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[Sievert1993]

Got

[Emily]

Some dogs are late starters, and some dogs take awhile to adjust to a new home. You just got them--give them a chance. You took them without seeing them with a coon, so you only have yourself to blame! If you don't have the patience, ask the guy you got them from how they behaved for him and/or whether he'll take them back. He may not have ever shown them a coon before. They may never have been off a chain before and need time to get used to the world.

Take them out in the woods and build their confidence. Work on obedience with them. Bring them one at a time with an older dog. If they make it to the tree, tie them back and let them see the older dog get the coon, but don't let either pup near it until it is good and dead and won't bite back.
Don't show them a caged coon again more than once a month or so, especially if they seem scared of it. You can let them play with a fresh hide--that doesn't hiss and spit and bite.

Only you know how much patience you have. Some of the late starters turn out to be real good dogs eventually, but some just don't ever hunt. A few don't start until 3 or 4 years old, but you may not want to feed them that long. If the dogs are healthy and handle well, someone else may have the patience to work with them.

[david]

There are too many unknowns for me to make a solid judgement on these dogs. Like: were they given to you? Did you buy them? For how much? Then there are many questions I have about where they came from.

Emily has some very good suggestions. Also, there is a thread that shows up at the top of the list of related topics at the bottom of this page. Read that whole thing. It is not exactly your situation, but a lot of good insight.

There are a number of things that could have happened to these young dogs too early that would make them seem like they have no interest in coon. Chances are pretty good that whoever had them wanted someone else to wait and see if they would.come out of it, or be late starters. Like Emily said, I always try to leave my young dogs wanting more, and never wishing this session or hunt would hurry up and be over. Pushing them into something they don't want to do will not help! If I am not ready to cull them from my pack, then I put them in the shelf, forget about them for awhile and come back to them later. Two of my pups that turned into a couple of my best dogs went through periods where I shelved them until I could not even remember why I was so frustrated.

Life is short, time is money. If ther is a way for you to wait for them without big sacrifices of your short life, OK. If not, there are thousands of 18 month old dogs ready to hunt hard and just needing someone like you to haul them to the woods.

[david]

Another thought that goes along with "get them in the woods with a good open mouthed coon dog": I have seen some dogs that made pretty good coon dogs that had little interest in catching and fighting a coon. Think about it. There are top coon dogs that never catch a coon on the ground. If I can run down a coon, how come a hard driving coon dog can not? The only theory that makes any sense to me has to do with the type of fox hound blood they come down from. There were European fox hounds that would be culled from the pack if they showed any desire to engage the fox (digging, baying, treeing, catching). They loved the chase, but if the fox faced off, they lost interest and went looking for something that would run from them.

So, take them hunting once they know and trust you. They may really enjoy trailing a coon with an older dog. They might even enjoy treeing with him. If there is a tree, tie them back away from it. Make them watch from a distance. Don't let them go till everything is over and the coon is completely dead. And even then, don't force it on them. If they want to walk over and smell it, fine. If not, just ignore them. Tie the coon on your lead and drag it back to the truck. Then put them away, and just let them think on it for a few days.

[Sievert1993]

been

[tradslam]

Have u turned a coon out to it or gave them a visual of the animal running? I had a walker dog that would never bark at an animal in a cage.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I agree, I have seen some mighty fine dogs that wouldn't bark at a caged animal for anything. I never show my pups or dogs caged animals and drags, ect. I turn them loose and let them train themselves with what god gave them instinctually.

[mayfordreddog]

The best dig I ever had in my life was a female red bone bout never got her trained but when she finally broke it was on but you couldn't use her on a caged coon to train pups she would just lay down and look at it in the woods she was the most vicious dog I ever seen on a coon