dog has never had any formal tracking training. i use the word tracking and search interchangeably here;

 

Good job...

Conistent searching  and focus until  he worked it out.Good Nose.

He LIKES the job!

thanks for comments.

 

what should i do next, longer tracks, more turns? how fast should i increase difficulty.

 

all work will have to be done by myself, no other tracklayers or helpers around.

I had Doberman in the early eighties. I lived next to hundreds of acres of orange groves. One winter we had a bad freeze, (this is Florida) and thousands of oranges dropped off the trees. My dobie was a fanatic for searching and finding whatever I threw for him. He would retrieve oranges but how about finding THE orange among thousands. I marked an orange with my pocket knife for identification. Back in those days I could throw a rock like a boy...I threw that orange across the tops of the grove of trees as far as I could. Sent Eddie after it and he disappeared at a dead run through the trees. He was too deep in the grove to see him much, but when I did he was working the sea of oranges under his feet with his nose at a manic pace. It was probably ten minutes later, he came back with an orange in his mouth and presented it to me. I took the wet citrus and turned it in my hands examining it....and there I saw my carved JR. We did that game until I had to get back to my horses, the dobie never slowed down.

Day 3 to Trial ... Paperback – March 18, 2014

by Glyn M. Clayton (Author), Joan T. Adler (Compiler), & 1 more
 
Written and compiled by GSD owners. Available on Amazon.
 
Following A scent is a natural behavior for a dog. Following THIS PARTICULAR scent (that I want you to follow) is a learned behavior. Day 3 to Trial… will teach you how to instruct the dog to keep his nose deep in the footsteps of the tracklayer (follow the ground scent). The dog is learning to smell body odor, crushed vegetation and crushed organisms. Following the GROUND scent only is not as natural to the dog because he also wants to air scent. After attending any seminar from which we want to incorporate the methods presented, we try to generalize what we learned to adapt that into what we are presently doing or want to do. We are rarely able to discuss with the presenter how we adapt the seminar methods in order to be sure exactly how that person would handle a situation that wasn’t covered during the seminar. Day 3 to Trial… is a dog tracking method for beginners and experienced dog trainers. One can start with a puppy or an adult dog. It is suitable for people interested in AKC (American Kennel Club) tracking as well as Schutzhund tracking. The books starts with the dog-tracking seminar presented by Glyn Clayton, who was a well-known, admired, successful dog trainer. The book continues as Glyn guides you from her seminar, teaches you the fundamentals of tracking and supports you as you train your dog and “problems” crop up, as you get ready for your tracking trial, and then encourages you to continue tracking and developing the dog’s skills. The book includes many illustrations to ensure that the explanations are clear to the reader. All of the terminology used is defined to ensure that the novice people, as well as those who are experienced, understand the dog training idioms. This method will help you and your dog to be successful in the exciting dog sport of tracking where your dog is constantly fascinating you with his/her amazing scenting abilities.