Let them sniff, let them sniff, let them sniff!

The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful… until you have to take your dog out to pee, and they refuse to go. Fluffy is busy sniffing the bushes and seems distracted. It’s wet and cold, and you want to go back inside, so you tell Fluffy to hurry up again—this time with a more frustrated tone.

In response, Fluffy sniffs even more intensely. The more impatient you get, the more determined she seems to keep her nose glued to the ground.

It can feel like she’s deliberately ignoring you just to keep you standing in the cold, but sniffing is an important part of how dogs gather information and move through the world. It may also play a role in regulation, although the science is more nuanced than simply saying “sniffing calms dogs.”

If you want the deeper research dive, I break it down in The Science of Dog Sniffing: How It Reduces Stress and Improves Behavior.

Sniffing and Regulation

Sniffing can change what a dog is doing in the environment. Their attention shifts to scent, they gather information, and they may slow down or move differently while they investigate.

One field study by Cristina and Aurélien Budzinski followed 61 dogs on walks using a short leash, a longer leash, and off leash while monitoring pulse. The researchers found that dogs spent substantially more time sniffing when they had more freedom of movement, and sniffing was associated with decreases in pulse even while the dogs were moving (Budzinski & Budzinski, At the Heart of the Walk).

That doesn’t mean every dog who puts their nose down is automatically shifting into a calm physiological state. More recent research on structured scent work shows that goal-directed searching can actually increase physiological arousal while still being enjoyable and useful. The important distinction is that arousal and distress aren’t the same thing(Fountain et al., 2026).

So when Fluffy starts sniffing while you’re getting impatient, I wouldn’t assume she’s stubborn or deliberately ignoring you. She may be gathering information, responding to the situation, or using sniffing as part of how she moves through that moment.

Sniffing and the Nervous System

I’ve worked with plenty of dogs who perform cues beautifully indoors and then seem to forget everything the second they step outside. They pull, keep their nose to the ground, and suddenly refuse food that they happily eat in the house.

When the sympathetic nervous system becomes more activated, heart rate and breathing can increase, muscles become ready for action, and appetite may decrease. That activation can happen because of fear, but excitement, frustration, anticipation, and other emotional states can do it too.

This is why I don’t assume a dog who won’t eat outside simply needs better treats, and I also don’t assume refusing food automatically means the dog is “over threshold.” A dog’s threshold for eating and their threshold for reacting aren’t necessarily the same thing.

If your dog won’t take treats outside, I go much deeper into what that can mean in Why Won’t My Dog Take Treats Outside?.

Giving a dog time to sniff can still be very useful here. It gives them a chance to collect information, make choices, and interact with the environment without constantly being asked to perform.

Build Sniffing Into Your Dog’s Routine

Dogs need opportunities to use their noses simply because sniffing is a normal and important part of being a dog. You don’t have to wait until your dog is stressed or reactive before giving them those opportunities.

Regular access to sniffing can be part of enrichment, exploration, foraging, and giving dogs more control over how they interact with their environment. Sometimes that means allowing more sniffing on an ordinary walk. Sometimes it means taking your dog somewhere new, giving them more room to explore, or adding scent-based games at home.

Decompression Walks

A decompression walk is an unstructured sniff walk where your dog gets more freedom to set the pace and explore. Instead of constantly asking for heel position, eye contact, or forward movement, you give your dog time to investigate what interests them.

In the Budzinski field study, dogs spent almost 2.5 times more time sniffing on a longer leash than on a short 1.5-meter leash. The same general pattern showed up across different dogs, including dogs who didn’t normally pull on leash (Budzinski & Budzinski).

If it’s safe, you can give your dog more freedom in a secure off-leash area or use a long line or drag line while maintaining control. You can learn more about using a dog drag line here.

The goal isn’t to make every walk completely unstructured. It’s to make sure your dog also gets walks where the entire experience isn’t dictated by how quickly you want to get from point A to point B.

Scent Work and Sniffing Games

Structured nosework is another excellent way to give dogs opportunities to use their strongest sensory system. I still use scent-based activities regularly with clients, but I think about their benefits a little differently now than I did when I first wrote this article.

A 2019 study compared dogs who practiced nosework with dogs who practiced heelwork over two weeks. The nosework dogs later showed a more positive judgment bias, suggesting that opportunities to use their noses and independently solve problems may have welfare benefits (Duranton & Horowitz, 2019).

At the same time, structured searching isn’t necessarily physiologically calming. A 2026 study measuring dogs during scent work found higher heart rates during goal-directed searching, without the dogs displaying stress-related behaviors. Scent work can be engaging and arousing without being distressing.

Some easy ways to add sniffing and scent work include:

• Scatter feeding: Toss kibble or treats into grass and let your dog search for them.

• Snuffle mats: Give your dog an indoor foraging activity.

• Nosework games: Hide treats or teach your dog to search for a target scent.

• Exploration walks: Give your dog more time and space to follow smells that interest them.

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I use nosework and scent games with many of my coaching clients because they provide enrichment, choice, problem-solving, and a constructive way for dogs to engage with their environment. I just don’t assume that every scent activity lowers arousal.

Final Thoughts

The next time your dog seems distracted or stubborn because their nose is glued to the ground, pause before deciding they’re ignoring you. They may simply be doing something that matters enormously to them.

Sniffing gives dogs information about their environment. It provides enrichment, supports natural foraging and exploration, and may be useful as part of regulation and recovery for some dogs. The research also tells us that different kinds of sniffing can have different physiological effects, so there’s no need to reduce all of that to “sniffing makes dogs calm.”

Whether it’s a decompression walk, a nosework game, a scatter feed, or simply standing still for another thirty seconds while your dog investigates a bush, giving dogs more opportunities to use their noses is an easy way to make their lives richer.

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