Do yourself a favour and enter the dog as soon as you can. Do you drive? Ten months is a good age, to get it going. I would enter it and then all summer the dog will happily hunt up and you'll have peace of mind you aintvsat on a duffer. Do you own ferrets? Got a mate or that with an older dog? Most folk are rapping up just now but a night or two more out or a mornings ferreting won't be the end of the world