Do you have a dog door?

[golfgal]

I want to put in a through the wall dog door, DH thinks that our heating/cooling bills will skyrocket if we do. It would have a double flap and we could put insulation in the wall around the door. If you have a dog door do you notice hot/cold air coming in from it? We have a 10 lb dog so it would be a small door so I am not worried about people getting in.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

My parents had one in their backdoor to their garage - a small one for the cats. I can't help you on the heat/cool issues except that I do know they come with a piece that you can slide in to cover the door. The newer ones have a magnetic strip on the bottom to keep the flap closed too. I wouldn't think there would be that much heat loss from it.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

We used to have a medium-sized one for our old Beagle. I live in a very hot climate and it didn't affect our bills at all. I was more concerned about bugs, but we never noticed a problem with that either.

If we didn't want Jasmine to have the run of the house, we backed her crate up to the opening. I can't remember what we put on the other side to keep it from moving (maybe a cinder block?), but it worked great.

And it did come in very, very handy once too. We got locked out and I crammed myself through it, like giving birth to a baby. One shoulder, then twist, then the other shoulder, then one last push of my butt and I was in!!!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

The heat issue wouldn't bother me as much as the security issue. I would not get one. It is like leaving your doors open all the time. JMHO.

 

[Luv'sTink]

We have one, it is in the screen door. We bought the screen door with the dog door already in it at Lowe's. We close the metal door and then no one can come in and our dog knows when the inside door is closed and doesn't even try to go through it. She is smart!

 

[Soubrette]

We have one. But we also currently live in TX, so the heat thing isn't an issue.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

We actually have 3. We have a hallway (closed off by a door) between the kitchen and the garage. So we have one in the hallway door, one in the wall between the hallway and garage, and one leading out the back garage door.

The dog we had previous to this one refused to stay out by herself. She broke the screen in the living room window one too many times so we installed the doggy doors for her. She LOVED it. My dog now loves them too. She can come and go as she pleases, but they have stoppers so you can keep her in (or out ). They also lock.

Ours are plastic double flaps where there is a magnetic strip on either flap to keep it closed. We have never noticed a difference in the heating/cooling costs. The dog we installed them for was 110lbs so we have the large ones. I never worry about anyone getting in them. My old dog and the dog we have now aren't exactly friendly to strangers. Also, you have to have a pretty small frame to fit through them. I could fit through them as a kid (some fun times there), but no longer as an adult.

The only thing we worry about is what the dog decides to bring into the house, or out. She has mostly tried to bring things outdoors, like her food bowl, or something stole. But that isn't often at all. All the good times out weigh the handful of bad ones. They have been a godsend.

 

[vegasnative]

We have always put a doggie door in our homes, and we put them right into the wall because I do not care for the ones in the doors. I have never noticed any type of draft or heat coming in through them. Our last one we put on used to occasionally flap out when it was extremely windy, but it was like 40+ mph winds. I love doggie doors!

 

[ndelaware]

Everytime I think of a dog door I remember the video of the raccoon that came into someones kitchen thourgh the dog door to eat the dog food. I have seen a cornered raccoon in action and I'd rather just take the time to let the dog out myself.

 

[LiteBrite]

We have one that's a glass panel to be used with our sliding glass door. We have it set up on the track with the screen door. To use the dog door, we just open the glass door as far as the dog door panel is wide, and when we don't want to use it we close the glass door. We only leave it open when we're home, so security isn't an issue. It came with weather stripping, but we lost it, so we don't leave it open for hours at a time when we're running the heat or air conditioning, because it does leak air. If we had the weather stripping, I think it would work better.

Here's a picture of it -

 

[lucas]

No, I would never have one. I would be afraid an iguana or some other critter would get into the house.

 

[kathykip]

We have a cat door. Before we put in the small one there was a big one for a dog that lived there before us. There was never a heating or cooling issue with it though. It did save me one time when my DD was about 3. I had locked myself out and I sent her through the dog door to open the slider and let me in!

Do be careful if you have non domestic animals in your neighborhood. Even with the little cat door we get "visitors". In the past 3 years we've had:
1 raccoon coming in and eating the cat food and other items theat DD left out, he was raiding her Halloween bag
1 cat that was coming us and sleeping in our bedroom. I woke up one night and counted 3 sets of ears when there should only have been 2
1 nasty male cat that came in and sprayed
and our kitten who's 8 months old, brings in "presents" for us (Isn't that special!)

 

[briannesmom]

We have the same door that LiteBrite has, I love it. We have had it for about 8 years. The flap on ours is getting pretty worn and needs to be replaced so we have had some cold air issues this winter when it is very windy out. As soon as we feel the cold air we have been putting the block in the door to close it off.