christman we always start our pups around 5 months old and some have started as young as 16 weeks old. seems like the females tend to start easier. for what reason i have no idea but that has been my luck. usually first time out is with one of the older slower females. once the older dog has a scent get the pup over to the track. the end of may and june are the better times to start a young pup. the small rabbits a old enough to run then. don't start to early in the year because you can destory a nesting area. if you start to early in the year the parent rabbits we lead the dog away from the nesting area and these loops will be big loops alot of times out of hearing range. and this is not good with a young dog. with a small pup and a young bunny the loops are not to big. alot of times you can sit in one place and watch the hole loop. beagle are easy to get started but hard to get them to mine you. spend alot of time with them around the house make them want to be with you and this makes field training much easier. i always use hotdogs sliced up for snacks and for good behavior. it will only be a time or two and they will start barking and making weird noises on the scent trail. take them up into a hollow back away from the main roads just to be to safe. the more you take them the better they get. if you are going to be a weeken trainer don't expect to much right away it takes time. get a bell on their collar so you can keep track of them in the bush. i use the small copper bells that are sold in the fishing department. they have a good tone that can be heard very easy. get rid of the clip and put a key ring on the bell makes it easy to hook on the collar. there are many differant way to start and train but these have worked very well for us. we have two females and one male. hope this helps.