Sniffing is one of the most efficient way to drain your dog’s energy. If your dog hasn’t searched much before, you need to start with only three items/obstacles.
Later on when your dog is used to searching you can use more items/obstacles.
You can use almost any items in this game, such as cardboard boxes, tubes, containers, buckets, basins, baskets, balls, bags, footstools, pillows, rolled rugs etc.
You shouldn’t use any items that your dog isn’t normally allowed to touch. You also shouldn’t use any furniture that might fall on your dog. Any sharp items or items made from glass should be avoided.
You should consider your dog’s size as you make the course. The dog or it’s nose must reach the places you put the treats and also if you have a smaller dog, it might not be able to reach to the bottom of boxes with high edges etc.
My course included:
- cardboard boxes, which had balls/rope toys/large plastic jars as obstacles inside
- plastic containers, which had masking tape roll and rubber toys as obstacles inside
- 1 plastic and 2 cardboard tubes
- a basketball
- a plastic footstool
- an obstacle made out of puzzle mat pieces
- a cycling trainer
- 2 couch pillows
- a basin with balls as obstacles inside
- a basket with tennis balls as obstacles inside
- a trivet
- and I also hide some treats under the tables and under the office chair’s legs.
You can use any treats in this game. I used small pieces of dried chicken fillet.
It took me about 10-15 minutes altogether to plan, build and clear the course, but it was worth every minute. Miki loves to search and he even got tired after we played this game about 20 minutes.
Your dog needs to wait outside the room while you hide the treats otherwise it’ll be too easy for your dog to find the treats. And you should change the places you hide the treats as much as you can.
