SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work by Wi

Will Bangura, M.S., CAB-ICB, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP (Canine Behaviorist)
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A Groundbreaking Guide to Calming Dogs Through the Science of Scent “Will Bangura has nailed the WHY and the HOW of using scent exercises to help fearful and/or reactive dogs. His impressive book, Sniff to Soothe, belongs in the office of every trainer and behaviorist who works with ‘problem’ dogs, and in the home of every dog lover whose dog needs help. Don’t miss this book about the importance of letting dogs use their noses to heal themselves—it’s going to be a classic, and it’s going to help thousands of dogs and the people who love them.” ~ Patricia McConnell, PhD, Emeritus CAAB World-Renowned Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Author of The Other End of the Leash Not all behavior problems are obedience problems, and not all solutions come from commands. Sniff to Soothe reframes scent work as an evidence-based, therapeutic intervention for dogs with anxiety, aggression, trauma, reactivity, and fear-based behaviors. Written by internationally accredited Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, M.S., CAB-ICB, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, this book transforms nose work from enrichment into a clinical practice for emotional recovery and behavioral change. Whether you’re a certified dog behavior consultant, veterinary behaviorist, trainer, or dedicated pet parent, this guide offers practical, science-backed protocols rooted in canine neurobiology. Inside you’ll learn: • How structured scent work rewires neurobehavioral patterns, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and fosters emotional regulation. • How sniffing boosts cognition, reduces cortisol, and builds optimism in anxious or reactive dogs. • Why sniffing is self-soothing, not indulgence. • Step-by-step behavior protocols for aggression, reactivity, hyperarousal, separation anxiety, overattachment, and shutdowns. • Plans for novice through advanced levels: box games, elevated hides, room searches, and outdoor or public-space integration. • Modifications for dogs with bite histories, trauma, cognitive decline, mobility or sensory challenges, and multi-dog households. • How to implement daily scent-based rituals to reduce stress and prevent escalation. Over 400 pages of case studies, forms, and success tracking systems provide structure and clarity for long-term progress. Each chapter blends neuroscience with practical training, citing research from Duranton & Horowitz, Fountain et al. (2025), Mellor et al. (2024), Siniscalchi, and others. This is not about obedience—it’s about healing. Structured scent work helps dogs self-regulate through their most powerful sense, creating resilience, impulse control, and emotional neutrality even around triggers. Backed by neuroscience. Trusted by professionals worldwide. What makes Sniff to Soothe unique: • Authored by one of the most credentialed dog behaviorists in the U.S. • Grounded in neuroscience, behavior science, and real clinical data. • Informed by 35+ years of work with severe aggression, trauma, and anxiety. • Endorsed by leading veterinary and behavior professionals. • A must-have manual for anyone addressing complex canine behavior. If obedience training, counterconditioning, or medication alone haven’t brought change, Sniff to Soothe may be the missing piece. Transform stress into calm—one sniff at a time. Sometimes, the most effective intervention isn’t control; it’s letting the dog lead with their nose.

Episodes

  1. 11/20/2025

    Chapter Four: Stage One Nose Work – The Box Game -SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work by Will Bangura

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon Chapter Four: Stage One Nose Work – The Box Game In Chapter 4 of Sniff to Soothe, Certified Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, M.S., CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, Describes Watching a simple box transform into a confidence machine. We walk through Stage One of scent work—where a dog’s first wins are engineered, pressure is stripped away, and sniffing becomes a reliable path to reward. This is not obedience and it is not a test; it is the moment a dog learns that their own choices lead to success. For anxious, reactive, or storm-phobic dogs, that shift from waiting for cues to investigating on their own can change daily life. We start with the single-box setup and the exact success metrics that matter: emotional ease and search accuracy. You will hear how to read latency, tail carriage, breathing, and recovery between reps, plus how to adjust instantly when hesitation creeps in. Then we add decoys to spark real decision-making and fade visual placement so scent—not sight or pattern—guides the search. Along the way, Riley’s story shows what agency looks like when a worried dog takes a quiet step forward and finds chicken on his own. Next, we layer light obstructions like towels and cups to build persistence without pressure, and we broaden comfort with subtle spatial changes. Finally, we introduce start-line structure and clear start-stop cues that create emotional pacing: dogs learn when to work and when to rest, initiating searches smoothly and recovering calmly after a miss. Expect practical troubleshooting, reinforcement tips at source, and a clear picture of what “calm, focused, independent searching” looks like. If you are ready to swap micromanagement for mindful design and help your dog think with their nose, this guide to the box game will get you there. Subscribe, share with a friend who has an anxious dog, and leave a review to tell us your first box-game win.

    40 min

  2. 11/12/2025

    Chapter Three: Core Principles and Prerequisites -SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work by Will Bangura

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon  CHAPTER THREE:  CORE PRINCIPLES AND PREREQUISITES  Before a dog ever sniffs a box or earns a reward, true transformation begins with safety, structure, and trust. In Chapter 3 of Sniff to Soothe, Certified Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, M.S., CAB-ICB, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, explains why the environment itself is the first and most powerful training tool. This episode explores how to prepare a dog’s emotional and sensory landscape before beginning scent work. You’ll learn how to create calm, predictable environments that reduce sensory overload, promote self-regulation, and allow the dog to think rather than react. Drawing from the neuroscience of learning and emotional regulation, Will outlines the practical groundwork every professional and pet guardian needs—lighting, scent control, texture, layout, reinforcement timing, and handler energy—all framed through the lens of compassion and science. This isn’t obedience. It’s behavioral architecture. By understanding the core prerequisites of scent work, you set the stage for therapeutic transformation—turning chaos into confidence and resistance into regulation. What You’ll Learn: How environment and emotional safety affect a dog’s learning and behaviorWhy predictability and sensory control create the foundation for nose work successThe science of calm: how a regulated nervous system accelerates learningHow to design training spaces that say, “You’re safe here.”  dog training environment setup, scent work foundation, reactive dog training, fear and anxiety in dogs, therapeutic nose work, positive reinforcement training, emotional safety for dogs, canine behavior modification, Will Bangura, Sniff to Soothe podcast, force-free training

    29 min

  3. 11/12/2025

    Chapter Two: Emotional and Behavioral Benefits of Nose Work - SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work by Will Bangura

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon  CHAPTER TWO: EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL BENEFITS OF NOSE WORK  In this episode, we dive into the groundbreaking science behind why nose work is more than a game—it’s therapy. Drawing from Sniff to Soothe by Certified Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, we explore how structured scent work helps reactive, anxious, and fearful dogs regain emotional balance and confidence. You’ll learn how sniffing activates the brain’s regulatory systems, builds impulse control, and fosters true behavioral healing. Discover how nose work rewires the canine brain from chaos to calm through agency, autonomy, and predictable success. Perfect for dog trainers, veterinary behaviorists, and pet guardians, this episode reveals evidence-based insights from studies by Mellor et al. (2024) and Fountain et al. (2024), showing how scent work improves self-regulation, focus, and resilience in dogs struggling with reactivity, aggression, or separation anxiety. We explore how scent work turns dysregulation into choice, using brain science and real cases to show dogs moving from panic to problem solving. Juno and Bear’s stories anchor the research while we map practical ways to help reactive, anxious, high-energy, and separation-anxious dogs find calm through autonomous searching. • reactivity reframed as dysregulation, not disobedience • scent work building inhibitory control, persistence, and independence • Juno choosing to sniff over reacting in real life • shifting from limbic hijack to prefrontal processing • replacing scanning with searching to reduce trigger salience • using searches as emotional buffers during exposure • predictable success growing confidence and reducing handler dependence • aggression cases gaining a pause button and task focus • Bear moving from guarding to searching through ritual and agency • high-energy dogs learning to downshift and sustain focus • fearful dogs regaining control through low-pressure exploration • separation anxiety supported with pre-departure and independent searches • moving from insight to implementation with safe, breathable environments

    26 min

  4. 11/03/2025

    Chapter One: Nose Work and Therapeutic Enrichment -SNIFF TO SOOTHE: SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work by Will Bangura

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon CHAPTER ONE NOSWORK and THERAPEUTIC ENRICHMENT In this opening episode of Sniff to Soothe, Certified Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, M.S., CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, introduces the groundbreaking concept of therapeutic nose work. This evidence-based, force-free approach transforms anxiety, reactivity, and over-arousal in dogs into calm focus and emotional balance. You’ll hear the story of Max, a high-energy cattle dog who found stillness through scent. What began with a single box and a piece of turkey became a turning point—a moment when stress melted into calm, and fear shifted into curiosity. This episode lays the foundation for understanding why nose work is more than a fun enrichment game. It’s a structured, science-backed framework for emotional regulation and behavioral healing. Will explains how sniffing activates the dog’s prefrontal cortex, lowers cortisol, rebuilds autonomy, and creates lasting behavioral change without force or punishment. What You’ll Learn: How scent work regulates the canine nervous systemWhy sniffing promotes emotional resilience and confidenceThe science of olfactory enrichment and therapeutic engagementHow to integrate nose work into behavior modification plans for reactivity, fear, and anxiety

    28 min

  5. 10/16/2025

    Preface by Will Bangura - SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon Preface Let me tell you something I have learned after more than thirty-five years of sitting on living room floors with pet parents who feel like they have tried everything. Somewhere across from me is a dog. Maybe they are pacing a groove into the hardwood, maybe they are frozen under a table, maybe they are barking nonstop, eyes wide, tail high, and thrashing. Or maybe, and this one still punches me in the gut, they are quiet. Shut down. Not aggressive, not reactive. Just…not there. Checked out. And beside them? A human who loves them more than anything. Who has Googled every training hack, who has had three different trainers come through and suggest a prong collar, or an electronic collar, or some half-hearted version of "just show them who’s boss." Someone who has spent nights crying because they are out of options and scared of what that might mean. I have been in that moment more times than I can count. And I have come to believe that when nothing else seems to work, it is not because the dog is broken. It is because we are speaking the wrong language. That is what this book is about. Not quick fixes. Not obedience tricks. And definitely not control. It is about giving dogs a way to regulate themselves, on their terms, using the one sense that has shaped their evolution more than any other: their nose. You know, we tend to forget how different dogs are from us. We live through our eyes. They live through scent. While we are busy pointing and talking and showing them what we want, they are picking up the emotional residue left behind by last week’s visitor, the chemical whispers of fear on a cushion, the faint trace of a squirrel that passed the window two hours ago. That world is invisible to us. But it is everything to them.

    7 min

  6. 10/16/2025

    Foreword by Emma Parsons -SNIFF TO SOOTHE: SNIFF TO SOOTHE: Rewiring Neurobehavioral Patterns of Aggression, Anxiety, and Reactivity Through Structured Scent Work

    Buy the Book SNIFF TO SOOTHE on Amazon “From the moment I read the title of this book, Sniff to Soothe, I knew it was going to be revolutionary. It immediately struck me as one of those rare ideas that feels both brilliantly simple and profoundly transformative. The central insight of this book—that sniffing is not frivolous but fundamental—carries enormous implications. For dogs struggling with anxiety, reactivity, or over-arousal, sniffing provides a natural pathway to calm.” ~ Emma M. Parsons, BA, KPA-CPT, CBDC Author of: Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog

    6 min
  • 6 Episodes

About

A Groundbreaking Guide to Calming Dogs Through the Science of Scent “Will Bangura has nailed the WHY and the HOW of using scent exercises to help fearful and/or reactive dogs. His impressive book, Sniff to Soothe, belongs in the office of every trainer and behaviorist who works with ‘problem’ dogs, and in the home of every dog lover whose dog needs help. Don’t miss this book about the importance of letting dogs use their noses to heal themselves—it’s going to be a classic, and it’s going to help thousands of dogs and the people who love them.” ~ Patricia McConnell, PhD, Emeritus CAAB World-Renowned Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Author of The Other End of the Leash Not all behavior problems are obedience problems, and not all solutions come from commands. Sniff to Soothe reframes scent work as an evidence-based, therapeutic intervention for dogs with anxiety, aggression, trauma, reactivity, and fear-based behaviors. Written by internationally accredited Canine Behaviorist Will Bangura, M.S., CAB-ICB, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FDM, FFCP, this book transforms nose work from enrichment into a clinical practice for emotional recovery and behavioral change. Whether you’re a certified dog behavior consultant, veterinary behaviorist, trainer, or dedicated pet parent, this guide offers practical, science-backed protocols rooted in canine neurobiology. Inside you’ll learn: • How structured scent work rewires neurobehavioral patterns, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and fosters emotional regulation. • How sniffing boosts cognition, reduces cortisol, and builds optimism in anxious or reactive dogs. • Why sniffing is self-soothing, not indulgence. • Step-by-step behavior protocols for aggression, reactivity, hyperarousal, separation anxiety, overattachment, and shutdowns. • Plans for novice through advanced levels: box games, elevated hides, room searches, and outdoor or public-space integration. • Modifications for dogs with bite histories, trauma, cognitive decline, mobility or sensory challenges, and multi-dog households. • How to implement daily scent-based rituals to reduce stress and prevent escalation. Over 400 pages of case studies, forms, and success tracking systems provide structure and clarity for long-term progress. Each chapter blends neuroscience with practical training, citing research from Duranton & Horowitz, Fountain et al. (2025), Mellor et al. (2024), Siniscalchi, and others. This is not about obedience—it’s about healing. Structured scent work helps dogs self-regulate through their most powerful sense, creating resilience, impulse control, and emotional neutrality even around triggers. Backed by neuroscience. Trusted by professionals worldwide. What makes Sniff to Soothe unique: • Authored by one of the most credentialed dog behaviorists in the U.S. • Grounded in neuroscience, behavior science, and real clinical data. • Informed by 35+ years of work with severe aggression, trauma, and anxiety. • Endorsed by leading veterinary and behavior professionals. • A must-have manual for anyone addressing complex canine behavior. If obedience training, counterconditioning, or medication alone haven’t brought change, Sniff to Soothe may be the missing piece. Transform stress into calm—one sniff at a time. Sometimes, the most effective intervention isn’t control; it’s letting the dog lead with their nose.

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