I dont claim to have the best hounds and prolly far from it and just because they start early doesntmean they are gonna be extroidinary but I start mine as soon as they are weaned.When I say start I mean letting them out for a few minutes a day and walking around ,calling them by name.I had my pups running early by lettin them mess with a rabbit hide or young rabbit.Mine were sight chasing at 8 weeks old and jumping and running rabbits at 3 months and 1 week.As for a fox hound,if I fox hunted I would do the same thing,just when they start running I wouldnt leave them in the pen for a week.Let them run for an hour or 2 and pull em out.A running hound that young runs a lot harder and more cossitant that a beetle dog so your more likly to blow him out when he starts young and runs hiself stupid.As he gets older give him a little more time.For those of you that are shaking your heads and thinking its bull**** well give it a try,its a pleasure to hunt with a decent dog that handles well and knows what you want out of him than an decent dog that is wild as hell and hard to catch.I just had my first outside rabbit race on a WILD rabbit at fourmonths old and they ran him for 35 minutes and did a pretty good job at that so with the right blood it does help.HAPPY HUNTING FELLAS!