Depends on the area ... Black and tans are great start dogs they have one hell of a cold nose, but the ones i have seen are slow they are a good start dog, (and july have a great nose,good cold trailers,good start dogs ... but in my experience the dog runs to catch whatever they are trained to hunt) ... So they burn out fast ... Now not all dogs are the same ... i am not saying that they are all like this, but we have two july for the start dogs and when we get the dog up and running we use Fox-Hounds Running Walkers they tend to set a pace and will run for hours ... i lean toward walkers ... it is a opinion more then anything ... Cuz i know guys that just use july only and do very well ...