(I realize that much of this you may already understand, but I need to be complete...)
So, I start my game trying to find where I am going to set up my main base.
What I've found to be pretty important is to find a large grassland biome and set up on the side of that.
More specifically - I don't start my base building until I find a largish (>4 - hope for more like 6 or 7) herd of Beefalo in that Grassland Biome.
In the beginning I use the herd as my hound-bait. When you hear the barks, you don't want to be too far from this herd.
(If you don't already know about Beefalos and Hounds - this tip alone may be a big help... but you likely do)
Also, since Hell-Hounds cause fires, you don't really want your main base RIGHT THERE, but a little off the side of the area with the herd.
So, in the beginning, I'm using this herd of Beefalo to take the Agro from the hounds.
Soon you will start to get an inventory of hounds teeth.
And that's when the Teeth Traps come in. (as you know....)
If you have a PATH near your base, (I try and set up just off a main path too) what I have found to be good is to set up traps in an area down that path (give you a high speed exit of your camp) where you basically turn it into a Path of Tooth Traps (2 or 3 wide). You run around and get them to step on all the traps and they die without you needing to engage them at all. About 20 traps to start, but keep adding to this Trap Path, making it longer... Never 'right at' your camp... because of fires.
You need trees... which means Tree Guards.
Tree Guards can be killed fairly easily:
Frost Hound's blue gem and a spear turn into a frost staff... 4 hits on the Tree Guard and he is frozen and ready for you to spear him to death...
Really, I think the secret to my success is getting large Twig and Grass farms set up right around my base before the first winter.
This does a number of things:
1. I don't spend time running around collecting twigs and grass, I do it 'in mass' right at my base. (so I'm not caught off-guard by hounds often)
2. I have the ability to make and place a ton of rabbit traps (also, GREAT for placing all around spider nests and kiting spiders into them)
3. Ropes, need lots and lots of Ropes
(nearly 80 or so Grass plants moved, and about 50 twig plants) (I use rot mostly to re-grow the grass when needed, twigs are infinite)
I no longer use logs for fires (saving them for Teeth Traps), I only use twigs (1 twig = 1 wedge of time)
The Trap-Path is also very effective against Deerclops, I found... he needs something like 36 traps to hit him and he's dead.
So... to your point: "but if I am not near that area when I start to hear them coming ... well, I never last long."
Same thing can happen to me, but what I will tend to do is RUN like hell to my traps if I need to. (or that herd of beefalo)
So what I really sorta end up doing is hanging out around my base with some 'plans' in the works to do some adventure/exploring... I put together things for that plan... all the while waiting for the Hounds to show up. Eventually they do, and the next day I start out on my long-road-trip... secure in the knowledge that the hounds wont return for a few days at least.
At the point I am at... they come every few days and there can be like 15 of them... but they are never a problem any more as long as I:
1) continue to add traps to the path... mostly filling back in the ones that wear out.
2) Re-set the traps right away... sucks to run over there needing them, only to discover you blew off that chore.
However... I have now created 2 'satellite camps' in my world - and each of those has their own 'Patch-of-Traps', so that I can now be caught off-guard and recover in a few locations... not just near my main base.
Some other important parts:
Torches - put a few on the ground for emergencies near your base. If the Hounds Howl at the end of dusk - you need to Grab a Torch or 2, and high-tail it to the Trap Path, or the Beefalo Herd.
Lightning rods... I make sure there is one in and around my twig and grass farms (I believe their range is about a screen).
One lightning strike (or hell-hound attack) near my grass and twig farm would be crippling
Bird Cage - turns Monster Meat into Eggs. So... with a crock-pot/birdcage... you can turn (3 monster meat and 1 morsel) into "Bacon and Eggs" (a great food)
TONS of Drying Racks... I think I have 25 right now... Started with 4 or 5 right away.
What this has basically set up for me is the freedom to make certain days all about certain tasks...
1 day I will spend planting trees.
Another day I will go chopping them all down, but not collecting anything.
One day I may spend doing Honey related tasks...
Another is spent back home doing Grass and Twig farming.
Another is spent doing Rabbits most of the day (oh, that's another thing... I've started to make about 4 or 5 chests that I just store Live Rabbits in, so that I can collect meat/naughty-points at a pace that doesn't create a problem (Krampus)... and also I can go into Crazy Mode and kill those stored rabbits as Beardlings and collect Nightmare Fuel...)
And that reminds me of another thing... In the beginning, don't be afraid to store certain objects just on the ground and not in a chest... Mainly things like gems/rocks/teeth/hats/twigs/grass - none of it really needs a chest and none of it will vanish over time.
Pine cones... I don't really use em to re-plant Treeguards any more... I just let the tree guard roam until I'm ready to kill him. I also don't use em as fuel... I replant em just to renew the resource close to my base. (again, never Too close, you don't want Treeguards around the base at night)
Walking Stick... Get it. (find MacTusk, freeze him, and get his tusk)! It will help you run from the hounds very effectively, and lasts forever.
(My first '2nd Tooth-Trap Patch' was made near the MacTusk camp I found, with the idea I would lead him there... his hounds did - I had to run back to get him though, via my Frost Staff)
So, that's basically how I deal with hounds... I think the short answer is that I have such a self-contained and self-sustaining base, that I don't really ever need to be that far from it, unless I'm really ready to be... and right near my base (but not too close) is where my Tooth-Trap-Patch is.