LifeWithLuca

Wow, thank you so much for all the advice and encouragement! It’s great to hear that 10 days could turn out to be too long - I had wondered whether it might be. I can see how it could be unfair to let the hound get used to having me around so much, and then go back to nearly full-time work. I’ll adjust this plan and take a little less time off. And yes, the name will be Luca or Nora, depending on sex Thanks again, everyone.

Hi all, New 'round these parts; please do advise if this post would be better suited to another section. I also apologise if this has been asked a thousand times before - my searches haven't turned up any specific discussion but that doesn't mean it's not there! We're preparing to adopt our first hound. I plan to take some time off to help with settling, so we'll have some time to take things very slow with all the new experiences, and so that alone training can be done in stages. I'm hoping that ten days might be long enough to do this? I know that every dog is different and the plan could go entirely out the window ("best laid plans", and all that), and I'll take pacing cues from how well the dog seems to be settling in, but my basic plan is to spend three quiet days at home without even leaving the property, and then another week introducing short neighbourhood walks, slowly increasing time spent alone over the whole period. I'm also planning to sleep in the living room with the dog until they seem to be comfortable enough in their new environment for me to return to the bedroom with the door open and a baby gate so they can always come and check on us (we're in a small house and there simply is not room for a dog bed in the bedroom, or even in the corridor outside). I'm hoping that being present and available overnight will keep stress levels low overnight, and leave us with some stress to spare for working through alone time training during the day. I'd love to know whether others have taken time off work, and if so how long? Does my 10-day plan sound at all reasonable? Thanks!