Pets in the Shop

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

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