What do you think about doggie doors?

[OHenry]

Henry is about 2.5 years old, shelter rescue, ex-stray. We have had him about six weeks. He is doing well and is pretty receptive to training.

We work erratic schedules so one of us is frequently home with him, but there are times when he is home alone during the day. On those days, I come home at lunch to play with him and walk him. When home alone, he is in our front room which is a nice big room with his bed and toys and there have been no issues of howling, accidents, etc. He chews up anything we leave around, so we try not to leave anything around!

I thought it would be fun for him to be able to go in and out to the backyard through a doggie door while we are gone. When he is alone outside he runs around, throws himself toys, lolls in the sun, etc. It is fenced and he does not show a propensity for digging. We live in Northern California and the weather is mild most of the year.

Do any of you use doggie doors? Successes or cautionary tales? Any concerns I should be looking out for?

Thanks!

OHenry

[Fundog]

We had a doggy door before we moved to our current home, which is rented. It was AWESOME! And I wholeheartedly recommend them! Though our Annie understood how it worked immediately, it took our Dottie a couple of weeks to get the hang of it. They both loved being able to come in and out as they pleased-- sometimes they would even get up in the night and go sleep outside for a few hours, if the weather was nice. Now, where we are, we don't have a doggy door, and may never be able to have one installed here. The girls miss being able to spend long hours basking outdoors in the beautiful fall air.

[maximoo]

I wish I could get one but my sliders have colonial type windows so I'd have to completely chg them. Anyway there is a type that opens automatically. Dog wears a sensor on his collar & when dog goes in front of the door it opens! This is the kind I would get. I live in So FL & the lizards, bugs, etc would be a big indoor problem if I had the flap type.

[emmabeth]

They can work well for some, and be a pain in the rear for others.

And, they can work well and then that can change - case in point my friends dog had one, all great he used it to go pee day or night and so didnt have to rely on a human to be there to let him out to potty. (Great because my friend has a medical problem in that when woken suddenly shes very aggressive and didnt want that to affect the dog).

All fine for a year or so... then she got another dog and that was fine once the second dog figured it out.

Then at some point it changed and he learned a new 'trick' which was to go RACING out through the door shouting his head off in the middle of the night, chasing animals heard in the distance. Not good. The new dog also learned if she wanted something he had, say his spot on the sofa or his bone... she could hurtle out through the door barking, he was guaranteed to follow like a fool.. and she could nip back in and swipe his loot!

If you dont have a dog who is reactive to sounds outside they can work well. Be aware that sometimes a dog can kind of 'lose' his housetraining though as the door blurs the distinction between indoors and outdoors. Some forget to ask to go out when the door is locked and appear to forget how to hold on until they can be let out, but this by no means something that happens to ALL dogs with access to dog doors.

As long as you are aware of the potential issues and can keep an eye out for them forming, they can be really useful. (And I am jealous as theres no way we can have one here, as Dilly would go racing out to shout at things every two minutes given teh opportunity and would be a total stresshead!).

[leeann812]

When my schnauzers turned two (I only have one now who's 12) I bought a doggy door to take in and out for the slider and it worked great. It didn't ruin any training we'd done and I took the door out when we were home and weekends. I'd recommend it but once they're out of the puppy stage. Too young and they can get in a lot of trouble if no ones home to supervise.

[Sarah83]

Sorry, just not my thing. I prefer to go out with mine to make sure he's been and to make sure he can't get into trouble by jumping the fence, someone leaving a gate open, a child climbing the fence to get their ball back or some other random thing. I can also prevent anyone tormenting him through or over the fence, stop people feeding him things that may make him ill or worse etc. Nor can he go out barking at little things while I'm not home and annoy the neighbours. Not enough good points and too many bad points for me to even consider getting one personally.

And what about security issues? An average sized human could get through a dog door the size I'd need for Rupert. One with a sensor may stop that but how difficult would it be to force it open?

[Mattie]

I used to have one and found it very good, I always closed it at night just in case my dogs started to bark. I closed it permanently when dogs started to be stolen from back gardens, I didn't want mine stolen.

It used to be quite funny watching 3 dogs try to get through it at the same time

[Shellie]

I've never used a doggie door (my dog is so big, a full grown man could get through the size of the one I'd have to use for her! ), but I do use cat doors. In my other house, I had a cat door in my sun room so my outdoor kitties could come into a warm room in the winter if they chose. Often the three of them would come in and cuddle up on their favorite chair for the night. This room was separated from the rest of the house by french doors. One evening I went out to check on them. scanning the room, I was startled to see four faces looking up at me from various seats. I put on the light and imagine my surprise to see one of those little faces belonged to a racoon! My cats were great hunters, but this guy was as big as them and they were just about frozen in place! Oddly, they all just kind of accepted each other with cautious glances until I shooed him out the door.

So just be aware that if your dog can get out, other critters can get in.

[Olivers mama]

We have an enclosed outdoor cat run & a kitty door so our indoor cats can access it at their pleasure. We have a large GSD from a local rescue. A door big enough for her would also let in strangers, which has been a problem locally. So we won't use one. Plus, I wouldn't want the cats to get outside thru the doggy door. Indoor cats generally live longer & I want mine to hang around awhile!

[OHenry]

These are excellent points.
On the security issues: Henry is only 20 lbs. so he would not need a big door, and he is crated at night so it would be closed then.
I can't imagine a kid coming into our yard. Most of our neighbors are not home during the day and the other is an older lady who isn't really the type to poke sticks at him (funny image though). I do wonder if he would bark so maybe I would record it for a few hours to see what's going on. My biggest concern is that he is the kind of guy who is into everything and I'm just not sure I can keep the yard tidy enough of kids' toys, hoses, gardening clogs, etc. to let him play unsupervised!

Thanks for all the advice. I will keep mulling it over.

OHenry

[Mattie]

In the days when I was working, I wanted my dogs to sleep when I was at work so they would be bright eyed and bushy tailed when I was home, if they were playing all the time I was at work, they wanted to sleep when was home so I hardly saw them. When they are sleeping when I am away, they are interacting with me when I am home. Does that make sense?

[OHenry]

I hadn't thought of that. I do like it that he sleeps all day right now...