Preparing for dog walker

[DeepfriedPizza]

We rescued a dog a week and a half ago from Romania. She is settling in well, sleeps well at night (mostly) eating fine but has a dodgy tum but the vet is involved. She is great on walks etc and is coming along well.

We have been taking time off work, we have had the last 2 weeks off and i am off next week. We have a dog walker starting a week on Monday who will do Monday, Wednesday and Friday for us, I am off on a Tuesday and Thursday. The dog walker is going to meet us next week to meet with Pizzapup.

We have been slowly building up to time left on her own, the longest she's been left so far is 1 hour 45 mins but that needs to be built up to 4 hours by next week.

Does anyone have any tips on this?

The other issue is that she barks at strangers that enter the house. I am worried about how she will cope when she is left in and the dog walker appears.

You're doing an introduction and a walk with the dog walker first though.

Yes, I wrote that in my post

I am concerned how she will react when we are not in and the dog walker appears

Once you have done the initial visit any chance you could arrange for the dog walker to come back whilst you have left (hidden) to see how she reacts.
Mine has been startled by the dog walker and barked but he associates her with great fun so as soon as he recognised her he switched to welcome mode. I suspect after the first time she will soon associate the dog walker with fun things.

If the dogwalker is experienced with nervous dogs, calm and seems to know what she is doing, the dog will probably be OK. My Greek dog (who knew me very well) was fine with her first 2 dogwalkers in the UK as she'd been looked after by a lot of people part-time over the years when I was working in UK and she was still domiciled in Greece. I suspect your Romanian dog has been handled by various people in shelters, so is used to strangers taking charge of her. However, we then moved to a temporary flat in another part of London and, for the first time, the new dogwalker (acquired in a hurry as I had to go back to work quickly) was, it turned out, not good with dogs, despite her own opinion of herself. Although she had met JoyfulDog once before her first walk, when she tried to load her into her dog van, my dog REFUSED to get in. After 20 minutes, they managed to load her in (she was a big collie cross) but she didn't like walking at the pace of the other dogs in the group (old girl) and lagged a long way behind and held them all up. After a few weeks, the walker (a fat girl) managed to fall on top of my dog, for whom it was the last straw and she bit her (I still think, by mistake in the heat of the moment, but don't blame her, really). My dog was muzzled, taken straight home and banned. Good, really, because I managed to find a truly wonderful dog walker (I asked at the vets who they knew) and now, more than 7 years later, said dogwalker is still walking my dog (though it is NewJoyfulDog now). If you aren't happy with the dogwalker's relationship with your dog, think about looking for another. I've had 4 good dogwalkers, 1 slightly dishonest one (but kind to dog) and this one terrible one, so chances are good you'll get a good one.
Re. leaving times - try to up the time next to 2 and half hours and then try 30 mins or an hour longer, etc. If you don't already, leave her a kong stuffed with titbits to get going on, just as you are leaving. She will probably just snooze until you get back. Does she have a window to look out of?
Re. the barking - my current dog is a Battersea rescue and I was warned that she would growl/bark at people at the door or just the other side of the door passing by. Whenever someone came to the door, I would tell her that it was OK and to get back (to living room) as there was nothing to worry about and then go and greet them without her. If someone needed to come in, I would give them some treats at the door to offer her and introduce her to them (happy tone, acting in a calm friendly manner to them) so she realised they were friends. They would then speak to her in a friendly way and offer her a treat and she would immediately calm down and relax. After a few weeks of this, she no longer rushes to be first to the door and doesn't growl or bark at callers. She occasionally growls when she hears someone walking along the path under our (flat) window at night but I just tell her it is OK and she subsides.

Perhaps have the dog walker walk in to the house with you a few times, with a treat in his/her pocket to make it a positive thing. Can you be there the first time the dog walker comes, so that the dog starts to relate the walker with a walk? What I mean is, you stay behind and let the dog go without you (if she will! Mine wouldn't...). Creating that association is important, so perhaps have the dog walker a bit sooner so you can be around to reassure your dog. Or you go out and 5 mins later, let the dog walker go and get her so you're nearby to deal with any issue?

As for leaving her, I'm still in the same boat nearly a year down the line! I have left her once, in the evening, for 4 hours and I was a wreck! She was absolutely fine and when I leave her for an hour or two now, she acts as though I've really disturbed her nice quiet time , but it's still only the odd occasion that I leave her. I think we worry more than they do!

I am going to increase the time alone starting Monday. I think I will try to get me or DH to be there when the dog walker comes on the first day. It's just we've had so much time off already.

I have also ordered a petcam to watch her. DH can be home within 20 minutes if there are any issues.

I think she will just snooze too