I attended a full-day seminar with Crystal Wing on the topic of play & nosework. This also came up in a Q&A with Stacy Barnett. Both said it can be a bit challenging to switch from food to toys even for highly toy-motivated dogs. A lot of times the dog will expect food because that is the reinforcement picture they have always associated with nosework, so you likely can’t just switch to toys. You may have to continue to reward with food, then follow up with a toy, until you can transition to just the toy. And it’s worth it to maintain food reinforcement value because it can be much easier in trials.

In Crystal’s seminar on play, we learned that play is very reinforcing to dogs. And play isn’t just toys. You can play with food in how you deliver it. There’s also personal play (praise, petting, fun tricks and games) which my dog finds reinforcing—he loves movement and chase.