Walking to heel.

[SteveGL]

I cant see how you could use sniffing as a reward. She does it all the time,and she is supposed to be a working dog.She is always wanting to be one step ahead of me,and if I use a treat in my hand,she walks into me and trips me up.She is not pulling on the lead. Just meandering!

[Top Barks]

It works if you control when your dog sniffs, same with anything if you give them free reign to do it then it is not a reward but if you let them do it only on your say so then being allowed to do it can become a reward. Like a retrieve can be rewarding as you only allow the retrieve when you say so.
Worked for me with some dogs.

[JulieM]

Something my dog trainer suggested to me was to put my treat bag on the back pocket of my trousers rather than front pocket as during heelwork and rally Florence was always ahead of me and then it was hard to be in line when we did sit-walk-sit type signs. It has worked really well at meaning that she hangs a little way behind me as she gets her treats from the back rather than coming around a bit in front of me to get the treat- does that make sense? I guess she's 45 degrees behind rather than in front because of it. It won't help the sniffing etc. but might be worth a try with the not tripping you up issue?!