Instructions
The age to start the training process is when the puppy is between three and four months old. Bring the puppy and a rabbit together and allow the puppy to sniff the rabbit thoroughly without allowing the rabbit to kick or scratch the dog.
Release the puppy and the rabbit in an enclosed outdoor area like a large backyard or other fenced-in land. The rabbit will instinctively run from the puppy, and the puppy should instinctively follow the rabbit.
Allow the puppy to chase the rabbit until it is too exhausted to continue, and then remove the rabbit from the reach of the puppy. Do not let the puppy cause harm to the rabbit.
Repeat the process, and praise the dog each time it chases the rabbit to exhaustion, as well as when it instinctively barks while chasing.
Continue this process, challenging the dog to chase the rabbit and bark along the way. Increase the amount of space that the dog has to chase the rabbit, until you can run a rabbit in an unfenced area knowing that the puppy will chase the rabbit and bark or bay to you along the way.
How to Train a Beagle to Hunt
The beagle breed is a hunting dog. Its hound skills are useful for tracking smaller prey like birds and rabbits. Beagling is a term to describe beagles hunting rabbits until the latter are exhausted. The baying and barking of beagles during the chase alert the hunter to the trail of the two animals.