<p>I’m intrigued by pet doors, doggy doors, etc. We have a 80 lb black lab who likes to be outside a lot. I wonder if a doggy door would work for him/us. </p>
<p>Do you have a doggy door? How do you like it? Is it in a hinged door? Or, do you use one of those sliding glass inserts? What’s the security like? How’s the engineering? Do you get a draft? </p>
<p>Fill me in, please. Thanks!</p>
<p>At my home I’d be afraid of raccoons, armadillos, possums, rats, neighbor’s cats, and squirrels coming in doggy door. Alligators and snakes too!</p>
<p>My sister has one of the glass sliders installed on an exterior wall of her house. Her pet wears a device in his collar that opens the door when he gets up close to the door to go out and then closes when he exits/re-enters the house. Pretty nifty but pricey-- it was $600.00 and I’m not sure that even included installation. Not sure what the maximum size limit is (your pooch is pretty big).</p>
<p>We’ve had a doggy door for years. First dog was in the 60-70 lb range. Next dog was (initially) in the 120-lb range. We had to get a larger size to accomodate the bigger dog. In both cases we used a sliding glass door insert. The door came with a strip of foam rubber that makes for a snug fit with the sliding door. However, there’s not much to be done about thermally insulating the actual dog door flap. We live in a relatively mild climate, so it’s not a problem. Not sure what people living in more extreme climates do, though it’s easy to take down the panel and then put it back up. </p>
<p>Security-wise, it’s a mixed bag. D2 uses the dog door to get in the house if she’s forgotten her house keys :eek:. If you’ve got a big dog, I wouldn’t install one of these unless I was in a relatively safe area. There’s a sliding panel that slides over just the flap, allowing you to lock your pet inside or outside. If we’re away for a few days, we’ll lock the flap (dog goes to a dogsitter). If we were away for a long period, we could just take out the entire panel.</p>
<p>Down here where I live, there’s at least one news story per week about a burglary where the thief entered through the doggy door. I agree - if you get one big enough for your 80 lb dog, it’s an open invitation to a skinny crook.</p>
<p>[6-ft</a> alligator sneaks into Fla. home through dog door | abc7.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=8093056]6-ft”>http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=8093056)</p>
<p>Then again, maybe you don’t have huge amphibious carnivores in your neighborhood. :)</p>
<p>Alligators are reptiles not amphibians:D</p>
<p>Yea, and if the alligator ate your dog wearing the electronic collar for the doggy door, the alligator with the device inside him could get through the electonic doggy door and come after you too for desert!</p>
<p>^ real cool idea:D love it.</p>
<p>When “lizard” says such a thing, I am worried he knows what he’s talking about from personal experience.</p>
<p>^ really??!! then even cooler:D</p>
<p>We’ve got one that fits in the glass slider door. Zero security, I call it the burglar door. If we had a convenient spot in the wall I would get one that has a lock. We often take care of friend’s dogs, and the biggest hurdle we have encountered is training the dogs to use the door. Our agility minded golden plowed through from day 1, but “highly intelligent” standard poodles required weeks (months in once case) to get the hang of it. One poodle still usually waits inside looking at the door while the rest of us are outside having fun.</p>
<p>We have always had one. In our first house it was in installed into the backdoor. Our sliders were not the right size so we can’t put it in there. When we added a family room we put a doggie door in the wall. It is a double, which means there is a flap in the backyard and then a space where the wall is and another flap in the room. We have the sliding thing to close it when we want. I never have noticed a draft, but we also live in a mild climate. Security wise, I guess if a burgler were to come through it they would come face to face with our 85 lb labrador retriever which might scare them off.</p>
<p>
If a burglar ever came face to face with our Lab, she would give him a lick and wait for a possible lamb chop. As a breed, not the best guard dogs!</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments, everyone. </p>
<p>And, MommaJ, I think our labs must be kindred spirits. I’m sure my Batman would be glad to have some company and offer the bad guy a tug or chew toy. ;)</p>
<p>MommaJ and DB: My lab is the furthest thing in the world from a guard dog. He would happily play with whoever came into the house. BUT, the burgler doesn’t know that.</p>
<p>Our big guy has an enormous deep bark that makes him sound like he’s about to tear off your limbs one by one. I used to tell repair and delivery people not to worry, that he’s really a sweetheart. Then I realized that I was wasting a golden opportunity to create a great and fearsome reputation for our household. Now I open the door a crack while holding onto the dog’s collar, while I act the part of owner of crazed ferocious canine just waiting to sink his jaws into an intruder’s flesh. ;)</p>
<p>This thread has given me a great idea for home security: we should keep the dog door and get a pet alligator. :D</p>
<p>A friend of mine installed a doggy door for her very large lab.</p>
<p>One morning around 4 am, she got out of bed and trudged down to the kitchen to make coffee since she’d been tossing and turning for an hour and it didn’t look like sleep was in the cards. As she came down the stairs, she observed her very petite (just under 5 feet tall) 17 y/o daughter emerging from the doggy door into the house. Apparently it was the only way to avoid setting off the security alarm, which is important when you’ve been spending the night with your boyfriend. The daughter looked up at Mom and simply said “Uh Oh.”</p>
<p>My neighbors had a doggy door. Whenever they locked themselves out they would call me and I would wiggle through it. This was back in my much skinnier days :)<br>
We live in such a safe area we actually leave a side door open for the dog…unfortunately he never met a stranger so he is useless for burglar guard dog.</p>
<p>We don’t have one for our 126 pound Golden because he would let the indoor cats out. He doesn’t go out that much, so we just let him in and out. I used to get in my neighbor’s house through their dog door when I would pet sit because their key was really hard to work. My Golden also has a deep bark and while very gentle, can tell “bad guys” and can frighten people because he is so huge. </p>
<p>On the teenager coming in after a night out… WildChild figured out how to defeat our alarm system by using a magnet on one of the windows. Engineer H swore that our son could not have gotten out…but he did. We were NOT happy when we figured it out.</p>