From an early age, Dahmer manifested an interest in dead animals. He initially collected large insects, such as dragonflies and butterflies, in jars. Later he collected animal carcasses, occasionally accompanied by one or more friends; he dismembered these animals either at home or in nearby woodland. According to one friend, Dahmer dismembered these animals and stored the parts in jars in the family's toolshed, explaining that he was curious as to how animals "fitted together". His fascination with dead animals may have begun when, at the age of four, he saw his father removing animal bones from beneath the family home. According to Lionel, Dahmer was "oddly thrilled" by the sound the bones made, and became preoccupied with animal bones. He occasionally searched beneath and around the family home for additional bones, and explored the bodies of live animals to discover where their bones were located. In one instance, Dahmer decapitated the carcass of a dog before nailing the body to a tree and impaling the skull on a stake beside a wooden cross in the woodland behind his house.