well i started my dog around 10 months but you can start earlier but i would start with running drags with a coon hide for em only like 30 yards and hang it in a tree do that for a little while after the dog starts to get good at it but the dog may not pick it up right away but play with em with it and then tie em up and tease em with it then when they get fired up run the drag and cut em loose after a little while of that trap a coon and show em a caged coon and see what they will do each dog is different some go after it right away some you may have to show em four or five coons before they want to try and get it after the dog wants to get after the coon release the coon for the dog but dont release the dog right wait about three seconds for the coon to get some distance away for the dog then let the dog chase it and the dog should chase the coon right up a tree and start treeing on it do a few of those and then start taking the dog out into the woods and see what it will do but like i said all dogs are different and the dog may not tree on the released coon right away all it is just repeating what you want the dog to do and the dog will pick up on what it was breed to do is chase coons but take things slow the dog may not do all of this right away with my dog now im still on the caged coon process and releasing them for her but it may take months til the dog can tree its own coon but it will take time and work but the dog should come around and tree coons hope all of this helps
NY,