I have a 16 week old female GSD (Czech working lines)call name ISIS.

for the last 2-3 weeks she has begun tracking foundation work. Scent pad eating, leash under the right leg, good such good such, treats in hard prints, ya know basic stuff.

Today I was watching a police K-9 comp and I wanted to see if she could find me by tracking my scent only. I learned that most dogs track foot disturbance and follow the freshest scent.

So I had my son take her inside and then I proceeded to lay a 2' X 2' scent( heavy foot disturbance and saliva) start pad. and made hard prints on my dirt/gravel road about 75 yards and hid behind my barn.

He brought her out and took her to the start put the leash under her leg and said such, such, good such after a few seconds of sniffing the ground she bolted down the drive keeping her nose down and found me only going off track once, I was impressed!(I could see her through the trees)

I was wondering if you think thats good for 16 weeks?

This is my first shutzhund prospect so im curios what you think.

Thanks in advance.

also any advice would be much appreciated.

That's really great that the puppy did that, but if I were you, I would stick to short tracks with food in each footstep because at this young age, you don't want to set the pup up for failure. Keep it easy for the puppy by keeping the tracks short & sweet. Make a big deal at the end of your track, so the pup thinks she's super-dog. Remember that in schutzhund tracking you don't want the dog to bolt down the track. Always methodical, nose in each step. You will be WALKING behind the dog, not running come trial day!!

I will take your advice Susan.

I just thought it was cool she could find me.

I usually track about 25'-35' in a straight pattern with heavy prints and food in each heel impression.

Someone told me that tracking with pups should be fun and only done a couple times per week.

I got to tell you my female loves to work at 4 months she has so much energy its insane. I dont think she would sleep if I kept stimulating her. Im afarid of damaging her by doing to much.

I thought tracking and OB would be better now than bite work since shes starting to teeth. I hope she bounces back after teething, to her old self on the leather bite rag. I mean her grip is so full I can lift her up to head height off the ground. She was like that at 9 weeks.

Its so hard to know when enough is enough with a high energy dog.

I play soccer with her and my son to tire her out. we use 2 balls and play pickle with her, she loves it.