If you are trying to choose wood chips for a landscaping project and you have a dog, you may want to keep your pup in mind as you shop. Wondering what to consider? Here are some of the top questions to ask yourself:

1. Rough or soft?

Wood chips come in a range of shapes and sizes. If you want to keep your dog away from the area where you are putting the wood chips, you may want to choose small, angular wood chips that aren't likely to feel nice under your dog's paws. Conversely, if you want your dog to be able to comfortably and easily walk across the wood chips, you may want to choose larger, softer pieces with fewer points and angles.

2. Flavours and odours?

Wood chips can be sourced from a range of trees, meaning you can get chips that smell like applewood, citrus, pine or other types of wood. Additionally, you can sometimes have special items like cocoa mulch mixed into the wood chips. However, you need to keep your dog in mind whilst choosing flavours and odours. For example, unfortunately, in some cases, dogs can be troubled by cocoa mulch so you may want to stay away from that for your dog's health.

If you want to keep your dog away from an area, citrus chips can work effectively as a deterrent. However, on the flipside, if you don't want your dogs to snack on your wood chips, you want to stay away from flavours that he likes. For example, if your dog loves apples, he may try to eat your wood chips.

3. Preservatives or not?

In many cases, wood chips come with preservatives added to them. The preservatives can be an investment because they stop the wood chips from breaking down and composting into the earth. However, if you have a pup who loves to snack on anything and everything he can find, you may want to get natural wood chips that have not been treated with preservatives. Unfortunately, however, they may not last as long as conventional treated chips.

4. Real wood or an alternative?

Finally, when choosing wood chips, it's important to realise that wood itself is not longer the only option. For landscaping, you can also choose rubber chips, pine needles, or a range of other options. Depending on your ultimate objectives, rubber may be softer, pine needles may be more natural, or other wood alternatives may be preferable for other reasons.