Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
shop dog question
Larry, TN
>After many years, we once again have a dog in the house. She is a 4 month old black lab puppy and she loves spending time with me, no matter where I am. My only real hesitation about letting her in the shop is wondering what all that sawdust will do to her eyes and lungs. What do you all do with your dogs in the shop? Maybe I can keep her out for the heavy cutting and sawdust generating times and let her in during times of less dust.
Re: shop dog question
John Lucas
>My dogs have always been in the shop. I've never noticed a problem other than the shavings sticking to thier fur and then carried in the house. My new dog sits around waiting for me to toss her a small scrap of wood to chew on.
Yikes
Rob Sandow
>A 4 month old lab or retriever of any sort has no place in the shop. They are nuts until 3 or 4 years old. They are unpredictable and large, and may decide to jump on things, or on you, at the least opportune time, like while your saw is running for example. I've known many people with retriever puppies, and every one of them is crazy for the first few years. Do you and your dog a big favor and keep him out of the shop until you are confident that he has calmed down sufficiently and can reliably take commands from you.
Rob
retriever puppies
Larry, TN
>We used to have a golden retriever and he was a bit wild. Come to think of it, he didn't get a lot of shop time. This time around however, I have the calmest lab ever. We purposefully picked out the quietest puppy in the litter and we got an English lab which is a much calmer dog than American labs.
In the 2 months we've had her, she never chews on the boys' toys, doesn't get into trouble and is pretty darn calm 99.999% of the time. :-)
On Christmas Day, my youngest son had an army of LEGO figures spread out all over the puppy and other than opening an eye occasionally to see what Zane was doing, she just lay there sleeping and let him play.
I definitely agree on running blades and watching out for the dog jumping up. That could be a problem. I have 3 sons and have always used blade and bit guards. They won't protect against everything, but are better than running unprotected.
Re: shop dog question
James Dillon in MD
>Larry,
First, congrats on your new pup; she sounds like she is a nice dog. I have never heard of problems with dogs in shops and in fact they often really like being where the "action" is. I would let her be the judge. If she starts sneezing, eyes watering etc., she should take a break from all that "hard work" she is doing (and maybe you should too 8-). I would worry more about paint spray fumes and for sure don't have any open antifreeze, paint, gasoline etc. around. And like human children, they will get into everything. Maybe I'm being too cautions, but I take pieces of wood away from our dogs, especially when they get too splintered up. Like chicken bones, and even big soup bones, they can get caught in their throat (DAMHIKT). Anyway, have much fun with your new dog!!
Jim
Re: shop dog question
Larry Clinton in Frankfort, Indiana
>I sure wouldn't be concerned about the sawdust on the floor. Our small dog occasionally eats some, hasn't bothered her - been doing it for a couple years. My youngest son has a very large mutt dog (over 100 lbs), he seems to like to chew up 2x4 pine & oak trim scraps. We do keep treated lumber away from him. I would bet he has chewed up / ate at least a couple of cut up studs.
My little dog won't stay in the shop when the noisy equipment is operating. I would watch or remove the dog when running anything that requires you to wear ear protection. I don't think my dog has her ears hurt - she is kind of a coward & doesn't like loud noises. The only downside is the sawdust & chips the dogs carry back into the house - All the dogs I have seen think a pile of sawdust makes a great bed!
Mine is my helper!
Bri in Mtl
>But she's 9 year's old so has "experience".
Though she wants out of the shop when I start sanding and stuff.
Re: Mine is my helper!
Chicago Bob
>Brian - great looking dog. If you ever get tired of her, send her my way!
Dog Hearing
Howard Acheson
>In addition to the dogs lungs, consider the dog's hearing. I have seen a couple of things in the past couple of years of the dog's hearing being damaged faster and more completely than human hearing. If you would wear earplug or muffs, maybe the dog should not be in the shop.
On the other hand
Randy Johnson Connersville, IN
>My hearing was pretty much destroyed by years of shooting without proper protection but I can think of a number of hunting dogs that seemed to hear well right to the end. In my experience the single thing that has the most effect on a dog's hearing is when they figure out that THEY are the master instead of you. At that point they can hear food hitting the bowl at half a mile but won't hear come back at much over 100 feet.