After my experience working with dogs and loosing my Ali girl....I have found 2 kennels that I can actually trust. What I did was look at a few facilities where they breed/train/board working dogs like police K9s. I talked to the owners on the phone and I found one place where I could relate very well with the owner. She recommended another kennel that is safe. I had to drive 2 hours to N Carolina to board my dog but its worth knowing he was ok. He was very bad but they have Malinois and just loved him LOL. She said "oh he's just big and goofy!"

I just had to find a kennel where pardon my French, they don't **** around. You have aggressive dogs so very important, I will never trust a kennel kid or idiot with my maniac dog ever. If the people you talk to do not intellectually relate to you and your concerns, go elsewhere. Try some places where they seriously train working dogs of some kind...there are bad kennel of that type but you can weed them out.

 Quote: Tresa Hendrix

Try some places where they seriously train working dogs of some kind...there are bad kennel of that type but you can weed them out.

Yeah at this point I have to find another kennel. I chose that kennel in part because they had an all female staff, the Anatolian can only be handled safely by women.

He will not allow a male to dominate him in anyway. It isn't a small thing, he bit a guy that bent over him without permission, he threatened another guy that dared jiggle the chain in a dominant manner while walking him on a leash, and when the UPS man told him "Hey! Quiet Down" in a deep voice the dog held a grudge for weeks, going nuts every time the UPS truck drove by. Alpha is an attitude and he won't tolerate that attitude from other males.

Although a working dog kennel with very knowledgeable staff would probably understand the situation and abide by the "no male handlers" policy.

I don't know Sonya, this whole thing sounds like one big pissing contest to me.

You needed some help, you felt this was your solution and it didn't work out so well. Now you're back to square one with a choice you've made and a dog just a little worse off than it was to begin with.

When you look at this realistically, you were asking these simple kennel folks to socialize "your" pack of dogs for you. You placed this guy in a situation where they knew no better than to throw a bunch of dogs together and let them work things out - we'll figure out the aggressive dogs as they attack each other.

Sure an unknown dog can be aggressive right out of the hopper and it may take several weeks for it to surface, with something triggering that aggressive outburst.

Or...it could be what you're currently doing with that dog that is actually conditioning it to be aggressive in order to defend itself. Improper handling, probably little to no supervision, dogs being left to work things out.

I get the whole "they lied to me" thing and I don't know what outcome you're looking for but it sounds like the local authorities are fairly familiar their problems and not doing much about it at this point, to the extent that it was an impressive kennel to YOU, just a few weeks ago:

 Quote: Sonya Anderson

then took him to my boarding kennel which is super nice, provides indoor/outdoor 20' runs and let's them play with other dogs 6 hours a day in specially moderated play groups.

Your bubble's been popped, they're not the people you thought they were, they've lied to you and it's cost you money. Again, I get it.

How far you try and push it legally is of course up to you but I think you've also received some great takeaways from this situation.

You've got a pack of six dogs, including a dog aggressive Anatolian Shepherd and you're trying to introduce a seventh. You now have a Coonhound that's just been beat up at the local shelter, oops, I mean kennel and you've brought him to another pack he's unfamiliar with. He's going to be kenneled on the outskirts of your property, where one side is attached to the half acre that your other six dogs roam around in.

Personally, I think I'd take some of that focus off the pissing contest and contact every Coonhound rescue I could, letting them know about the "current conditions" this dog is in and the potential danger he is faced with.

An emergency rescue situation that you need help with and who can take him the quickest.

If you're really planning on keeping him, I'd get in touch with Cesar Milan.

Just curious as to why you seem so hell-bent on hanging onto this hound?

You have a pack of 6 dogs already that, basically from what you claim, get along together even with the anatolian's 'issues'.... so why in the world would you want to press your luck & try to make it a pack of 7 ?!!!! Sounds like you have just been very lucky up until now...more than anything else. Why push it.

A dog pack just like a horse herd ... every time you add a new member the whole dinamic of the group, be it herd or pack, changes. You may still have the top stay the same ( but not always & often not without some challenging)....but all the ones below it start jockeying for position all over again.

Makes absolutely no sense to me at all. But that's just me.

Setting these dogs up the way you are, especially out in the yard area, is an eventual disaster in the making to me. Just a matter of time before it all goes sideways. I would pray very very hard that you don't EVER make any errors when moving dogs around, etc.

ETA....

BTW...I have lived with dogs that have had to be kept separated or they would seriously harm each other. It is a real PITA & something that I don't plan on doing again. VERY stressfull way to live. One little distraction or lack of concentration etc & you have a very BIG problem.

 Quote: Anne Jones

You have a pack of 6 dogs already that, basically from what you claim, get along together even with the anatolian's 'issues'....

Sorry if I didn't explain, the Anatolian has been separated from the other males since I got him 3 years ago. The Anatolian and I have worked out the rules, if he doesn't SEE the other males he doesn't care if they live here.

I would be trying to socialize him with the other males, a 9 year old Aussie, a 15 year old blind/deaf Cocker, and very submissive 3 year old male mixed breed. Out of all of them the Coonhound would be the biggest risk as far as actually doing damage, the others are not fighters.

 Quote: CJ Barrett

I don't know Sonya, this whole thing sounds like one big pissing contest to me.

Personally, I think I'd take some of that focus off the pissing contest and contact every Coonhound rescue I could, letting them know about the "current conditions" this dog is in and the potential danger he is faced with.

Oh the thing with the kennel absolutely is a pissing contest. I will let the Ag department handle it from here on out, those folks are brutal.

And yes, I contacted several coonhound rescues the first week. When this started I really believed that I would find him a foster home in a northern state. That didn't happen so I thought well, I can board him for a couple of months and see if adopters respond to his listings. The ads have been up for 6 weeks, only one call.

And the dog will not be kept in the side run, I haven't used it since I haven't started socializing. The coonhound gets to run the whole yard on his own 3-4 times a day. I work from home and rotate my dogs every 2-3 hours, even with the divided house they see me as much, if not more, than owners that work a full time job outside the home.

He was traumatized and is still injured, I do not want to expose him to new dogs right now. He has his own room with a 700 size kennel, and he has free run of the whole yard a few times a day, he has house time and is currently napping on the baby mattress next to me. He is not being abused. All foster homes have other dogs and he would be in exactly the same situation, at best.

I need to address a few things that are screaming at me.

Who told you that taking this dog and your other dogs to a boarding kennel to "introduce" him to the pack was a good idea? It's the most assinine thing I have heard of in a long time. You expected the staff of this kennel to integrate this dog into your pack? STRANGERS?? NO PACK LEADER around to guide the dogs? Rules of the kennel are NOTHING close to the rules of a home, and there is no way a kennel can simulate a home environment. Completely insane. There is a GREAT article on this website on the way to properly integrate a new dog into a home with other dogs. I recommend you read it.

Another thing that is jumping out at me and has me scared is the fact that you have this aggressive Anatolian Shepherd boarded. He's bitten a guy for leaning over him- what was the situation in which this happened? Why was this known aggressive dog not on lead? If he was on lead, why was this person allowed to be close enough to this KNOWN AGGRESSIVE dog for the dog to bite him? I live with an aggressive dog- strangers are not allowed within 5 feet of her- if people come to my home she is crated. PERIOD. It is MY JOB and RESPONSIBILITY as the owner of an aggressive dog to keep said dog and any people around her SAFE.

You say that this dog can only be handled by women because he will not tolerate a male to "dominate" him in any way. What happens when this dog encounters a strong female handler?? I know of SEVERAL women that are stronger handlers than men. It scares me that you have strangers handling this dog at all- if he's boarded he should be in a hands off run and left alone.

There are times when it feels like you are bragging about this dog's "Macho" attitude. In my eyes he is behaving like an A-hole, nothing more, nothing less (I would not tolerate this in my home). He is dangerous and you need to respect that and keep others around him safe. This attitude and behavior certainly do not warrant bragging.

I'm not even going to go into the whole debate about the kennel's responsibilty toward the coonhound. You left him there with only weekly phone calls to check on him. Buyer beware.

 Quote: Kelly

There are times when it feels like you are bragging about this dog's "Macho" attitude. In my eyes he is an A-hole, nothing more, nothing less. He is dangerous and you need to respect that and keep others around him safe. The attitude certainly does not warrant bragging.

I'm not even going to go into the whole debate about the kennel's responsibilty toward the coonhound. You left him there with only weekly phone calls to check on him. Buyer beware.

Kelly thank you for the helpful comments.

As far as calling my dog an a-hole...well...I would say you seem like quite an a-hole when you decide to insult someone else's dog. I was not asking for advice or guidance on the Anatolian, therefore your opinions/insults are not warranted.

My comments were warrented because the behavior that you condone, the "training" that you do are dangerous to others.

You can call me all the names you want- 'tis just words.

The dog reflects the owner.

 Quote: Kelly

The dog reflects the owner.

Yes he does indeed! He is an awesome canine and he adjusted to my personality and requirements, just as I adjusted to his.

He was raised on a farm guarding sheep for the first year of his life, a Turkish livestock guardian.

He was bred to defend and be loyal, not to obey. Big difference.

 Quote: Sonya Anderson

He was bred to defend and be loyal, not to obey. Big difference.

A dangerous difference. A gun with no safety.