I am new to this forum. I have just started training with my dog for schutzhund. Since I have never been involved with schutzhund before, could you guys give me some tips or pointers on the best way to start?? I have an 8 month old female Alano that has beem through basic obedience. I have started training for more advanced obedience and soon to start tracking and later PP.....but I don't know how to pace myself and my dog and what the best way to go about this is....

I would not be doing advanced obedience on an 8 month old puppy, but instead you should start Building Drive, and start Tracking. I like to start Tracking and Building Drive when my pup is 8 weeks old.

It's important to work on the foundation of Building Drive, Focus, and Grip right now, so you can bring the most out of your pup that her genetics will allow.

This will be a little bit advanced for you at this point, but the information at this link is solid and worth printing out, although it's slightly out of date:

Schutzhund Trial Handling Tips
http://www.workingdogs.com/amctrial.htm

Thanks for the pointers. I'll work on drive, focus and grip. We start tracking training this weekend. She does OK with grip, the biggest problem is she likes to release her grip to go further up the rope instead of holding her grip. I've found a couple of toys (ropes) that she goes crazy over, so building drive has been working so far. I'm not sure what focus means. I ordered the "Training Drive, Focus & Grip with Bernhard Flinks" video so hopefully that will help me understand things a little bit better. Will, you're right that link is too far in the future for me right now. I'm content to take it slow and try to do this the right way. Right now when we play tug-o-war (her favorite game), I try to get her really excited and into the game then I tell her to "sit"...she releases the tug rope and sit for me until I tell her "OK...c'mon" and she attacks the rope again. After reading some of this forum I don't know if this is a good idea or not....what do you guys think? My question will probably be answered with the video, but I was hoping for some personal opinions...