houndlove
Posted : 9/23/2007 8:52:38 PM
You do have to take precautions against things like what happened to your husband's dog when you have a hound (well, with any dog, but especially with a hound). Does your yard have a fence? That's really essential and it must be secure and until you spend some time really getting to know the dog, you really should never leave her out there unsupervised. If you have a secure fence, and spend the first few months really putting major emphasis on training and especially training an amazing recall (this is not something that your average hound will just "pick up"--you have to follow a careful training protocol and be methodical and consistent) then you should be fine. Hounds are not "velcro dogs" usually, at least not without you the owners doing some work to foster that kind of behavior. The good news is that hounds are extremely self-interested so you can make a hound want to be with you all the time if you constantly show the dog how incredibly rewarding it is to be around you and be attentive to you.
Hounds have a lot of individual variability about how vocal they are and under what circumstances. In general though it's strong emotions that bring out the noise. Extreme boredom, excitement, worry. They like to talk about it. My coonhound never (and I mean never) barks or bays in the house now that he's trained for alone time without being crated (he was not a fan of the crate and let you know about it). He does bay a bit in the yard when playing with his brother. I just make sure that I keep potty trips to the yard short during times of day when my neighbors would not appreciate hearing Marlowe sing. But some will bark at passersby or the mailman, like a lot of dogs will do. And a bored hound is likely going to be a vocal hound.
Hope that helps you come to a decision. She's darling. She looks like a treeting walker or foxhound and sometimes they can be pretty small--smaller than "official" breed standard. My coonhound is full grown and only 55 lbs (and he honestly could probably stand to loose a couple pounds). She may be mixed with beagle--her ears look like beagle ears, a bit shorter than a coonhound. Her coat also seems to be thicker than most hounds so she may be a beagle mixed with something with a longer, thicker coat.