If you have done a session us with before, then you know during walks, I always say "stop and let your dog sniff everything!"
While us humans are mostly visual creatures, dogs are all about using their noses! Our 4-legged friends use their long snouts for reading “scent mail,” and they learn about the world by putting their nose to anything that seems interesting. Not only that but sniffing is a great mental stimulation game, a way to make Rover tired!
Kayden spent 291 days in the Stollery Hospital, so we had more of a slower introduction of baby to dogs. Early in Kayden's NICU days, we would take blankets, socks and mitts in for him to wear and be wrapped in. The nurses would change these out daily and keep a laundry bag for us to take home. Every dirty laundry bag that came home was sniff central for Benji and Lily. Not only did this allow them to smell Kayden week after week, but it also became a great mental stimulation game for them.
Each tiny piece of Kayden material was sniffed by both Benji and Lily before it went into the washing machine.
Eventually, when Kayden came home he wasn't entirely "new" to Benji and Lily,
"Oh this guy! We have been sniffing him for months!"