Research on dowel-type moment-resisting joints has traditionally focused on metal dowels. When adequately designed, and, when necessary, completed with suitable reinforcement methods and specific measures, this type of joint can provide sufficient stiffness and ductility. However, can wooden dowels be a viable alternative to metal dowels in moment-resisting joints? Wooden dowels are emerging as promising biobased alternatives to metal fasteners and chemical adhesives, offering a reduced environmental footprint. They are fully compatible with wood substrate, enabling easy disassembly, recyclability, and reuse of structural elements. This study investigates the behavior of moment-resistant joints with wooden dowels and plywood plates. Eight joints were tested, incorporating two types of wooden dowels: birch and beech laminated densified wood. The objective was to compare these two types of dowel in terms of stiffness, load-bearing capacity, and ductility. In addition, two mechanics-based predictive models were evaluated to estimate the joint behavior. One model assumed an elastoplastic response for each fastener, while the other assumed an orthotropic elastic model to characterize the force distribution among the dowels. The goal was to analyze the two models and calibrate the mechanical parameters of the constitutive model used to predict the dowel response in the nonlinear analyses. Finally, the study assessed the poor adequateness associated with using the bending strength obtained from the dowel bending tests to estimate the connection capacity through the European Yielding Model, comparing it with the calibrated values from experimental curves.