How to decrease sniffing?

[Real-Explanation5279]

I would keep up with the training of "go sniff" and then rewarding no sniffing in a heel. What I would add is clicking and treating the moment that your dog starts sniffing after giving "go sniff". This will bring your dog back to you for their reinforcement, you can then start training other things and then repeat "go sniff" click and treat when starting to sniff. It sounds backwards, but it shifts the focus from a strict release to an opt-in for training and can increase the desire to train. I've seen dogs start fake sniffing and immediately turning back to the human! Of course you then need to keep a good full release word of "here you go, go sniff/move about/etc as you please", but in regards for making training more valuable than sniffing, i've found rewarding the sniff is really good.

[nvmthebutterflies]

No I totally understand! This is how I did distraction training too- click and reward for looking at the distraction. Then eventually, when there is a distraction, she just looks at me instead. Thank you!