The Scent Work Progression Plan

Start at the hide your dog wins, raise one dial one step, score every session the same way, and move up on three clean sessions, never on the calendar

SniffQuest's free Scent-Work Training Planner draws a straight line: weeks, sessions a week, a starting level and a target, and it raises the difficulty a little every session until the last one lands on the target. It is a good calendar, and it cannot know whether your dog found the hides. On its defaults (6 weeks, 3 a week, level 1 to 6) the first 4 sessions ask for something easier than the easiest hide the site's Scent-Hide Difficulty Planner can score, 7 of 18 sessions sit at that easiest hide, and only 1 at the target. The Scent Work Progression Plan joins the site's own tools into one method. Every step on the hide rater's three dials (environment, distraction, height) is exactly one point, so the plan builds a ladder that changes one dial at a time: 8 single changes from the easiest hide to the hardest. Each session is shaped from the planner and the Training Session Timer Planner, scored with the Nose Work Scoring Calculator, and counts only if it is clean: every hide found, no fault, inside the time. Three clean sessions in a row move your dog up a rung, two that are not clean move it back one. Earned that way, the planner's default climb takes at least 15 clean sessions, which leaves 3 for bad days, and one fault always costs more than the whole time bonus can earn. Every figure is computed by the site's own calculators; the worked numbers are examples, and the promotion counts are rules of thumb. While writing it we fixed two of our own tools: the scoring calculator called an over-time run qualifying, and the planner accepted part weeks and stopped short of the target. It is not a trial rulebook: AKC Scent Work, NACSW and other organizations publish their own. It keeps target odors sealed and out of the dog's reach, sessions short in the heat, and says to see your vet before starting a new sport; it sets no calorie or diet figures. Included: 24 printable pages with 7 steps, a ladder sheet, a session log, a readiness check, a session safety check, a table of every hide and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you entered in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Winning Rung Rule: find the hardest hide your dog finds clean three sessions in a row
• One Change, One Point: a ladder that raises one dial one step at a time, from your hide to the hardest
• Short Beats Long: each session shaped from our planner and timer, with the minutes as a ceiling
• Clean Means Inside the Clock: every hide, no fault, inside the time, scored the same way every session
• A Fault Costs the Whole Bonus: why a fast run with a fault never beats a clean one
• Three Up, Two Down: when to move up a rung and when to step back, worked through an 18-session log
• The Calendar Never Promotes: the planner's dates as a ceiling, and the clean sessions to count before a trial entry
• The ladder sheet and the session log, printable
• The readiness check and the session safety check: odors sealed, heat, search area, vet
• Every hide our rater scores, and a one-page quickstart

The plan picks up where the free Scent-Work Training Planner leaves off. The planner raises the difficulty a little every session by the calendar; it cannot know whether your dog found the hides. The plan builds a one-change ladder from the Scent-Hide Difficulty Planner, shapes each session with the Training Session Timer Planner, and moves your dog up only on clean sessions scored with the Nose Work Scoring Calculator: every hide, no fault, inside the time. It keeps target odors sealed and out of the dog's reach, sessions short in the heat, and says to see your vet before starting a new sport. It is not a trial rulebook, and it sets no calorie or diet figures. The worked figures are examples; your dog's log is yours to fill in.