Bryan, you failed to mention an age of the dog. If it is relatively young, then I wouldn't worry much. Alot of times those sort of things come with time. However, we do have a method of getting "tight lipped" dogs to open that often times works. Notice I say OFTEN times, not everytime. We professionally train beagles here at our facility, therefore we I feel that I can say with quite a bit of confidence that this usually works on most dogs most of the time if things are done right AND you have a little luck in your favor.
In our area we train in, there are large concentrations of rabbits making this even easier, or quicker. What we do is this: Lead pup up and start beating the brush. I usually jump about 4 to 6 rabbits till I finally let the pup go. Make sure pup sees and at least smells the rabbits. Of course, if you have yourself a rabbit dog, pup will naturally want to take off and track it. But don't let him go,.....at least not yet. Like I said do this several times to the point that the pup is absolutely going nuts. I like to really work them up in a lather about it. I usually speak to the dog as well further exciting him. At the point that pup is raring to go, and I usually try to pick a particular rabbit that I know pup has seen,.....THAT'S when I let him go. At that point, they usually start to open out of just sheer desperation and excitement. Although I find that most of the time it seems to carry over into the next training session. The next time out, he again may not start to open on a track, but I've found that most times when pup gets close or sees another one, it sort of gets him all worked up again, and the pup will start to give tongue (as he should). After that, it's a simple as continually taking him out. Because like ourselves, the more we do something, the more proficient we become at it. The same with dogs. The thing that I caution you on is this. KEEP IT FUN AND HAVE PATIENCE! The more negative and short tempered you are, the more the dog will sense it. They are always on their own time frames unfortunately for us, and much like children, they reach milestones at different times. Having the confidence to open on a track are one of those milestones. Taking pup out with another dog is sometimes helpful I will admit, but often times we solely work with that one pup alone. I have to know that the pup can and/or will want to do the work himself. It is true that often times pups learn from other dogs, with that being said, if you run a pup with a dog that has some bad manners, or serious faults,....they often times can pick up on those as well. Getting pups started off on the right foot can be difficult enough, you don't need an added curve ball thrown in their too.
Something else you can try, but I would caution you on the practice of. You can sometimes get a dog to open simply by providing a sight chase from say a "tame" or "training" rabbit. This might propel your young prospect into enough excitement to start barking, but too many of these sight chases, and pup might start using his eyes more than his nose. A serious problem to correct once the habit is formed. A couple aren't bad, but to many can lead to real dissatisfaction on your part in the field later. This practice is sometimes used by folks that either don't have a real good rabbit population or little time. We do use these "training" rabbits here at our facility, but it is with great caution, and is very well supervised in order to introduce a new young pup to rabbits. But this is merely to show the pup what he is there for and to give his trips to the field a little meaning. It also makes the pup a little more goal oriented, it simply speeds up the natural process. I hope that we've been able to shed a little light on the matter for you, and I hope you are able to make it work. We don't claim to be the sole authority on training dogs, but our methods used have worked very well for us. Good luck with that pup, and remember,....patience, understanding, and repetition is going to go a long way in training your dog. If you should have any questions, or we can be of any assistance to you please feel free to call or email. Our contact info can be found on our web site at
http://www.redbriarkennels.com . Again, good luck!