18 Reasons to Indulge Your Doggo in a Decadent Sniff Walk

Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor

Jul 6, 2026 7:30 AM EDT

Taking your pupper out for a walk can feel like quite the hassle if they are the kind of doggo who cannot help but stop to sniff every two steps. And while this behavior might come off as ignorant of your commands, the truth is far more beneficial than you might think.

Thanks to the pawrents and pawfessionals of Reddit's r/dogs subreddit we have had the opportunity to learn about the concept of canine sniffing and we have come to find that it is one of the most beneficial things that you can be doing for your dog. Considering our pupper pals have hundreds of thousands of scent receptors in their nose, their sense of smell is actually far sharper than their vision. Meaning that when you pull your dog back on the leash because they are smelling something it can be equated to someone pulling you back from seeing something that you can only just see. An abhorrent thing to do to a pawson, let alone a pupper.

So what are our doggos doing while they sniff? Well, according to some of the posters on this thread when a dog goes sniffing they are actually catching up on the news of the day. Akin to scrolling social media, reading a book, or indeed a newspaper, their insistent sniffing is a way to find out who has been there, what they were up to and which way they went. Much like when Margret from accounting tweets about her lunch on the balcony… While other pawfessionals note that this sniffing behavior is incredibly enriching for a doggo and stimulates them mentally in a way that is natural to their physiology and biology. So if you have been deliberating about pulling on the leash or not, we invite you to dive in and find out the many reasons that you probably should be letting your darling doggo indulge in a decadent sniff walk or sniffari.

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So as you can see the benefits of letting your doggo take time to smell all the wonderful scents that other doggos and animals have left posted up around your neighborhood are massive. While it might come off as frustrating or obsessive behavior, it is just as important, or at least engaging, as scrolling the pages of your preferred social media app, catching up on the latest goings on in your social circle. Could you imagine if your parents would randomly yank your phone out of your hand while scrolling? You would not be too happy about that, we are just lucky that doggos are so docile.
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Another brilliant reason to let your dog stop and smell. So many of us pupper pawrents are already investing in puzzle food bowls, intelligence building toys and advanced training all in the hopes of keeping our pupper’s mentally engaged. But the truth is that just by letting them indulge in a good sniff about you can be letting them get their mental fill all on their own. it’ s funny, we pawrents have become much like many parents, overbearing, overinvolved and overall not letting our puppers simply do their thing. Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing.
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