Dog doors in your opinion...

[misticaleclipse]

I had considered getting a dog door before, but
decided it was more of a convenience thing than
something we really needed; however, things
have changed with our jobs and I may be forced
to consider this alternative. The cost of a dog
walker or doggie day care is outrageous.
I cannot afford 250$ a month right now for it.



I was looking at those infrared dog doors
so that only my dog can get out and not
my cat. Here are my questions

1. What is your opinion on dog doors?
2. Is it based on your own experience or someone else's?
3. What are you pros and cons?
4. Have you tried the infrared dog doors specifically? Any construction or functionality issues?

 

[ACooper]

I have never had one, but have thought very seriously about it myself. We don't have other pets to consider, just the two dogs. Having a privacy fenced back yard, I really think a doggie door would be great.....

I anxiously await responses with pros and cons

 

[misticaleclipse]

I have never had one, but have thought very seriously about it myself. We don't have other pets to consider, just the two dogs. Having a privacy fenced back yard, I really think a doggie door would be great.....

I have a fully fenced in back yard as well, but I know the main concern
with most people is safety. I do live in the city and not a remote place
where no one could walk by my house, but if it comes to giving up
your dog, going bankrupt or getting a dog door, which one would
a good owner choose?

I come from an area where child care is 7$ a day, yep you heard
right. Kids are a high priority in Quebec, so thus you can imagine
my horror when I found out I would need to pay 12-17$ a day
for dog care or even just a half hour walk a day.

 

[shadowfacedanes]

I had one once upon a time. It didn't work for me. For one, I have gargantuan dogs. For two, I have incredibly lazy, totally dependent dogs. They went to the dog door, pawed the flap, and then barked until I came and pushed them outside. It was a total failure. But that's just my dorks.

I know several that have had them and love them.

 

[houndlove]

If you have dogs that like to bark when they are outside, I'd say no on the dog door if you have close neighbors. In our old neighborhood, I could tell every house that had a dog door because I would hear their dogs out there and barking all the dang time. The dog door allows a dog to instead of just investigating a squirrel or someone walking by from the window, go right out to it and start the bark-fest. I know for my dogs, they'd be out constantly barking at stuff. My neighbors would not be happy about that.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

1. What is your opinion on dog doors?
2. Is it based on your own experience or someone else's?
3. What are you pros and cons?
4. Have you tried the infrared dog doors specifically? Any construction or functionality issues?

1. Love them. Wish we could have one now, but we would need a sliding door insert and we have a kitten that we are determined to keep inside.
2. My own. Hubby works from home so it makes sense that the dogs be able to go about as they please. They sleep most of the day so he lets them out as they want out, but before when we had a doggie door, it was at their own whim. It was nice.
3. Cons, it can be kinda drafty. If you get a sliding glass insert then it makes your doorway even smaller. Pros, dogs are allowed to go out as they please. And they don't have to wait for mom or dad as they do the potty dance.
4. Nope, sorry.

 

[misticaleclipse]

Thank you.
I priced the infrared doors today, compared to the
others they are really expensive, but I want to
keep my cat in as well.

Any other experiences?

 

[marympierce]

1. What is your opinion on dog doors? We love our doggie door. Our pups learned how to go in/out within about 30 minutes.
2. Is it based on your own experience or someone else's?Obviously, ours!:lol-sign:
3. What are you pros and cons?Pros- the dogs can choose when they go out. If we're going to be gone for a few hours, we can butt the crate up to the door and give them the option to not go in their crate. Cons- none that I know of, except when they're hyper and jump in and out repeatedly!.
4. Have you tried the infrared dog doors specifically? Any construction or functionality issues?We have a standard door. I'd be afraid that my pup would slip his collar, or the batteries would die and he'd be stuck outside

We really love our door. It's helped us to housebreak the puppies (they're 4.5 months, adopted just shy of 4 months). I am still picking up cues of when they want to go out, but that's an owner problem. Since we've started using it in conjunction with the crate, they've not had an accident in the crate once. They "get" that they are supposed to go outside. Hope this helps!

 

[FourIsCompany]

We LOVE our doggie door. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it. We've had one since we've had dogs. The pros are many, mostly freedom for the dogs and potty training. It makes it VERY convenient for me as I don't have to let them out and in.

The only cons I can thing of:
- The seal against the weather. We have a "flap" kind. This isn't a problem for us because the seasons are fairly mild here and it leads into our laundry room with serves as a buffer on cold nights.

- Strangers or something else getting in through the doggie door. But we live in the country and the yard gates are locked, so that's not really a problem for us. And frankly, if something manages to get onto the property, in the gate and through the yard and into the house with Jaia and B'asia out there, it deserves to get in!

 

[Punkygirl0101]

We have a sliding door insert, which I love! Its not open all day, its only open when we are home, and when we are awake. At night, or when we leave the dogs are inside with the door closed. The hardest part was teaching the dogs to not be afraid of the rubber flap lol

 

[SisMorphine]

With my new job and new hours (but unfortunately same ol' pay scale with less benefits as far as pet care goes) I have been seriously toying with the idea of completely enclosing the lower screen house and putting an extra large doggy door in. BUT the door will not lead to a fenced in backyard. Instead it will lead to a 10x10 enclosure WITH A ROOF and a lock on the outside door. Wally isn't a barker but Teeny will wear a citronella bark collar. Of course the biggest problem now is that I only have space to put in one doggy door so I'll either have to go against everything I believe in and leave my dogs alone together, or I will have to pay someone to stop by mid day and put one dog away (who had the morning out in the room and outdoor space) and put the other out. I dunno, like I said, it's still all in the planning stages but a doggy door is very tempting . . .

 

[Kayla]

I think another thing to consider is the dog itself. For obvious reasons owner's with dogs likely to be stolen (either due to small, non intimidating size or because of dogs that may be targetted by gangs as "fighting dogs" or worse as "bait" dogs) should considering making a second fence within your backyard that allows the dog to come out but not get right to your fence line, or avoid one all togther.

Secondly the temperment and tendancy to bark should be carefully weighed. As a few people have pointed out many dogs alert bark all day long which besides disgruntling neighbors can also create a variety of other behavioural issues.

We had one for Diamond who came from good german working lines and was a gaurd dog, which didnt include alert barking, just action. She went in and out as she pleased and never barked at neighbors. Meanwhile Duke can only be outside superivesed as besides just digging he also alert barks to everything outside.

 

[Fran27]

I agree with most people here, it depends on a lot of things.

I would personally never get one for those reasons

- our back door is probably too small and we would need a large door
- my dogs bark
- most of all, I would never trust my dogs outside when I'm not home... nor would I trust other people.

My issue with infrared doors is that I just don't want my dogs to have to carry their collars all the time. Just too dangerous, it could get caught in anything or they could just strangle each other when playing.

 

[milos_mommy]

Hmm, since Milo doesn't go outside unless i know he's out there and can listen for him barking or a suspicious silence, NO WAY.

Also, strange animals could get in, and it's VERY easy to break into a dog-door house.