I've been training my puppy to track and working with him 4-5 days per week. I was told that I am doing too much and should back off to 2 tracks per week. If my training is going well do I really need to back off?

I have been training my pup since eight weeks old to do footstep tracking and he does it accurately and at a good pace. Not quite a tracking thru drive pace, but the dog is focused.

I have been doing tracks in the country about 4-5 days per week. I was told that is too much tracking and should back off to 2 per week. However, my dog loves to track and I don’t think he’s being overworked physically by any means. I don’t overexercise his young skeleton.

Things seem to be working fine as is but someone who I believe has some authority in this realm of training has said to back off.

I guess my question really is if it's going well right now, do I really need to be backing him off the training?

Leerburg's Answer

If your dog is happy and willing and you are happy with your progess then I'd say you should follow your instincts. All puppies are different and some would be burned out by daily training and others thrive with a consistent regime. Varying the tracks is great, variety and keeping interest high is key.

With that said, maybe try an experiment and track just 2 days a week and then see if there is a noticeable difference in the pup's behavior and intensity.