Nell, deerman is right it depends a lot on the dog, the age, type etc. one of the keys to success is motivation and you have to be careful not to dampen this, but that said motivation is linked to reward, the prize at the end in this case, which it is important you get right. Not all dogs want a deer leg.
The idea that one track a week is enough is a good bench mark, especially for the more advanced dog but like all dog training don’t be fixed in your approach. You need to be able to read your dog training requirement, If he is mad keen you can move him on faster than if he is hesitant or bored.
Man tracking dogs are started on multiple tracks each day. This can be the same with pups. It is no good training once a week when conditioning and starting the young dog or six months later you wont have progressed far.
All dogs are different so adjust your training program to your dog. More important than the early tracks themselves is what is at the end. The dog must want to get to it. Don’t go making the track look like the Texas chainsaw massacre, a six week old pup has more than enough nose to do a blood track but what they don’t have is concentration. Saying that handlers in my experience generally tend to underestimate their dogs ability and don’t push them enough, tending to train in the human sense world rather than the dogs. The ‘if I cant see it the dog wont’ approach.
This is a vast subject Nell but its not the rocket science it might at first seem. if I can help feel free to give me a bell as my typing is hopeless.
Regards
Mark