Do you have four-footed friends in your woodshop? Over the years, my various bird dogs and other, less specialized, pooches have spent hours in the shop with me. On occasion they were useful: one of my shops was in a sketchy part of town, and when working late at night, it was nice to have a warning barked out when folks were in the building. And why mess with a shop with a dog, when there were others canine-free in the same building?
But most of the time they just laid around collecting sawdust, managing to sleep through the roar of a stationary planer, or the wail of a router. (How do they do that?) But it was nice to discuss thorny joinery challenges with them.
My dad’s cabinet shop had a few different cats over the years. They came and went on their own schedule ― but the mice were fewer when they were around.
Our Today’s Woodworker shares his shop (or at least his projects) with a mischievous pooch, which raised the question in my mind of how many other shop pets are out there.
Let me know, and of course, pictures are always welcome!
Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
