dog flaps/doors

[mandwhy]

Hi everyone, I was wondering how many people have dog flaps these days? My poor dog ended up getting left for twice as long as he normally does yesterday :-( there was stress diarrhoea involved, poor boy I felt so bad whilst scrubbing the carpet. We have a nice secure garden and I would really like for him to be able to go out when he wants. He is a smallish border collie so I suppose this borders onto the size that a person might be able to get through :-/ a small person though! We rent our house so it might not even be allowed but they are quite accommodating about pets so maybe if we put the door back to normal when we move out.

Are there any ways to avoid the security issue? Heavy duty doors with magnets or something? I have seen the ones that use a microchip but they would be just a bit too small for getting his chest through I think!

 

[PorkChop]

I have one, though it is large enough for me to crawl through it! I just have plastic strip flaps on it and also a metal planel that can be used to block it completely if necessary.

I don't worry about the security aspect as I have a Rottweiler

 

[gunnergundog]

I have a Plexidor that I got in the States years ago.............has lasted at least nine years, maybe more. I was fed up of buying replacement Staywell flaps every month as my bunch of thugs trashed them on a regular basis. If money is no object they do an electronic version that works from a collar fob. Think there is someone selling them now in this country.....they are expensive, but they do last.

 

[AmyMay]

Our dog is small enough at the moment to go in and out through the cat flap, and we have talked about putting in a dog flap for when she's bigger. However we'd have it locked if we weren't in the house, because despite our garden being secure and off the beaten track I wouldn't be comfortable knowing she could be out in the garden when we're not in.

Too many dog napping stories for my liking.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Sorry no wisdom to offer re. dog flaps in general, but as a landlord myself if a tenant wanted to put in a dog-door I would like them to have asked my permission first!!

My reaction would probably be to say that yes OK'ish, but that the door must be reinstated to its original state before the tenant vacated. But in a property with a "nice" door, this may not be what every landlord would want to happen.

The alternative would be perhaps for the original door to be taken off, and a new one WITH the dog-flap put on, and then when/if the tenancy ends, the original door is put back on again.

Think you need to ask your landlord asap as a matter of priority OP before you go any further with this TBH.

 

[Fides]

I had one and it was a godsend whilst the dogs were in the house. There is the security issue but I just enabled the alarms in every room but the kitchen so if anyone did get in the most they could pinch without setting the alarms off would be the toaster

Plus most burglars will think twice if there is a dog loose?

 

[CazD]

We have a dog flap for our two dogs which is great on the days I work as I know they can go in and out as they please. If the dogs are home then the dogflap is open, but if they are out of the house with the dog sitter then I lock the flap. The garden has a high fence and locked gate but TBH if a burglar wants to get in somewhere then they WILL get in regardless of whether there is a dogflap or not! The worst problem I find is that the dogflap is very draughty in the winter LOL.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I'd just build a small kennels and run, also I think two dogs if they are on their own a lot.

 

[Slave2Magic]

Our JRT's have a cat flap, or Jack flap as we call it Only down side is they tend to come straight in with muddy feet if it's wet and the flap is no longer lockable as they fly through it at speed and have broken the locking sliders off!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Yup, build an outdoor run. Our dog flap is a flexi, they have still ripped off the screws! A small person could probably get through it but two of mine bark lots so I doubt anyone would try, they have big deep voices!

 

[Spring Feather]

I have a giant size dog flap. It's on the dog room door which leads to outside. There is another door from the dog room which goes into the kitchen. We don't lock our house anyway so if someone wanted to break in they wouldn't need to run the gauntlet of trying to get through the back garden with 6 big dogs in it and then crawl through a dog flap, they'd just have to open the front door. However they may be in for a bit of a shock as the dogs know how to get into the house from the dog room. I digress, I have had dog flaps forever and I think they are great. I would never lock a dog indoors, for some reason I have always had this awful thought of what would happen if there were a fire in the house and my dogs couldn't get out.

 

[mandwhy]

Hey everyone sorry for the delayed response! I live on an old military barracks so you can imagine the set up, rows and rows of houses so there are people around but I suppose it is secure in the sense that people are around to be alerted to things.

The dog is a soppy collie, I somehow doubt anyone would be intimidated by him as he would mostly likely run to them and greet them haha. He is fairly undiscriminating.

I am obviously going to ask my landlords Mijods, I don't know what gave you the impression I wasn't?! 'Oh yeah that giant hole in the door, we didn't think you'd mind...'

Good point about the wet paws coming in and out in winter, that may be fairly annoying as the back door comes directly into the living room :-/

 

[springtime1331]

We have a dog flap for our three. Saying that, I have got a bit worried about our labradoodle being pinched, especially because she is extremely friendly. We tend to have it open if we're around and at night but close it during the day when we're at work.