Do you have a dog door?

[golfgal]

I want to put a dog door in our new house and I am looking for ideas/suggestions where to put it. It is a two story house with a daylight basement (meaning that the windows are full size, but not deep enough for a walk out). There is a deck on pretty much the whole back of the house. There is a slider for one entrance to the deck and french doors for the other. Where is your dog door and if you have a picture of it, that would be great.

 

[tink2020]

I'm interested to know this, too! My DH is set on having one, but I'm not so keen on the idea. I'd love to hear opinions and how you have them!

 

[LiteBrite]

We've got a doggie door that's set up in our slider to the back yard. Hubby's got the camera with him today, but when he comes home this evening I'll take a picture and post it for you. It's set up in the screen door track. It's as tall as the slider, with a glass panel from the top down and a plastic flap on the bottom for the doggies to go through. You open the slider just as far as the dog door is wide to make it accessible. It's supposed to have weather stripping, but somehow we managed to lose it before we got around to installing the door (d'oh!). What this means is that we really only can leave it open when the weather's moderate, because in the winter or summer it lets the heat or air conditioning out too much. Other than that little difficulty, it works like a charm.

 

[pongoperdigirl]

I don't have one because one for my dog would take up half the door, but I interested to hear if they do work for people.

 

[LiteBrite]

I don't have one because one for my dog would take up half the door, but I interested to hear if they do work for people.

Well, it might work for really small people, but I think it works better for my dogs
(sorry, ppg, couldn't resist)

 

[Bob Slydell]

I don't have one.

Then again, I don't have a dog.

Sorry, I'm bored -- it's Friday.

 

[mantaz]

We decided to install a doggie door in our basement door. We got tired of the oldest dog opening the basement door and not learning how to close it back. We got the XL door for our biggest dog (80lbs) to go through. It took some training to get them to understand the concept... I had to push the biggest dog through it a few times then bribe her with treats to come in. Now she body slams the skinniest up against the wall to go out before him.

The only thing I would recommend is be careful where you put the doggie door at on the house door. DH wasn't thinking and installed it right under the door knob. We can't lock it but I don't think anybody wants to climb through and come face to face with 3 large dogs!!

Angela

 

[Muffin]

We have the exact same door that LiteBrite described and we love it. We think it's one of the best things we've ever done in our house.

We got it at Petsmart:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...Ntt=dog+door&In=All&previousText=dog+door&N=2

 

[rascalmom]

We just have a regular doggie door in our laundry room. There is a door there that goes to the backyard & since the laundry is where we keep the food & water bowls, it seemed like a good place.

Dh put it in right after I broke my leg last Fall & it was so helpful to be able to have our little guy let himself in & out. It did take some coaxing at first, but we stopped letting him out any other door until he learned. We used the shove & bribe method too!

Now if I could just teach him to wipe his feet!

 

[RadioNate]

I have one into our garage for our cats. Does that count. It is a dog door since our fat cat is too big to fit through a kitty door.

I love it. We keep thier food and litter out there (we don't park in our garage) so we don't have to smell it.

Our kitten got the concept right away. Our old scardy cat took a little while longer but once the food was out there and he had no choice he adapted.

 

[lucas]

Don't have one. I would be afraid of other critters using it!

 

[Chicago526]

Anyone here live in a colder climate? Does it let too much cold air in during winter?

 

[golfgal]

We have the exact same door that LiteBrite described and we love it. We think it's one of the best things we've ever done in our house.

We got it at Petsmart:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...Ntt=dog+door&In=All&previousText=dog+door&N=2

So your slider is open all the time but the door part blocks out the outside weather or do you have to open the slider so the dog can use the door?

 

[Zoiebear]

I want to put a dog door in our new house and I am looking for ideas/suggestions where to put it. It is a two story house with a daylight basement (meaning that the windows are full size, but not deep enough for a walk out). There is a deck on pretty much the whole back of the house. There is a slider for one entrance to the deck and french doors for the other. Where is your dog door and if you have a picture of it, that would be great.

There is a kind of door that has a panel and will fit into your patio door. check out petsafe, I think they are the ones who make it. You can purchase them at home depot or special order pet street mall
Stacie

 

[momsgonwild]

Well, it might work for really small people, but I think it works better for my dogs
(sorry, ppg, couldn't resist)

Be warned, it DOES work for people. This is how our house got broken into three years ago while we were in Florida. They managed to shut our dog into one room. They entered the through the dog door in the backyard, and went right out through the front door. They were pretty brazen because we have guard lights around our whole yard. We still have the dog door, but have also installed an alarm system with all the works. I just wanted to warn everyone.

 

[tink2020]

Be warned, it DOES work for people. This is how our house got broken into three years ago while we were in Florida. They managed to shut our dog into one room. They entered the through the dog door in the backyard, and went right out through the front door. They were pretty brazen because we have guard lights around our whole yard. We still have the dog door, but have also installed an alarm system with all the works. I just wanted to warn everyone.

That's my concern exactly. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult for someone to break in. And even if people don't, what about other creatures besides your own dog?!

 

[LiteBrite]

That's my concern exactly. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult for someone to break in. And even if people don't, what about other creatures besides your own dog?!

I guess that would be a good reason for having one like mine, where you can easily lock the regular slider even with the dog door in place. As far as other critters go, we've never had that problem. I don't think the other critters really understand that they can come through the door - you actually have to teach the dogs how (or at least we did with ours, but they're not really all that bright ).

Pics:

The slider with the dog door open

The slider a little farther ajar so you can see how the dog door panel fits up against the screen door

The sliding panel in place to keep the dog flap closed if you want just the screen door closed

 

[FreshTressa]

I don't have one because the dog gets too muddy and I don't want him tracking mud in...I want to wash his feet first.

 

[DVC Sadie]

I want to put a dog door in our new house and I am looking for ideas/suggestions where to put it. It is a two story house with a daylight basement (meaning that the windows are full size, but not deep enough for a walk out). There is a deck on pretty much the whole back of the house. There is a slider for one entrance to the deck and french doors for the other. Where is your dog door and if you have a picture of it, that would be great.

We use to have a dog door right next to our french door and another dog door in the main door in the basement so they could go outside. I would post a picture but unfortunately we lost our house to Katrina. From your post this would be perfect for your dogs since our lay out was almost identical.

 

[fanofdisney]

I'm also afraid of someone stealing my doggie from the yard if we aren't home! I would love to have one if it weren't for that, or the fear of someone coming in.