Anna & Beau’s Scentwork Journey

Anna & Beau orignially joined Honest Hounds on the online Reactivity Reset to enable them to rebuild their partnership and start working through the bits of life Beau was finding hard. After seeing success she began working with our Affiliate trainer Hannah on Scentwork and was kind enough to write a blog about this for us.

Our Scentwork Journey

I always knew Beau needed a job to do — some kind of “employment” to give her breed fulfilment, she was never going to be a couch potato. At the height of her noise sensitivity, when it was incredibly hard just to get her out the front door, I realised she needed something to do at home to lift her mood and get those endorphins flowing.

I started hiding treats around the house and discovered that just 20 minutes of this was far more effective than letting her run around like crazy for an hour. Over time, it became easier to get her outside, then into the car. I began taking her to secure fields, hiding her ball in bushes, and letting her find it, seeing that helicopter tail and hearing her truffle-pig snorts told me she was having the best time.

Eventually, she started finding it all a bit too easy, and I wanted to challenge her further. By luck, a local dog trainer had just qualified to teach the UK Sniffer Dogs Bronze level. I shot into her DMs quicker than you can say “find it!” Beau absolutely excelled — she worked with so much enthusiasm and even came first in her very first competition. Her confidence grew; her searches went from chaotic to thorough and methodical. She’s now at Silver level and currently exploring a new scent class that uses odour as an emotional anchor.

The Benefits of Scentwork

Scentwork is amazing because literally any dog can do it — any breed, any size, young or old, reactive, noise-sensitive, anxious, or “spicy.” It’s one of the best bonding exercises I’ve ever done with Beau. We work together, it boosts her engagement, and it releases plenty of lovely oxytocin.

It works her brain, gives her meaningful “employment,” focus, and a way to channel her natural instincts to search and hunt. A dog has, on average, 200 million scent receptors compared to our measly 5 million — they truly see the world through their noses. That twitchy little snout on a morning walk, snuffling through the bushes, is processing a wealth of information and releasing dopamine, the happy hormone.

Scentwork also lowers cortisol. Beau was stuck in a constant stress state for so long, fight or flight mode, but scentwork activates the parasympathetic nervous system and helps her relax.

Conclusion

I’m not sure where we’d be without scentwork. It has changed Beau’s world for the better, and it’s one of the most rewarding things we do together. I look forward to our classes and to hiding things for her on walks because I know how happy it makes her.

And the best part? It doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. You can simply take your dog’s kibble and have them sniff it out on a walk or scatter-feed in the garden. It really is that easy.