Have you noticed your dog walking slower lately? That’s not stubbornness. That’s a sensory buffet! March reopens the world’s scent catalog, and your dog is busy catching up on the neighborhood gossip.
🔬👃 A Little Nose Science (Because It’s Wild)
Humans have about 5–6 million scent receptors. Dogs? Somewhere between 125–300 million. 🤯
The section of the canine brain devoted to scent analysis is proportionally enormous. While we see spring in color, dogs experience it in invisible architecture — currents, layers, footnotes.
They don’t just notice blooming. They examine it like a crime scene.
When dogs stop to sniff, they aren’t stalling. They’re doing biology. Sniffing lowers heart rate, reduces stress, increases dopamine, and gives the brain meaningful work to do. Think of it as cognitive enrichment disguised as wandering. A proper sniffari isn’t laziness—it’s neurological cross-training.
Sometimes the most productive walk is 20 minutes and 200 smells—not three miles of marching and mutual frustration.
🐕🎯 Training Game: “Scent Checkpoints”
How it works:
- On your walk, choose 3–5 natural scent hotspots (tree base, bush, hydrant, patch of grass).
- Quietly scatter 3–4 tiny treats in the grass near each location.
- Release with: “Check it out.”
- Let your dog fully investigate before moving on.
Now here’s the twist:
After 3–4 checkpoints, ask for ONE simple cue (like hand target or sit). Then release back to sniffing as the reward.
You are teaching:
- Engagement after arousal
- Switching between thinking and smelling
- That listening doesn’t end the fun
Most dogs have never been reinforced for returning from sniffing. This builds that skill beautifully.
🐶🎉 National Puppy Day — March 23
A holiday celebrating tiny paws, soft ears, and the brief phase when your home contains a small land-shark with the attention span of a walnut.
Puppies are adorable, yes. They are also strategic opportunists. If counter-surfing produces a sandwich even once, it quickly becomes a promising long-term business model.
The good news: puppyhood is when the brain is remarkably good at learning. What puppies rehearse now becomes the adult dog you live with later.
The goal isn’t a perfectly obedient puppy. The goal is a dog who believes:
“The world is safe, humans are helpful, and learning things pays well.”
Training & Behavior Resources:
• American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior Puppy Socialization Position Statement
https://avsab.org/resources/position-statements/
• Fear Free Pets — cooperative care & fear-free handling:
https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com/content-library/?all
• Emily Larlham — excellent free training tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup
• Pet Professional Guild — ethical trainer directory
https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/find-a-ppg-professional/
One Training Habit That Pays Off for Life:
Reward puppies for voluntarily choosing good decisions.
Look at you instead of the shoe → treat.
Lie down quietly → treat.
Walk past something interesting and check in → treat.
Over time puppies discover a very useful rule:
Thoughtful choices make good things happen.
🎓🐶 Bennie, Temporary Resident Scholar of Olfactory Studies — Now Accepting Applications for a Permanent Campus
Bennie is currently with me for a two-week board and train to work on his feelings about people — while also maintaining his unofficial research fellowship in Applied Flower Analysis and Advanced Bush Inspection.
Bennie is a three-year-old Basset currently with Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California and he is very much in need of a calm foster or adoptive home.
Key Bennie facts:
- Trust must be earned — but once you pass the background check, Bennie becomes remarkably affectionate.
- A serious dedication to sunbathing — Bennie treats sunlight like a renewable energy source and intends to absorb all of it.
- A “nuanced” relationship with strangers — Bennie prefers new people be introduced slowly, ideally with proper references.
- Moderate separation anxiety — Bennie has high standards for staff availability, though he is crate trained and does settle.
- Strong opinions about unpredictability — Bennie believes surprises are wildly overrated.
The ideal scenario: an adopter. Gold standard.
Otherwise, a foster home with adults only, no other pets, a quiet, low-traffic household, a human who values steadiness over stimulation, and someone willing to continue gentle, fear-free training.
And because Bennie deserves the best possible start, I’ll provide a free consultation (virtual or in-person) to help set him and his future humans up for success, plus a significant discount on any follow-up training package, because every successful life transition benefits from a little professional support and the occasional structured therapy session.
Bennie does not need intensity. He needs a home that runs more like a library than a theme park. Once he feels secure, he leans in with full sincerity. The affection is earned—and it’s rather lovely.
If you know someone who appreciates a contemplative hound who reads shrubs like literature, Bennie is evaluating suitable long-term placements.
He will bring his ears, research, and those dangerously alluring Basset hound feet. 💘
🐾✈️ One Last Sniff Before We Go
A quick personal note: I’ll be in Germany from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 29 for what can only be described as a birthday celebration marathon involving family and friends. If you’d like training support, please feel free to reach out. Replies may take a little longer than usual because because I will be beyond busy working my way through all the good bread and attempting trampoline acrobatics with my niece and nephew while pretending my joints still support these decisions.
If you’re looking ahead to spring training opportunities, I’ll be starting two new in-person class series with the San Diego Humane Society on Monday, April 13 at the Gaines Street campus in San Diego:
• 4:30 pm — Awesome Adolescence
• 6:00 pm — Marvelous Manners (Level 1)
I’ll also be teaching a live online series of Awesome Adolescence beginning April 15 at 6:00 pm.
You can view details and sign up here:
https://sdhumane.org/services/pet-training/group-training-classes/
Until then, let the dog read the bushes.
Warmly,
Lana
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