Getting the Right Dog Doors

A Dog Door is an essential item if you would like to give your dog the freedom to move in and out without the need to keep opening your door. Most of the Dog Doors can work well in all kind of Door or even on Side Wall.

Generally Dog Doors can be categorised to either Automatic or Manual.

For Automatic Dog Door or Electronic Dog Door, there are quite a few options

• Infrared Activated Dog Door
• Identification Tagged Dog Door (your pet will be wearing a collar key with an identification)
• RF-based Dog Door

When selecting or buying a Dog Door, here are some questions to ask yourselves.

1. What is your size of your dog?
   • If you have a few dogs, buy one for the bigger sized dog and if the dog door is too big for your smallest pet or puppy, use a walk-up ramp.
2. Is your dog the only pet using the door or your Dog Door is going to be shared by your other pet such as your cat?
   • Dog Door flap and Car Door flap are slighty different. Dog Door flap is bigger and because of their size of opening, smaller undesirable animal might crawl in through the flap.
3. Where is the Dog Door going to be located? Patio, Side door, Main Gate, Recessed Doors, Walls, Glass Window, Sliding Glass Door?
4. Are you looking for a one-direction or two-direction Doggie door.Look for strong rust-proof frame for durability. Enamel finish for carefree maintenance.

Safety First

Although Dog Doors are very useful, you may want to consider some safety aspect for your dog and family. Try to get one with a latched so that when you are out with your dog, nothing will be able to get in such as some small wild animals or reptiles.

Latching dog doors are also good if you want to be able to restrict your dog’s movements. For example, there are some dog doors that you can latch so that it will only open in one direction. This is great if you want to allow your dog to go outside at any point during the day, but don’t want it coming back inside until after you’ve finished doing something.

Special Features

• Dual Flaps System

Some commercial dog door has dual flaps sytem to create a maximum energy efficiency.When your pet goes out, the door flap opens out and the other flap which acts as weather-stripping flap remains around the frame. After your pet has left, the door flap falls back, magnetically sealing to the weather-stripping flap. When your pet comes in, the two flaps seal together to work as one door. After your pet is inside, they fall back magnetically sealing to the metal frame.

• Tinted Cover

Smoke-tinted, nontoxic vinyl flap helps prevent carpet fading. See-through design makes training easy.

Common Problem

• Torn Flap

Some commercial dog door’s flap can torn easy. This is because the pet are either too big or the dog door is of poor workmanship. Larger dog can bend the flap too far in and break it. So make sure you have bought the correct size and not too narrow for your house dog. Replacing the flap can be very expensive and a real hassle to you.

• Stuck

Some dog door can cause the dog to get stuck half way if the dog decided to back up when it enter the dog door.

Call for Action

Never buy any commercial dog door just base on the promotion description. You will be surprise that these so call flexible flap door maker’s product can torn easily than rigid one. So check with your neighbor, forum mate or website review before you buy one.

Happy Selecting the Right Dog Door for your pet.