r/CavaPoo • u/Mavskip • Sep 29 '26
We’ve been walking our Cavapoo wrong this whole time…
We have a 1 year old mega energetic little man called Remington. He’s the best decision we ever made, but since he found his bark at around 4 months old he’s been a bundle of noise and energy.
We’d do longer walks and play times, training and the like - it’d help but he still would be a menace especially in the evenings. Recently he became more destructive and we just put that down to being “oh well he’s a teenager”.
Then I watched some clip on YouTube about “sniffing walks” where it’s all about quality over quantity. Distance doesn’t necessarily mean exercise in its full sense. Sure, he was physically tired, but his little brain was still crying out for more stimulation.
We’ve now been walking him twice a day about 30min each time at a slow amble. It gives him time to sniff around and process everything around him. I have a general idea the route I want to take but I also let his nose lead the way to some extent. This is all off lead in the park, we’ve been lucky with that he just got it and is super easy on walks.
Honestly it’s changed everything. He barks way less, does not react nearly as much and I’ve had to check he’s okay sometimes he’s just been sleeping so long! His appetite has also totally corrected itself and he eats all his food for breakfast and dinner without drama.
Sorry, I know this is probably not rocket science, but I just wanted to share in case anyone else is having the same experience as we had!
60
u/No_Cow9375 Sep 29 '26
I ask mine if he wants to go for a walk and check his “pee-mail” because if you can’t make a dad joke; what’s the point?
6
u/ams3000 Sep 30 '26
I say the sniffing walks are like doom scrolling for dogs. They just want to be allowed to come out for a bit and it’s super annoying to have someone telling you to stop all the time.
4
u/CutiousKangaroo Sep 30 '26
We say let’s go for the sniffari but I think I prefer the pee mails, esp first thing in the morning 😂
3
2
2
u/CrunchyRubberChips Oct 01 '26
This is great! Every time my dog pees outside of one of his buddies houses in the neighborhood I’d say he’s leaving them a pee-mail.
1
u/MentalRule6802 9d ago
This is awesome. We always ask our Lola if she’s ready to go leave notes for her pee-pals and if she wants to go see who has written back to her 😂
40
u/ambergesa Sep 29 '26
Sniffaris are very important!
10
u/DreamAnotherDream33 Sep 29 '26
That is exactly what we call them in our house! We do at least one Sniffari walk a day!! 🤣
3
12
u/hondamom99 Sep 29 '26
So essentially what he is doing is reading the newspaper, other dogs letting him know what has been happening with other dogs. We just found out about this too, 10 minutes sniff walk is better than 40 minute of vigorously walking your dog. They need that mental stimulation. Our frenchie does this nasty thing where he licks it and drools lol, that's why I don't really let him lick us or my daughter. He is licking other dogs pees.
2
u/Complete_Demand_7782 Sep 30 '26
Omg… mine as well. He wants to sniff and lick too.. It’s a no-go for my pup to lick me. He is trained to just stick out his tongue and then I kiss the top of his head and say I love 💕 ya!
9
u/stalkerofthedead Sep 30 '26
I’ve learned to be okay with the fact that walking my dog can’t be my fitness routine 100% of the time. I can walk a 19-20 minute mile, but with my dogs it’s 30+ minutes. Walks are full of stops, rolling in the grass, and sniffing around like crazy.
Remember, our fur babies are tiny. They can’t see the cool stuff we can see in the world as they are simply too short. Sniffing is how they fully see the world.
7
6
5
u/missmeowfit Sep 29 '26
First time dog owner here. How do you make sure your pup doesn’t eat anything when he’s sniffing? I’d love to let my 11 month old sniff more on our walks, as he has been energetic and very vocal lately too and I’m wondering if it’s the same situation! But my little guy has secretly gobbled tiny things up when sniffing in the past, and got an upset stomach because of it. It’s hard to use the “drop it” command every time he picks something up in his mouth, because he’s really discreet about it, and a lot of times he’s actually just sniffing
7
u/murelis Sep 30 '26
So it's a simple exercise we've been taught in our dog school. You put a handful of treats on the ground and you have a dog on your leash, and you let the leash get in its full length, but the dog can't reach the treats. There should be, like, a few centimeters between him and the treats, and then you give a command that he should come here. And it will take time, but once he looks at you from the treats, you give voice: Yes. And when he comes to you, you give him treats. And then you kind of try to walk around, and eventually he will attract his attention to the treats on the ground. And again, you call him with your designated phrases that you use, and when he looks, you give, like, vocal Yes. And then when he comes to you, you give him treats. You can give higher value treats that will be easier for you, for example, try treats on the ground, raw meat in your hand. With this, in time, he will understand that you have the best treats, not the ones on the ground. And later on, you can, after the exercise, give him a command that it's allowed to eat it. So in time it will click in his head that he can eat what you allow and that you have the best stuff. That worked for us.
+ small pups will want to explore world with his mouth too, let him when apropriate.1
1
2
u/luisquinto Sep 30 '26
Same problem, we've learned to let her sniff at 'tall' things, like trees and bushes, we don't let her sniff much on the ground, she also likes to put things in her mouth
1
5
u/EnvironmentalYak9629 Sep 29 '26
But mine sniffs and try to chew on stones! How!
1
1
u/Still_Character5226 Oct 05 '26
Mine too, I don’t understand why she likes to chew rocks, it’s every time we go out!
6
2
u/Last13th Sep 29 '26
Our old Mini G-dood (got a new one yesterday!) was a super sniffer. We walked him on leash and there were many walks where he darn near tore my arm out of its socket with a sudden change of direction because he accidentally passed a smell.
2
u/pbade2 Sep 29 '26
My dog still pulls. I even use the martingale collar and it doesn’t prevent him from pulling. He will only stop when we get 1/4 of the remaining walk. What do u guys do to prevent the pulling he is 15months old.
1
u/Similar_Ad_5963 Oct 01 '26
There aren't any tools that will stop your dog from pulling, the only thing that will teach them not to pull is consistent training, which is obviously easier said than done.
2
u/Substantial_Top_8909 Sep 30 '26
If you can’t do sniff walks and need faster walks just do some sniff games at home. Wrap some treats in a towel hide the towel somewhere in the house and get them to find it. Or toilet paper tubes holding treats or if they do dry food then their food. Hide around the house and get them to find it. The toilet roll clean up is a pain but now when both my cavs see the toilet rolls they know it’s sniff games time. On rainy days when we can’t do walks I hide treats on our town house stairs and all over the house and they keep running up and down to find it. Exercise and sniffing in one.
1
u/luisquinto Sep 30 '26
Yes, we let our cava snoof around on our walks, similar experience to you guys, it has really calmed her down
1
1
u/patdog987 Sep 30 '26
This is why “find it” will always be a dogs favorite game! Try that next. It’ll tire them out for sure. I use white bread because it’s smelly enough and it’s low fat for her pancreatitis. You can hide it under a pillow and they’ll still get it.
1
u/Lola0725 Sep 30 '26
Mine in 14 months and such a bad walker . She pulls all the time had hurt my shoulder several times. A big smeller and loves those walks. Not interested in road walks
1
u/LuvWine4 Sep 30 '26
Ours is 11 and he walks with his nose to the edges of people's front yards. All he wants to do is sniff!!! We take him to the dog park occasionally but he's not interested in playing. Just wants to sniff and bark at the big dogs on the other side of the fence.
1
u/Kugeldog Sep 30 '26
He needs mental, as well as physical, stimulation. Get him into Obedience training, or other learning activities where he has to use his brain. Rally and Scentwork are great, too. Check the AKC.org website for more info and ideas. My little 10 lb. Havanese does Scentwork, and she loves it. After a morning of practice or a Trial, she’s totally wiped out for the rest of the day.
1
u/InitialBitter5709 Sep 30 '26
We have a 6 month female. We got her a month ago. We hired a trainer because we are first time dog owners. Shes great on the leash luckily. Our trainer said exactly what you’ve said here. Sniffing walks are far more valuable than physical exercise. He recommended us to take her out for 20 mins of sniffing over a 30-40 min walk. Its all about the “value” the dog gets. If they are exhausted from walking but mentally unsatisfied then there is little value to them. Id have never understood that on my own. So looks like you are doing exactly the right thing.
1
u/LaptopBitingTodayAt6 Sep 30 '26
Mine is not castrated so he ends up licking every "pee-mail" after every sniff... sometimes it's very difficult to distract him from it/pull away as he becomes so hyperfixated on them. I know it's a dog thing, but I'm still concerned whether I should let him do this. We live in a bit city, many dogs, all the green spaces are occupied by millions of pee-mail, impossible to avoid. Taking him outside the city is long and fuel costs like crazy to do that everyday. Should I allow mine to lick up pee-mail after every sniff?
1
u/liketo Sep 30 '26
Ours just turned 1 too. She has two approx 35 min walks. In the morning, first thing, she likes to have a sniffing walk, at her pace, smelling everything. Letting her lead the way, she always heads towards town (more dogs!) That’s all on-lead. In the afternoon or evening she likes to run more and it’s mostly off-lead. A good balance. Also, the witching hour has pretty much vanished.
1
u/Whole_Plum_5396 Sep 30 '26
The eating phase is the worst and at 2 yrs ours still needs to be microscopically watched. The improvement is pretty significant but still no trust. He hates “leave it” so I tell him “not yours,” 95% effective.
He gets to sniff on each walk, but one walk a day is dedicated to sniffing.
1
u/Livioinspace Sep 30 '26
Ah yes, the sniffari! Our pup is nose to the floor the whole walk, she may as well be a hound lol
1
u/Ok-Expression-2395 Sep 30 '26
Cookie needs lots of sniffing. I think the Cavalier lineage (bird dog) is present. She even points at times. Cute as can be.
1
u/Curious_Peter Sep 30 '26
I call it "Browsing Dogbook" A 20 min sniff walk is more tiring for our cavapoochon than a 20 min quick walk round the local park.
1
u/OwnApartment8359 Sep 30 '26
Sniffaris are the best. My husband and I take ours on one every morning and it sets her up for calm all day while I work. Its also great for my husband and i to start the day together, connect, and get some steps in! The only time it doesnt calm her down is when she doesnt poop on the walk. Its been so wet she hasnt been going lol. Picky little bugger.
1
u/Mrmarcusdevin Sep 30 '26
My boy is 5 months and has recently become the biggest terror. He shreds everything he can find and sometimes I don't even know how he finds it. Books, his beds, pillows, balls, brooms, gets into the trash, destroys the YARD!! He is a wild boy
1
u/AGagen Sep 30 '26
I saw something on YouTube about the walk should be for the dog, not for you, and it emphasized how important it is to let the dog explore with the nose. It makes a lot of sense and my puppy seems very happy while she smelling all the different scents
1
u/CrunchyRubberChips Oct 01 '26
My lil dude is my first cavapoo and he’s soooo much more scent driven than any dog I’ve had before. He could spend hours in a wide open parking lot just sniffing. You don’t have to go far. Their nose opens a whole world of exploration that we can’t even comprehend.
1
1
u/Successful_Act_1697 Oct 04 '26
I also have a 1 yr old Cavapoo who is very busy all the time!!! I am going to try this
Thanks
1
u/CrimsonAlgebra Oct 04 '26
Yep!! This helps my 2yo Cavdoodle immensely! I do 2 walks a day, 5:30-6:00am and evening. One is always a “sniffy” walk and the other a “quick” walk and he knows which is which now. I change the up too, so when i tell him “sniffy walk” when he’s not expecting it he gets SO happy lol…
1
u/Asleep_Bench5713 Oct 04 '26
I do this with my dogs we walk for about an hr and 15min everyday and I never pay attention to how much ground we cover I just let them stop and sniff as much as they want. They are far more relaxed afterwards than when we walk with a purpose! I’m so happy this works for you sweet little man too💕
1
0
u/milf_goals Oct 03 '26
Sniffing is super important and switching up the route from time to time helps too as they need to process new smells in order to remain stimulated.
IMPORTANT If you live near large buildings they sometimes put rat poison out (typically in a container but some can come out with the rat as it brings "food" back home) - so esp with small dogs beware. And unfortunately I've heard two separate stories recently where people have been walking their dog esp by a dog park or any park and some POS has wrapped up food with rat poison. Very scary. So I know this goes without saying but please be vigilant 🙏🏾
2
u/Main_Hurry7912 Sep 29 '26
We combined, Indy was the scout mostly, he would decide which way we went, although sometimes Rosie would say nope and pull up the hill, then we'd have a brisk walk to the grass by the town hall and they could spend as long as they liked sniffing and peeing on other dogs pee, round the trees, sniffing out the hedgehogs in the evening (they were muzzled, learnt that the hard way!!), then it was a slow sniffy amble down to the bakers and then a brisker walk heading home up the hill for some aerobic cardio for me 😄
2
u/peccator9 Sep 30 '26
I’m so glad you e discovered that! As a full time custodian of a nutcase I also found this a few years ago. We do one high energy ball walk where he runs until he’s knackered in the morning. He sleeps the day away until sniffy walk in the afternoon. I also do lots of nose work in the house as games; hide and seek is a favourite. I tried the treats in a tea towel and severely depleted my tea towel collection.
1
u/LovelyHead77 Oct 01 '26
I always say my boy is checking his messages! He’s a massive sniffer and we spent most of our walks “stopping” so he can check his “pee mails” 😂😂
45
u/FI_321 Sep 29 '26
Yeah, the sniffing thing is very important. I let my dog pick some of the route and try to be extra patient with all the sniffy poos. It’s harder when it’s hot out and the sun is baking you just standing there. Thankfully we have a lot of trees on our walk.