Josh, sorry this is late, i only saw it now:

From the word go, it is always important to get to know more about the field you would like to make your career in, you are saddling up a fast horse here, getting a patrol dog and getting it to track on rural surface is no joke, especially if it is done just in six weeks it seems like a huge task, however not impossible. Ask someone to teach you how to do visual tracking. Having said this, I wish to explain why, for one, patrol dogs are a totally different kettle of fish from detection dogs, they require more socialization, and prepping. For one thing they hunt, there adrenaline levels are high, and you need to have your wits about you when you become a patrol dog handler… this is no remote control dog – like a nark dog for instance, that works on command and you just follow – no, you have to look for the threat just as hard as your dog, gauge the terrain and still read the dog all the same.

If I was in your shoes, I would get a fresh dog, and start joining some ppd training, anywhere, whilst you are waiting for the new dog, just to become use to the methodology in training a ppd, or patrol dog with –you will find many diverse views. I don’t know if your department allows you to duel with dogs, in other words, you run two dogs, one on and one off lead in rural areas on a track; we did it here with great success. When it comes to methods, I don’t care much for which method you start up with, as long as you get the product you desire with the first dog, after that we get doohickey with types of training. The Czech dogs and especially GSD are my all time favorites. I don’t think you will get anything better in GSD. So good luck….and have fun.
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R.H. Geel. Author: of "K9 Unit Management".