The Dog Scentsory Garden, at Woodville West, is one of the first purpose built, SCENT-sational sniff spaces.
The small, fully-enclosed off lead area is ideal for dogs that like to go on sniffari. This space is not designed for play or socialisation, but rather to encourage one or two dogs at a time to sniff and explore to their heart’s content. More importantly, this space is a wonderful resource for well-behaved, friendly dogs that prefer to avoid our larger dog parks.
Sometimes traditional dog parks can be very overwhelming for young, old or shy dogs that need to build their confidence. We are pleased to be able to encourage parents of those dogs (who are still dog-friendly) to use this space.
The sniff space is ideal for:
- Puppies (fully vaccinated) who can’t walk far or that don’t like rough play
- Older or arthritic dogs that like to explore things slowly
- Dogs needing to rebuild strength after fully recovering from surgery where a slow-paced off lead wander will do them good (with the all okay from the vet of course!)
If your dog loves a rambunctious play with other dogs, this isn’t the park for you. Instead, please use our other playcentric dog parks located at Albert Greenshields Reserve, Tedder Reserve, Sam Johnson Reserve or St Clair.
Why is sniffing so good?
Dogs need to sniff as a way to process and learn about the world around them. They have an organ in the roof of their mouth (the vomeronasal organ) that takes smells directly to the right section of the brain for quick processing, and they have a much larger
proportion of their brain devoted to cataloguing scents than we do.
Sniffing can also be very tiring and calming for dogs – the mental arithmetic involved in sorting scents is huge! You might find that 15 minutes of focused sniffing in this space tires them out just as much as a 30 minute run somewhere else.
You can find out more about how you can encourage sniffing, or go on your very own sniffari walk.
This wonderful website describes a study that found sniffing to lower dog’s pulse, even whilst walking.