Do your dogs like wood?

I can't say my dog gets excited to see me cut/split, but when I load the stove, she's right on top of me. Must be the warmth or knowing the warmth is on it's way again.

My cat likes to snack on plant debris, including wood chips. she will, of course, then barf them up on a nice piece of furniture or carpet. Weird animals. she is very interested in any plant materials from the great outdoors; I used to think it was because she is an indoor cat, but your post has got me thinking(can you smell the smoke?) :lol:
Anyway, my theory is that the "foreign" wood is to your dogs kind of like somebody just went to Hawaii and is bringing back snapshots and souvenirs.
Just a thought.

We have an outdoor fire pit and I can't keep wood in it. No sooner than I throw a few sticks in there my girl has the yard is littered with them. She supervises my splitting and waits for any piece that I throw away...immediate play time.

From guarding the heap to the spot on the floor in front of the stove, there is no doubt that my dog likes wood.

Cant speak for dogs since i dont have any, but both my kids do their homework on the floor in front of the stove. Have been doing this daily for years. Something about warmth that attracts people to that floor. we have had full dinners on the floor in front of the stove.

My dog goes into the woods after were i throw the ends that i cut off and plays with them in the yard. He also goes out with me to get wood for the fireplace.

My old dog couldn't care any less but my daughters dog like to eat it.

My dogs ,16 mth old golden retriever and 12 year old english Shepherd
love wood,both to sniff and chew but can't stand the heat from the stove,they love
the cold lol.

My dog is a bit specific. She ignores the eco bricks and most of the splits. HOWEVER, if she finds one that's pine..game on. She LOVES pine. When we were doing the reno on the living room, we gave her 2x4 cut offs to chew on/play with to keep her busy (untreated of course). She also likes driftwood. When we bought fatwood starters before we started splitting the scotch pine we've got/using driftwood, I put it in a mini log holder I found somewhere on top of the wood box. About 5 minutes later, she was standing about 3' away barking at it with her hackles standing on end. That went on until we put it out in our "shed" addition where she couldn't get to it. Just that one batch-every other one, we have to hide or she'll decimate it as soon as we aren't looking.

I salvaged some half-round posts to stack single rows of wood on, and there were some square Cedar posts mixed in. I had to trim one of them to length, and brought the stub in to use for kindling. Our cat was all over that Cedar, dragging it out onto the floor and rubbing her head on it like it was catnip. :lol:
Our Maltese leaves the splits alone but likes to chew on little stringy pieces that are attached to kindling...

My yard is littered with wood right now, if she can pick it up, and she picks up some good sizes pieces, she drags them around the yard. She loves to chew on bark pieces too, if one falls on the floor shes all over it and leaves a mess on the couch.

weatherguy said:

My yard is littered with wood right now, if she can pick it up, and she picks up some good sizes pieces, she drags them around the yard. She loves to chew on bark pieces too, if one falls on the floor shes all over it and leaves a mess on the couch.

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Man, I could have written that post. Word for word. I'll add though, that our 14 month old yellow lab "puppy" will go digging in the wood bin next to the stove for a good piece of bark which then becomes mulch on the couch, on the floor, on the bed, etc., etc., etc....... the other labs will do similar, and the dachshund just doesn't give a care. The Newfie doesn't even know where she is half the time anymore (she's way old).
"Puppy" also digs through the snow and finds bark in the splitting area.
I don't look forward to the yard cleanup in the spring. Hmmm, maybe she'll "help"? ;-P

My three Labs love it when we split . They even snatch splits off the log table . The dachschund could care less, and the two cats just hang out looking at the Labs like they are stupid .

Likes wood...yes.
My dog (Greyhound, 4 1/2 years old) loves kindling mostly. I use downed sticks and small branches as kindling too. He always thinks it's playtime when I drag and handle the small branches/sticks, trying to grab one from my grasp.
Other than that, he just gets in the way when I'm splitting wood (8 lb maul), and pees on the wood stacks.

When he was younger he loved chewing up sticks when I was working on the stacks in the yard and when it came into the house but anymore he just likes to hang around and watch me work. Anything dad is doing is a fun day for Aussie. Dogs are great! My wood wood cutting buddy

Our boxer is right there when I split wood, running off with the chips and chunks that fall to the ground.

My dog must have some innate sense to defend the wood piles. She leaves little yard bombs completely surrounding each and every stack I make.

Not so much wood but my dog goes ape shpit when I crumple up papers for kindling. She will snatch up the papers and tear them up. Crazy dog.

Tony

Any canine that is born to hunt or knows animal smells loves wood from other areas because other animal scent is all over the wood. A tree that has been cut will hold other animal scent for a long time. Such animals as squirrel, coons, or anything that rubs around trunk area like deer and lots of animals will leave scent by rubbing or spraying.

This is why beagles would get excited when you bring the new smells home to them.

If you watch animals closely, you can see some funny stuff, and it's all related to "whats in their genes" so to speak.

For example, my cat always shakes his dry cat food morsels quickly when he first starts eating, this represents shaking his catch to try to make sure it's dead.

Robbie

What a good looking pup!

piejam said:

What a good looking pup!

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That's Jessie, D!!

Great pic, Steve !!

Mr. Murphy likes to raid in front of the stove for small wood chips/pieces. Hence my constant dust pan adherence !! Little bastid >:-(

Just swept the house a bit ago, and will need it again tomorrow. Crazy dog. She's sleeping now, getting ready for later.
I can't put kindling in the little galv. container I got for .25 at a garage sale. She'd just turn the house into mulch city.
I like to think I'm smarter than her. ;-P

I have two Walkers. If I don't stack my piles tight enough. my fuel becomes mulch.