04/06/2026
The good thing about having a nosey dog is that every walk with him is a learning experience…every tree, every flower, every sprouted inch of nature on our path draws him in for exploration and possibly a marking moment. It used to frustrate me until I realized:
1) Seeing nature through a dog’s eyes is honestly really cool.
2) What a blessing it is to be “forced” to slow down, to be mindful, to be present (without looking at my phone), and to take deep breaths in the midst of my day, several times a day—something that I’ve always wished for and struggled to make happen in my life as I cope with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
But because we can’t stop and sniff everything on EVERY walk, and not having control was frustrating Bruno (indicated by excessive pulling, physically trying to take the leash from my hands lol, or resisting movement), a compromise we came up with is that, when Bruno‘s leash is connected on the back oh his harness, it’s a Sniffari—he is in full control over our pace and direction. When the leash is connected at the front of his harness, he has a job to do, which is to go potty or to focus on me for a specific amount of time.
If he wants to go in a certain direction on a “Focus” walk, he stops and sits and looks from me to the desired “stop”, basically requesting a detour. Usually, it’s a flower, tree, a new path, or even a neighbor that he wants to greet. He gets so excited when I say yes, but he also seems to understand that if I say no, he will still get to sniff freely at another time. If I can remember the spot he wanted to go to after I said no, I try to go back around to it when we have free time for a sniff walk.
This system has been working very well for us as it’s given us both predictability, mindful patience skills, and nonstop fun together. I’m so thankful for what our walks have done for me!
Yesterday as he sniifed this tree, I noticed that a bird was singing, and I took a moment to try to locate it in the tree—to my surprise it was right above us, maybe singing us a song (swipe to hear it), but more likely communicating with other animals haha. It was a sweet moment, so I just wanted to share it with you guys.
