A new open access study has compared four-week scentwork classes with more traditional obedience training, exploring how each approach affects dog welfare, behaviour, and the human-dog bond.
In the trial, dogs and owners were randomly assigned to either a scentwork course (using the dog’s nose to search for treats and odours) or a basic obedience course focused on foundation skills and manners. Owners completed established behaviour and relationship questionnaires before and after the course, while dogs also took part in a judgement bias test, a commonly used welfare-related measure that looks at how “optimistically” an animal responds to ambiguity.
What the researchers found
Overall, dogs across the study showed improvement on the judgement bias test, suggesting that positive, reward-based group training in general may support more positive affect and welfare. However, when analysed by course type, improvements on this test were clearer in the obedience group.
Owner-reported behaviour changes were mixed. Trainability increased for the overall sample and for dogs in the obedience classes, while owners of dogs in scentwork classes reported an increase in hyperactivity scores. Importantly, owners in the scentwork group were more likely to report that their dog’s quality of life had improved, even though broad measures of the owner-dog bond did not significantly change in either group over the four weeks.
Why this matters
For owners choosing a class, the takeaway is not that one option is “best”, but that different courses may deliver different gains. Obedience classes may provide more obvious, general improvements in day-to-day responsiveness and manners, while scentwork may be particularly enjoyable and enriching for some dogs, especially those that thrive on sniffing and problem-solving.
The authors note that more research is needed, including larger studies and additional measures of welfare, but the findings support the idea that reward-based training, whether scentwork or obedience, can be a positive part of pet dog welfare.
