Is the shop a dangerous place for our shop pets?

Tom Baugues

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2,790
Location
Lafayette, Indiana
Now that the extreme heat has let up some I was able to get out in the shop a little bit this weekend. We got a new puppy a while back (7 months old) that likes to come into the shop. He eats just about anything he finds outside. Sticks, leaves, bugs, bunny droppings etc. Sometimes he just lays down for a while but other times he wants to snoop around and this has me worried about what he may get into. So my question is can wood shavings and dust be harmful to him? The first time he came into the shop I was running the shopvac and he started sneezing right away from the exhaust air it was putting out. I love having him around in the shop but I dont want him to eat or smell something that will hurt him.
 
This is a topic where everyone will have a differing opinion.

MY Opinion is that a dog that young/small shouldn't be in the shop.

Speaking for my shop, it's a mess. In addition to sawdust and shavings on the floor, there are small pieces of wood either chipped or cut-off, dropped screws and nails, all sorts of stuff. I also do metal work in my shop, so there's little curls of metal by the drill press and the bench vise is generally surrounded by metal dust.

A full grown, trained, dog could handle most of this stuff. A puppy? Better safe than sorry.
 
Dust is no better for them than it is us.:thumb::thumb::thumb:
I would worry more about jumping up on something that is running. Or what happened to Bubba years ago when I was welding some broken implement finished the weld turned to put the stinger down and poked him right in the eye with the hot welding rod. I don't let the dogs out with me when I'm welding cause they watch what I'm doing but he had slipped out with someone and bam there he was.
 
i would say that you need to watch him and make sure he stays outa the bad stuff and you should keep things up till he is trained to know better.. as for welding like chuck pointed out no way they dont know any better than to watch.. same goes with metal shavings they could cut his feet.. but there are many dogs in garages and shops.
 
Like chuck and Larry said. Depends on what I'm doing. If I need protection, they need protection.

So they are locked out while I'm doing any welding or sanding at a bare minimum. If it's just general messing around, they can stay.

Typically logan is glued to my side 24/7. Bucky, she picks and chooses what she wants to do.
 
I work outside, so I tether my dog so that the closest she can get to even a worktable is about 2', and about 8' from any running machinery. Today, my firewood box was in reach, so she raided it and used about six pieces of nice chewy wood for chew toys.

Pepper13mo1.jpg

Just had to show her to you. She's LOML 2. She loves to chew things made of plastic and rubber, so she's best kept away from my tools. She chewed up my retractable screwdriver a while ago. Didn't work after that.
 
I work outside, so I tether my dog so that the closest she can get to even a worktable is about 2', and about 8' from any running machinery. Today, my firewood box was in reach, so she raided it and used about six pieces of nice chewy wood for chew toys.

View attachment 69394

Just had to show her to you. She's LOML 2. She loves to chew things made of plastic and rubber, so she's best kept away from my tools. She chewed up my retractable screwdriver a while ago. Didn't work after that.

Adorable!
 
Good looking dog, looks pretty keen.

Mine mostly don't even like the garage, especially if I'm doing something noisy. If I'm doing something dangerous then no dogs, but if just messing around they can come in. I'll leave the back door open so they can wander in and out, if I'm on the lathe they'll actually come in and stand patiently about 2 feet away waiting to be recognized, once I stop and say HI they'll wander back off outside.

I think it generally depends on the dog and what you're doing (as everyone else has mentioned). Some dogs are more amenable to things than others, mine don't really chew on things or mostly get into much (especially more so as they've gotten older) - other dogs I've had or been around less so...
 
Beautiful puppy Roger :thumb:

My shop is in the basement. My German Shepard used to hang out with me all the time. He would jump up on my workbench and watch me. My new dog, Bandit, just site at the top of the stairs and watches me. I can't coax him down at all.
 
Thank you! She's a wonderful dog, 13 months old now, pretty, laid back and gentle. And always has a big grin on her face. Oh, her name is Pepper. I gave her that name before we selected her, because of her colour, and the fact that she was into everything that her litter mates were doing. Then my wife said I could have one if I wanted... :D She's the runt of the litter. The dog, not my wife! :dunno:
 
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nice dog roger, and charlie is fine until he isnt getting enough attention in his eyes, then he decides to get into something he shouldnt and brings over for me to see him doing the bad thing and have to get it from him..i am not sure who wins once i get it back him for getting attention or me for retrieving what he took:)
 
Depends on what I'm doing, won't have her around when using large power tools or welding, but Audrey will just go lay outside under the trees anyway if the door is open. She comes in a checks on me from time to time, mostly wanting to go back down to the house. If someone comes out of the house or comes home, she'll typically run down and go inside with them.
 
These are all good replies, thanks. My biggest worry was him picking up a wood shaving and chewing on it. I was drilling some walnut and had shavings all over the floor.
 
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Roger, Pepper looks like a great dog. :thumb:

Due to the noise, I typically don't have a dog hanging out in the shop with me when I'm working. Also, I've often got the overhead door open, and only one of the four we've had since we moved to this house would stay without being tied up. They do like coming in and sniffing around a bit, but even if I'm doing something quiet, they don't seem to want to stick around. One of the neighbor's dogs will come over and visit if I've got the garage door open, but she's virtually brainless and I don't trust her unattended. When she shows up I stop what I'm doing, pet her a bit, then take her back home.
 
Shortly after I got my new shop usable, an old cat we had died and I got a new one from the Humane Society. She was still quite small and dependent but also liked to roam outside. When I was in the shop, she preferred to be where I was and, unfortunately, the noise didn't bother her. One day I was running some drawer parts through my router table. DC was on, bit was spinning at top speed. The next thing I saw was "Pookie" walking across the saw table toward the router. She got to a point about 18" from the bit, looked at me, took a couple more steps to get a closer look at the bit, then let me pick her up and put her on the floor. I guess she was just checking on me! :eek:

pookie2.jpg
 
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