Hound

Hounds are wolf-like monsters that attack in packs. They are not usually found while exploring (although there are exceptions to this, see below) but periodically attack every 3-10 days. At least 2 will typically appear, with more spawning at once as the game progresses. Hounds take two blasts from an Ice Staff to be frozen. When killed, they drop Monster Meat, with a chance of dropping a Hounds Tooth.

Warning
When a pack of Hounds is nearby they can be heard from some distance away. Sniffing and growling sounds warn of the Hounds approach. These sounds start off softly and grow louder the closer the Hounds are. Characters will call attention to these sounds with phrases such as, "Did you hear that?" Usually these warnings appear at least twice before the Hounds come. Once the creatures appear the growling will be replaced by a running/panting sound as they charge. Hounds are fucking dicks yo, keep out of da way.

Behavior
Hounds immediately charge the character when they appear. Unlike other monsters, they are not distracted by Meats on the ground, although they occasionally stop to eat it when it is dropped after they are on-screen. After their first attack they can become interested in other creatures such as Rabbits, Birds, Bees  and Beefalos and may attack them if the character is some distance away. Hounds will even sometimes sit outside rabbit holes if the rabbit has escaped inside. If there are walls between the hounds and their target, they will attack the walls and attempt to break them down.

Fighting
Hounds are fast and cannot be outrun, unless they are being distracted and/or the character is running on a road. They will bite as soon as they are in range and pause for a moment after this. It is possible to dodge their bite and then strike back during the pause, although this is difficult with multiple Hounds attacking. It takes Wilson 5 hits with a Spear to kill a Hound. Sometimes after biting they will start to bark. This is the best time to attempt to distract the Hound with either Meat or another creature as they stand still and allow the character to move away.

Tooth Traps and Bee Mines are very effective against Hounds. Pigs and Merms will attack them on sight, as will Beefalo in mating season. When not in mating season, Beefalo will fight back if Hounds bite them, causing the whole herd to attack. If the player leads the wolves to a bee hive with bees around it, they leave the mobs to fight each other, resulting in a large amount of honey from the dead bees, as well as dealing with the hounds.

Spawning
Hounds will not spawn more often than every 3 days. There is also a chance for Red Hounds to spawn depending on the day. Further into the game, more Hounds attack more often (see  section). Red Hounds are replaced with Blue Hounds during Winter

Note that due to the way the game spawns mobs, it is possible for individual Hound spawning to sometimes fail due to them spawning in invalid locations, such as ocean tiles, resulting in less Hounds spawned.

Strategy

 * If hounds are preparing to attack on inappropriate time, such as dusk/night the player can postpone the attack to the next day by using a tent or a straw roll when they hear hounds' distant growling.
 * For a few hounds (1~3), you should be able to defeat them with Spear, Log Suit and Football Helmet. Even just a Log Suit and an Axe can prove sufficient.
 * For lots of hounds, lead them to tooth traps or lure them to the Beefaloes. Once Beefalos are bitten by the hounds, all the Beefaloes will join in to attack the hounds. You can also help them at the same time. This would probably kill all the hounds and you may have a chance of getting bonus Meat from Beefaloes.
 * The same basic strategy can be employed using Pigs instead of Beefaloes.  The main consideration when choosing between the two would be the proximity, the number of neutral mobs available, and the time of day (pigs go back to their houses for the dusk/night). Pigs can deal with Hounds faster, because they attack them on sight and kiting.
 * Attacking a beehive, or luring the hounds to some bees is also an easy way of dealing with the hounds
 * If you can run around enough to make the hounds make the barking action, and it is night, they will go to sleep, thus giving you some time to prepare. Try and run around your fire or you may risk being attacked by the Grue.

Bugs
Sometimes, you can hear the hounds coming, but they don't come for several days.

Trivia

 * When playing as Maxwell, upon examining the normal hounds he says: "They don't recognize me!", fire hounds &mdash; "I put fire gems in there as a joke.", ice hounds &mdash; "I had a lot of surplus gems!"