diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4442b6516..db1d4621d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -30,3 +30,5 @@ go.work.sum
 
 # generated docs
 site
+
+.envrc
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bb4f078d9..672db27e9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -494,6 +494,7 @@ image-build: check-container-tool load-version-json ## Build container image usi
 		--build-arg TARGETARCH=$(TARGETARCH) \
 		--build-arg GIT_NM_USER=$(GIT_NM_USER)\
         --build-arg NM_TOKEN=$(NM_TOKEN) \
+		--progress=plain \
  		-t $(IMG) .
 
 .PHONY: image-push
diff --git a/pkg/epp/scheduling/local_config.go b/pkg/epp/scheduling/local_config.go
index fe4d0b3b7..85b91d7cd 100644
--- a/pkg/epp/scheduling/local_config.go
+++ b/pkg/epp/scheduling/local_config.go
@@ -90,4 +90,5 @@ func setPDFilter() {
 	}
 
 	defaultConfig.filters = append(defaultConfig.filters, filter.PDFilter)
+	loggerDebug.Info("Initialized PDFilter")
 }
diff --git a/pkg/epp/scheduling/plugins/filter/pd_filter.go b/pkg/epp/scheduling/plugins/filter/pd_filter.go
index 945c615d3..228d18143 100644
--- a/pkg/epp/scheduling/plugins/filter/pd_filter.go
+++ b/pkg/epp/scheduling/plugins/filter/pd_filter.go
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"math/rand/v2"
 
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/log"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/pkg/epp/backend/metrics"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/pkg/epp/scheduling/types"
+	logutil "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/pkg/epp/util/logging"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -42,6 +44,8 @@ var PDFilter = &baseFilter{
 // Returns:
 //   - Filtered slice of pod metrics, could contain one or zerro elements
 func prefillDecodeFilterFunc(ctx *types.SchedulingContext, pods []types.Pod) []types.Pod {
+	loggerDebug := log.FromContext(ctx).WithName("pd_filter").V(logutil.DEBUG)
+
 	pPods := make([]types.Pod, 0)
 	dPods := make([]types.Pod, 0)
 
@@ -56,7 +60,10 @@ func prefillDecodeFilterFunc(ctx *types.SchedulingContext, pods []types.Pod) []t
 	if len(pPods) > 0 {
 		// select a random prefill pod
 		randomIndex := rand.IntN(len(pPods))
-		ctx.MutatedHeaders[prefillPodHeader] = fmt.Sprintf("http://%s:%d", pPods[randomIndex].GetPod().Address, ctx.TargetPort)
+		url := fmt.Sprintf("http://%s:%d", pPods[randomIndex].GetPod().Address, ctx.TargetPort)
+		loggerDebug.Info("Prefill pod selected", "url", url)
+
+		ctx.MutatedHeaders[prefillPodHeader] = url
 	}
 
 	if len(dPods) > 1 {