Nose Games: Treats and Paper

We all know how important our dog’s noses are. Their sense of smell is an essential part of who they are, whether that be for work or just everyday life. 

Perhaps your dog has an actual job of being a sniffer dog, guide dog, or working for the police. Or like my dogs, who use their noses to sniff out terrifying intruders in the garden such as ferocious squirrels, neighbourhood cats who would love to get into the chicken coup, or merciless frogs. 

Although, there is also the chance that your dog just uses its nose to sniff out delicious human food that they would love the opportunity to get their paws on. This is certainly the case for Rambo and Oscar if a packet of Rich Tea gets opened. 

The Treats and Paper Challenge

Anyway, you may have seen already on the blog that Darren has been challenging himself and Roscoe to some training games – see It’s All in the Eyes and Playing Catch – to show training can be fun for both parties involved. 

But today, Darren has challenged me to take part too with my boys and sent me a long list of games that I could try. After researching intensively and accessing both Rambo and Oscar’s capabilities to do what they should or told to do, I finally decided the first challenge would be the Treats and Paper game. 

Preparing for the Treats and Paper Challenge

I picked this brain and nose game to start of with as it was straightforward to set up and thought it would be really easy for both the boys to do – see the foreshadowing there.  

• Take a piece of paper and your choice of treats. I selected the Whitefish & Potato cookies as these are a favourite, and I was hoping it would maximise the results.
• Place the treat in the centre of the paper. 
• Scrunch up the paper and treat into a ball with the treat at the centre. 
• Placed the scrunched up paper in front of your dog and let them get to work. 

Again, in order to maximise the chances of this working the first time, I also showed the treats to Rambo and Oscar – hoping to provide the incentive straight off the bat. 

Paper and Treats Game

Treats hunted down were: The Whitefish & Potato Cookies

Will you be trying the Papers and Treats Game? Let us know how you get on in the comments below – short videos, screenshots, photos – pop them all in the comments and let’s enjoy each other’s fun!