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No, increasing his baths is not the answer!
My dog likes to sniff things, a LOT!
He can't walk past a tree, bush or plant without spending at least 15-20 seconds giving it a good sniff...then walk another two feet to the other side of the tree/bush/plant and then doing the same on the other side, just in case there's something new.
We'll then walk (or more likely, he'll be dragged away) only to repeat the same process another six feet down the road or trail, And repeat, constantly.
I understand that it's good mental stimulation for him but it doesn't half make his lunch time walks labourious.
Oh yeah, most of his sniffing is accompanied by obligatory leg-cocking as well.
Anyone else have such an obsessed dog and how do I curb the behaviour/get him more focused?
Danny is a Taiwanese Formosan Mountain Dog, btw.
remove his nose?
welcome to my world when a short walk can take hrs
Put a peg on his nose ?
it's his walk. my old lab used to do this when he got older. he wandered from one blade of grass to the next. bit frustrating when the young one wants to tear about. its the same as taking grandad to the supermarket, reads the entire label on every tin of beans. it makes them happy, let them do it!
remove his nose?
ah but then he'll smell bloody awful
Sort of depends on whether you're taking him along on your walk, or taking him out for his walk. As jamie says, if it's his walk, let him enjoy it and do his thing. It's usually the owners who're obsessed with "getting on" - I hate seeing some poor dog who's being 'taken for a walk' being dragged along by his neck past all the interesting things he wants to smell. I often wonder how they'd like being dragged physically away every time they wanted to look at something interesting in a shop window! Remember that dogs use their noses pretty much as we use our eyes.
This should do the job...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dog-Gimp-Mask-Hood-Bondage-Wear-Faux-Leather-Gay-Sissy-Domination-Slave-Sub-UK/153782789964?hash=item23ce2b274c:g:t9EAAOSwNBlegzT-
Try walking mine...
She sent Mark's everything
How a small dog can have that much piss is a mystery
As others have said if it’s a walk for him then just let him sniff, yes it’s annoying but he likes it. If you’re trying to actually get somewhere but with him then teach a command. Ziva’s is ‘get on’, in a nice tone, if she ignores it she gets a second warning in a ‘I mean it’ tone. She knows she best do it then or else trouble.
Sort of depends on whether you’re taking him along on your walk, or taking him out for his walk. As jamie says, if it’s his walk, let him enjoy it and do his thing. It’s usually the owners who’re obsessed with “getting on”
Mostly it's fine but his lunch time walk is also my "lunch hour" between teleconferences/Zoom meeting when WFH so, ideally, once he's had a reasonable "sniffing" session, then he needs to get his ass in gear as I've got to get back to work...🤨
It's a training thing. With a small dog it's just a question of yanking the lead with a voice command to keep him with you.. a larger dog, more difficult.
Maisie is the same, tbh on her walk I let her and she gets less time playing ball. If I just want to walk somewhere I call her to heel and she knows we are just walking and not sniffing!
Yanking the lead is a great way to train dogs to yank back on the lead
Have you been borrowing our dog.
My random thought today was 'I wonder if I could rub vick up her nose'
Just a thought. I haven't tried it yet!
Is this an on lead walk? If on lead you're in charge, always. You decide how long and how often the sniffing happens. Dog crack rewards for good behaviour should be carried for training. (Baked liver).
In an urban environment walk on the footway where the dog is on the road side of the path for fewer distractions.
It's a soul destroying process instilling the correct behaviour in a sniffer. One of the reasons a beagle will never darken our hearth rug ever again!
How do I stop my dog smelling?
oK I'll bite.
How does it smell?
Is this an on lead walk? If on lead you’re in charge, always. You decide how long and how often the sniffing happens.
Mostly yes, and I spend a lot of time cajoling him to pay attention again, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so. I don't generally take treats on such 'short' walks and I'm not sure whether giving him treats to change his behaviour would be appropriate i.e. am I rewarding his "bad" behaviour???
Off leash, he'll run off ahead, stop and sniff, I'll walk/ride past him (maybe 30-40 meters away) then he'll run past me about 20 meters ahead and stop/sniff again...and this cycle repeats (which is fine!)
hey is that one of the kvr trestles in your pic? i've had springers that just follow there nose, i never did manage to train them.
Gorilla tape
Our elderly Westy will sniff everything on wide paths where everyone else walks their dog but take her on a bit of narrow path seldom walked by other dog walkers and she rarely stops and cracks on
I've been slowly teaching my parent's dog that he can't sniff absolutely everything on his walks. He's managed to train my dad to let him dictate where they go and how long it takes for a few years now so it's been hard going but he's slowly learning not to stop too much now (the dog, not dad. He still takes an hour to do a few hundred yards). He gets plenty of sniffing time with me but as we're not stood still for half the walk he gets to see a bigger patch every walk so he's much happier now. I just used gentle persuasion and rewarding him with new areas of he behaved, seemed to work. He now takes forever when dad takes him out but with me it's a few favourite spots then he's rushing on to try and get the reward of the longer route.
“My dog’s got no nose!”
“How does he smell?”
“Terrible”
swap for a cat?
If your dog is anything like my parents' ones were the trick is to run, not amble along. A soon as you slowed it was sniff and pee, run and they ran with you.
The reason you dog is stopping for a sniff is because he's getting greater stimulus from sniffing than from being on a walk. You need to make the walk more exciting - so take along some treats, a squeaky toy to attract his attention, make it more fun for your dog to be with you. You don't need to yank their head off either. We've had Bassett Hounds for years - the most wilful, stubborn scent hounds you can get and even they can be persuaded from not just sniffing (sometimes) - you can't just pull the lead as it just comes over their heads. We did have one that got more stubborn as he got older and would just lie down as he didn't want to go home from the park and at 30kg was too heavy to carry. Mrs DB would be on her knees putting cubes of cheese in front of him - how the neighbours laughed!
hey is that one of the kvr trestles in your pic?
Yes, well spotted!
Seems like I'm not the only one with this problem
@dovebiker
Good points. This is only a "problem" when I need to take him out when I'm WFH. He's fussy where he'll poop so by the time I get him somewhere acceptable and he's had a good sniff there and back, I'm running out of time 🙄
This isn't meant to be an interesting walk...just get-the-business done. He gets more interesting walks/play with sticks or balls or a proper off-leash bike/walk other times...
It is not just dogs. My daughter took her 2 year old for a walk to the supermarket to buy some milk and that was all. It is about a 10 minute walk.
Unless you read every sign, realise that at two you cannot read and ask mummy to read it for you. This included signs in peoples windows say No Junk Mail which involved a long explanation of what junk mail was, at every house.
You also have to look in every puddle and see a reflection of the sky and talk at length about that. Then jump in the puddle which is great fun until you realise you have broken the sky. You then have to wait until the puddle is still again and the sky in mended -every frikin ripple.
Paving slabs are a maze where you mustn't step on the edges but you must hop on ones that look the same even if the identical set of slabs mean the ones that look the same take you in entirely the wrong direction.
The one time she indulged her kid, just to see what would happen, it was 3.5 hours to buy 2 pints of milk from the corner shop - she gave up hop of reaching the supermarket about 500m further on.
Yanking the lead is a great way to train dogs to yank back on the lead
Don’t be so silly, this is a dog not a child, their minds don’t work that way. If you were cruel enough to hit one it wouldn’t suddenly think oh I can do that too and smack you one! Similarly no concept of what is a road and what is a pavement, they don’t analyse and process cause and effect, actions and consequences, you’re humanising.
I sometimes lie with my head on dogs bed to give her some fuss and affection, she doesn’t therefore think she can lie on my bed or sofa!
Our dog can sometimes get overly ingrained in sniffing an area and would probably be there hours later if I didn't do anything.
If the usual 'dog's name' followed by'come on' doesn't work which 99% of the time it does then I loudly count down from three - he knows that zero is no nonsense the boss says we are moving on NOW and he usually gives in on 2 or the odd 1.
He's a rescue and a breed known for being very wilful - I did it from day one.
And it's not the dogs walk, you are granting the dog permission and allowing the dog to come on a walk with you.