diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/ExitUtil.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/ExitUtil.java
index 6aa708d..9604c30 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/ExitUtil.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/ExitUtil.java
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hyracks.util;
 
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.util.IdentityHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.mutable.MutableLong;
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@
     private static final MutableLong shutdownHaltDelay = new MutableLong(10 * 60 * 1000L); // 10 minutes default
 
     static {
-        Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread(watchdogThread::start));
+        watchdogThread.start();
     }
 
     private ExitUtil() {
@@ -94,6 +97,8 @@
 
     private static class ShutdownWatchdog extends Thread {
 
+        private final Semaphore startSemaphore = new Semaphore(0);
+
         private ShutdownWatchdog() {
             super("ShutdownWatchdog");
             setDaemon(true);
@@ -101,11 +106,14 @@
 
         @Override
         public void run() {
+            startSemaphore.acquireUninterruptibly();
+            LOGGER.info("starting shutdown watchdog- system will halt if shutdown is not completed within {} seconds",
+                    TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toSeconds(shutdownHaltDelay.getValue()));
             try {
-                exitThread.join(shutdownHaltDelay.getValue()); // 10 min
+                exitThread.join(shutdownHaltDelay.getValue());
                 if (exitThread.isAlive()) {
                     try {
-                        LOGGER.warn("Watchdog is angry. Killing shutdown hook");
+                        LOGGER.fatal("shutdown did not complete within configured delay; halting");
                     } finally {
                         ExitUtil.halt(EC_HALT_SHUTDOWN_TIMED_OUT);
                     }
@@ -114,6 +122,10 @@
                 ExitUtil.halt(EC_HALT_WATCHDOG_FAILED);
             }
         }
+
+        public void beginWatch() {
+            startSemaphore.release();
+        }
     }
 
     private static class ExitThread extends Thread {
@@ -127,8 +139,10 @@
 
         @Override
         public void run() {
+            watchdogThread.beginWatch();
             try {
                 LOGGER.warn("JVM exiting with status " + status + "; bye!", callstack);
+                logShutdownHooks();
             } finally {
                 Runtime.getRuntime().exit(status);
             }
@@ -138,5 +152,17 @@
             this.status = status;
             this.callstack = callstack;
         }
+
+        private static void logShutdownHooks() {
+            try {
+                Class clazz = Class.forName("java.lang.ApplicationShutdownHooks");
+                Field hooksField = clazz.getDeclaredField("hooks");
+                hooksField.setAccessible(true);
+                IdentityHashMap hooks = (IdentityHashMap) hooksField.get(null);
+                LOGGER.info("the following ({}) shutdown hooks have been registered: {}", hooks::size, hooks::toString);
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                LOGGER.warn("ignoring exception trying to determine number of shutdown hooks", e);
+            }
+        }
     }
 }