Who ever told you not to pet your puppy or give him aattention is full of shit Your puppy needs to be your best friend The closer he feels to you the easier he will train and the better he will obey you I have six coon hounds my oldest and best all around dog is a 7 year old Walker he rides beside me on the seat of the truck i bought him when he was 7wks old he has been spoiled ever since the amazing thing is I never have to yell at him for any reason If he screws up like barking for the hell of it I only have to gently say hush Play with your puppy love your puppy if your his best friend he will be yours if you keep him in the kennel all the time and only pull him out to hunt he will not give a shit about listening to you in or out of the woods Alot of coon hunters think you have to instill a mean and arrogant attitude to a dog to make them a coon dog this is not true My 4 year old little girl can lead my 3 year old Black& tans anywere she wants And they are hellish hounds in the woods she also rides on the big male dogs back like a horse and there are not to many Coon hounds out there anywere That can hang with him inthe woods And they are not going to kill a coon any faster either love your dog he or she willl love you back