The Wick books are a great place to start when training a coonhound.You will learn more from reading them.Than most guys learn in a lifetime of hunting..The main reason many guys keep making the same mistakes over and over again when training a dog.One of the worst mistakes is (hunting training) to young.The average coonhound pup just starts at 8-10 months old..Take it slow and easy and dont hunt a young dog to much..Dont over do drags.A little gos a long ways..Or use a cage (unless) your about ready to give up on a dog.Cage coon are way over used and can ruin a pup if overdone ...We used rolling cages we made 30+ yrs ago.They will ruin more dogs than they help if overdone..But it might help dogs that show little interest in hunting.Its still the last thing I will do before giving up on a coonhound to get them started..After a pups started you should never do drags or cage coon ever again...Thats a easy way to ruin a young pup..((The reason)) is it gets a dog so they will use there (eyes) instead of there (nose) when it comes to hunting..