Problem: How to Dog Proof my Firewood Storage
Over the time we have been in our house we have had several large limbs come down during storms plus we have taken down a couple trees due to age. Our house has a fireplace so I thought it made sense to cut up and split the wood. Of course, once you cut and split it then you have to store it. The challenge has been to find a way to store the firewood that was dog proof.
My first attempt was in a simple rack covered with a tarp. This seemed to be working well until our “little bad dog” decided that the tarp would be fun to play with. It started with the tarp being shredded but then she realized that there were mice living in the pile. Being a hunting dog, it became necessary to find the mice. The easiest way to do that would be to just unpile the wood. Pretty soon the rack was empty and wood was scattered around the area.
The next option was to pile the wood near the north end of the property, under some trees. I paid a local college kid to haul the wood down and stack it. It took him a couple hours. A month later, the “little bad dog” struck again. This time she had help from Mazey, my older and wiser GSP.
My third attempt consisted of using some posts and wire to build a fence around a new pile. This seemed to work pretty well, for a couple years. By this time, Mazey was gone and Willow had joined our family. When Willow decides to do something, she will not stop until she achieves it. So, Willow and the “little bad dog” teamed up to tear down the fence and spread the pile all over the place.
Solution: Use a Kennel
I found the ultimate solution by accident. A neighbor gave me a dog kennel after I used my tractor and tiller to do some landscaping in his yard. I figured if a kennel would keep a dog in, it would also keep them out.
I started by leveling out an area. Another neighbor had given me several landscape timbers that I then laid out to support the kennel and provide some extra level space.
I stacked more timbers across the front. Everything was nailed into place and then I back filled the area between the timbers with some mixed rocks and dirt that I needed to move from another location.
Finally, I assembled the kennel on top of the timbers and screwed it down. Next, I started to stack the firewood inside it.
Little Bad Dog and Friend Strike Again
As soon as I started stacking wood I thought that I had finally won the battle. They could not get to the pile to unstack it. The kennel had a nice tarp cover to keep a lot of the weather off of the wood. So, I finished stacking all of the wood into the kennel and I stacked some larger rounds outside.
Shortly after that I was out working in the yard and I saw the dogs down by the firewood. They were there for a while so I figured I had better check up on them. I soon discovered that they had torn the tarp and unstacked all of the wood rounds outside of the kennel. But, at least they couldn’t get to the wood inside so I consider that a victory.
Update: 11/24/2022 – The girls are persistent. After leaving the tarp over the kennel alone for most of the summer they finally decided that it needed to be shredded. So they did.
Update: 4/6/2023 – A white pine next to the storage kennel lost a huge limb, which finished the destruction of the cover. I had an old sheet of treated plywood that I put on top so now the wood is protected.
