicroSigns Dog Body Language Webinar: Would You Have Noticed?” Katrien Lismont (on GrishaStewart.com)

3. The study Shay Kelly refers to is:

"The dog nose “KNOWS” fear: Asymmetric nostril use during sniffing at canine and human emotional stimuli" Marcello Siniscalchi, Serenella d’Ingeo and Angelo Quaranta. Behavioural Brain Research 304 (2016) 34-41

Video of Bella and the beast at Minnowburn with kind permission of Linda Maguire.

The beast at Minnowburn (from a different angle to the video with Bella)

                              My little dogs - Suki investigates it and Choccy   
   watches the surroundings instead

*Other ways of supporting your dog if they have a concern about an inanimate object:

If, after doing their “doggy stuff”, your dog does not want to approach the object any further, you could walk them on past it and let them sniff somewhere else for a while. Then, when you next walk past it, they, like Bella, may not give it a second thought!