How old is your pup? I would never dump a dog out without a tracking collar on. You can get by without a shock collar, but they can be very handy and they can also ruin a good dog. Depends on the guy holding the button! If the dog is a pup, I would HIGHLY recommend you get one of two books, Walk with Wick or Tom Solberg's book Dog Talk. Tom's is my personal favorite, great book on how to train a young coon dog. Read it and follow it's advice and you'll be years ahead of the game. You'll need a good dog house, good containment system, either a fence or a chain, dogbox or kennel to get him safely there and back. Since your in TX you can probably get a nice tracking unit and collar for around $350-$400. You'll save that in gas the first time or two he runs off and you can't find him. Good luck and post some photos and let us know how he's doing.
