s/o dog doors

[Deleted]

We'd had an RFID door installed in the garage when we thought Casanova would be inside/outside (never happened). There's a chip in a tag that you put on the pet's collar so the flap only opens when the chip is present.

[alicenelson]

FormerlyRR, have you ever had issues? (Other than Freddy packing in unwanted vermin?)

[isabel]

We've had a dog door for years. We never close it at night and have never once had any other animal come in.

[spitforspat]

I think other animals don't usually come in because they don't know it's there.

[CurlyQ284]

Why would anyone be against dog doors? I'd love it except my dog will eat anything in the yard and then get sick. Maybe that's why? She would probably also run out all the time to "guard" the yard and bark at leaves or any other intruders so she would drive me bonkers.

My ILs have one, I think its nice for the pup.

[Deleted]

I think most dogs require initial training to use the dog door, so I'm not sure any outside creature that isn't used to one would just wander through yours.

[Jalapeñomel]

My parents have lizards that come in all the time, but that's about it.

[nomad100]

We had thought about getting one when we just had Willow. She can be trusted and loves going in and out. We would only have the door open when we were home though since I would be afraid of something happening to her when we were gone.

Now that we hve Cricket, aka the Escape Artist, our doggie door dreams are over. He just can't be trusted unsupervised in the yard.

[OrangePixyStix]

We have 2 dogs and have used a dog door for over 4 years and have never had any other animals come in through it. We also have a tall privacy fence, though, so I haven't seen any other animals in our backyard at all.

The biggest PITA is when it's rainy and we leave it open all day, the dogs sometimes track in mud and wet grass from the backyard but we do have extra rugs near that door to help catch most of the mess. Usually we try to close it on the heavy rain days/nights.

[shananagins]

We have had a dog door for years and I love it. The dogs like being able to come and go. No other animals have ever come in, but one night Stella went out, got sprayed by a skunk and came back in and ran around the house like an idiot rubbing up against everything. That was a bad week. Now we close the dog door at night.
I got mildly flamed on TN about it once. I feel like it is an acceptable risk/ benefit for the dogs. Our dogs are older, don't dig or bark, and we live in a pretty safe quiet neighborhood. I feel like it is worth the risk for the dogs to be able to get out and stare at squirrels on the fence all day.

[lintscreen]

Dec 17, 2013 15:14:32 GMT -5 isabel said:

We've had a dog door for years. We never close it at night and have never once had any other animal come in.

This.  But, I think the dog scares off any strange cats.

[OrangePixyStix]

My parents live out in the country and have a dog door that has a magnetized collar for their pets, so stray animals don't get it. The dog-door only lifts when the magnet gets close to it and is down completely any other time except when their dog goes up to it.

[sineadorebellion]

I wish it was ok to put in a cat door for Sal. He never leaves the yard, he just likes to sit in the yard while the girls play. When they come in, he does too. Which is funny considering he doesn't ever let them touch him lol.

[shananagins]

Dec 17, 2013 16:15:15 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Dec 17, 2013 16:13:44 GMT -5 sineadorebellion said:

I wish it was ok to put in a cat door for Sal. He never leaves the yard, he just likes to sit in the yard while the girls play. When they come in, he does too. Which is funny considering he doesn't ever let them touch him lol.

Cats are so weird. H's cat is like this too. She wants to be in the same room as everyone, but God forbid anyone touch her or even get near her. It sucks b/c she is so pretty, so whenever people come over, they are like "ohhh hey kitty!" and we have to be like "NOOO don't touch that one!"

We have a cat like this too. She hates everyone and everything but me, and insists on hanging out where the toddlers, dogs and other cat are, then hissing when anyone comes near her. She also will sit right next to me and squall continuously until I pet her. She is getting crazier every day and I'm really starting to hate her. I feel bad, but she is sooooooo annoying. 

[HiC]

Dec 17, 2013 15:26:08 GMT -5 jillianashley6 said:

Dec 17, 2013 15:23:20 GMT -5 CurlyQ284 said:

Why would anyone be against dog doors? I'd love it except my dog will eat anything in the yard and then get sick. Maybe that's why? She would probably also run out all the time to "guard" the yard and bark at leaves or any other intruders so she would drive me bonkers.

My ILs have one, I think its nice for the pup.

Several reasons- your dog could get stung or bit by something, have an allergic reaction and possibly die. You don't watch your dog have a bm or pee, so you don't notice changes in habits that might make you aware of a health issue. They might get out of your yard without you realizing right away. Someone could throw poison meat over the fence. Etc.

It sucks, but in our situation, its worth the risk.

OMG!  Paranoid much!!?? Ha! 

We have a dog door and we also take our dogs for walks daily.  I also pick up the backyard almost daily.  We get to see plenty of "bms" and pee.  I know that dd needs to clean up her rainbow loom bands a little better.  Poison meat reminds me of my Yiayia's story of her dog being fed a poison meatball from her neighbory.   You just made me belly laugh.  Yes, it can happen. No, it probably won't. 

The worst thing about our dog door is when they get skunked and come back inside and roll ALL OVER our rugs.  That's it.

[MamaMaui24]

Our problem isn't critters coming IN, but DS going OUT the doggie door 100 times per day.

[HiC]

jillianashley6  I thought you were serious and it was cracking me up! I thought you had become my 95 year old grandmother for a split second. I'm so happy now!

[SKP82]

We've had a doggy door for 4 years and have never had this problem. It is open all the time.