Kenneling your Fila?

[feddoc1]

My wife and I love to hunt. Even during my 30+ years in the Navy, I managed to miss only 3 elk seasons.

At first we thought about putting our Filas in a Kennel, so, I went to the one that took really good care of my Chows. Great folks, very personal care. Nope, not good the inside run was too small to house the two of them, and we wouldn't separate them. Called another place and they wouldn't do it because they insisted on hand feeding them and did not have the option of a being able to slide the food or water under a gate.

The next place we looked at was indoors. Same as above; no option for feeding. So, we took them with us and kept them in our tent or in the truck when we made our drives. If the wife or I wanted to stalk hunt, the other would stay in the truck with the dogs.

In the end, it sure was worth it to take them with us. Yea, they did their share of barking, but only if someone approached our camp or vehicle. And it was so good to see them run in the open meadows, chase birds through the trees and look with disdain at, as well as piss on, wolf tracks.

The only problem was it got kinda cold for them during the night, even with a stove on.

So, this year we are taking our 5th wheel and will very likely get one of those welded wire kennels that Paul spoke of in another thread.

Kenneling...nope, won't work for us.

[Brasileirokid]

Dude, that's awesome!

[fj45lvr]

I don't know how many kennels would keep dogs that would attack them??

I imagine it could get a little dicey out in the woods if by chance you come across some person walking in the woods....I take my dog out loose in woods too but I am nervous because I am not confident he would come to me if someone suddenly appeared...that has not happened for me to "test"....I suppose it would be nice to have one of those padded suits to find out with some brave volunteer.

[Paul]

I know of one kennel that can take dogs and be hands off. It took me a long time to find them. I love elk meat. In high school one of my good friends dad used to let us raid the freeze for elk meat and we cooked up a lot of that wonderful dark meat and the flavor is unique. I happen to like it. Elk stew is good stuff. If you have snow on the ground then the dogs need something to lay on to get off the cold. There are jackets for big dogs that are not to confining and they might keep those on. Getting them off the cold ground and onto something that they can cozy up on is important. I have gone into the woods with Fila and yes it seems to make me feel like oh shit I hope no one shows up. Can't give a don't do it because I am guilty but.....think it through and be careful. At my age I would not do that anymore but it is up to you. Yeah, to see these dogs out in nature is just awsome. My playground is Ocala National Forest and I have another that is closer but I still like Ocala. No elks but plenty of pigs, deer, gators, bears and a few panthers. Fishing is good to and I even ate me some turtle out there once. 3-5 days with no rations and I'll eat anything with a heart beat. Seeing the dogs running across the prairie getting rabbits and eating them. It is all just a breath of fresh air and more real than the world I live in. Did you get an elk this year? Some people just stalk and aim and that is it. I like the meat but damn they are big. So, did you get an elk this year? It is cool that there are some real people with these dogs still.
The suit test in this case might not be adequate. If I was hunting and a big dog came at me I would shoot it. You have the hiker, camper and the hunter and hunting dogs in some places. Hard to make a decision on all this but if you can enjoy it.

[fj45lvr]

Had the dogs out today in woods for awhile. I didn't get an elk this year....I don't take the dogs out during season cause of the risk of being shot as mine could be mistaken for a cougar pretty easily and it is illegal here to hunt big game with dogs anyhow. I need to work more everyday on training the dog to come to me on command and then when that works, come even with something that would get him excited. I hear some people can train them to lay down on command too. I will have a nice kennel set-up on the side of my barn soon and if I leave I think I can get someone to come slide food in or fill a auto-feeder (if they make those).

[feddoc1]

We start out the season by getting up there about 10 days early. Pretty remote, so we have the mountains to ourselves until about 2 days before season and there isn't much chance of anyone coming around until then. Yea, the pups are kept warm. If they aren't in the tent, they are in the truck. This year they never got out of eyesight of us. Great dogs, they come when called.

I got a cow this year. Plenty of meat. The dogs loved me giving them scraps as I cut it up.

[bigd1622]

That is an awesome story, i wish i had a nice area like that to go to. I moved now and we live in a city that there is alot of forest, but are all owned by someone and full of cows and farm animals. I am getting tyson used to other animals and that is good so when i walk him i wont worry about him trying to kill anything that moves... lol that was a big problem with Apollo.

[de la Luna]

fj45lvr,

Have hope, it is possible. At our home we have 7 runs with the ability to babysit ours and others' aggressive dogs safely. They have indoor/outdoor runs, fresh water licks and food can be administered through the chain link. The 'hot-wire' keeps the majority of the lunges at the fence to a minimum. When we have the money, we want to make a 'business' of it for babysitting 'hard' dogs. Good luck finding a place, but if you set your house up the way we have, you can have people come by to feed and check up while you are gone hunting. I hope this helps.

Best,

[aceoutdoor]

De La Luna, Its nice to have the setup you have at your place to kennel your dogs and have someone a friend check up on them but they remain at home so to speak. But what is your opinion on taking a Fila to another boarding place, even one that specializes in hands off boarding? To me breaking the unique and extremely strong bond of filas with their family for an extended period combined with new surroundings would be very hard on a fila compared to any other working breed. How do you feel about that situation?

[Brasileirokid]

Ace, I can tell you from experience that it hurts them more than you think..I actually flew Madeline down to Brazil to have her bred and I left her there so she would get accustomed to the place and wouldn't be stressed out when her heat came on...for almost 2 weeks she ate nothing, became extremely depressed, cried constantly, she came into heat almost one month late because she was so stressed out. By the time I went to go get her she had started eating again but had still lost alot of weight and was a shell of what she was. needless to say that the breeding didnt take because of the stress and such. I think Diannes idea is a great one...build a kennel in your property and have someone come to feed, water and hose down the area. for a few days i guess it is o.k but for long periods of time...not so good.