Automatic doggy doors?
Does anyone have any experience with automatic access doggy doors that are controlled by a collar tag?
We have used a traditional doggy door for more than 20 years and it's been wonderful for our indoor Corgis. We have a second one in our detached garage for our outdoor cat, Calli. We left Calli's pet door open 24/7, so she could sleep and eat on demand. Unfortunately raccoons and Ricky-Rafa found entry through the door, so we can no longer do this. This garage pet door has become a safety hazard for Ricky, who uses it––of course to eat Calli's food––and to greet us. I'm very worried that he could get run over if someone forgets to close the doggy door.
Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Aj on
-
I do not have experience with automatic (or manual) dog doors, but it sounds pretty cool and hi-tech!
-
Permalink Reply by Lucy & Ricky (Wendy/Jack ) on
-
LOL...and a no raccoon sign!
-
-
@ John - This is a safety hazard for my cat and R/R to leave the traditional door in place. I'm not being a spoiled brat––not that there's anything wrong with being bratty sometimes! But, the raccoons in our area are as big as Lucy. Coyotes patrol our property nightly. Our cat needs to be able to get into the garage w/o letting in unwanted rodents and animals. We try to keep the pet door closed, but obviously my cat needs access. She's an outdoor cat and we can't just call her at meal time or to come in to sleep. Lucy never went in Calli's door; RR went in his first day at our house. We try to remember to close the door after Calli goes in to sleep or eat, but we're not perfect. There have been too many slip-ups & near misses with RR. An automatic pet door that opens only for the pet wearing the collar (calli cat) is the answer for us. My kids, Jack and I slip up. i'd rather cough up $100 and know that RR and Calli are safe.
-
Permalink Reply by Emily & Scout on
-
No info, but I had to comment.. They just referenced a doggy door that uses a chip in the collar on the tv show Criminal minds. Hope your search is turning out to be successful.
-
-
Thanks. I have a friend who knows someone with this type of collar and loves it. She's supposed to get the name of it for me.
-
-
hope a criminal didn't get access to a house with the collar chip! haha.
-
Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
-
Our dog door has always been automatic. It opens whenever the dogs bark.
-
Permalink Reply by Julia on
-
I have thought about these doors. One concern is the cat collar. Cat collars are designed for safety to break-away, or slip off easily to avoid strangulation. If the key to the door is on the collar, it could be easily lost.
For the dogs, can they learn not to barrel through the door at full speed without first checking if it's open? Ours have had a few headaches when the sliding panel was in place. My experience with an electric fence taught us that the batteries in collars run down, and cease working. So it's possible that a door wouldn't open when expected, and you'd have to resort to John's technique.
But, all in all, I think it could be a good tool for a dog door. Not so sure about a cat, though. Not just the lost collar part, but some doors note that they are too heavy for small dogs or cats to use safely. Be sure to check.
-
-
I'll be careful in checking the safety of the doors. The magnet is very inexpensive so it can be used with a breakaway collar for a cat and easily & cheaply replaced.
-
-
Usually they just bang into the panel once and then they learn to poke their nose at it and be sure that they don't bang into it again! It is really sad the first time they barrel into it.
-
Permalink Reply by Alex on
-
We thought about getting one for Dee Dee a while ago. We decided not to when we found out that (the door we looked at) locks after 20 seconds. Wherever the door is (even if it's half open), the door locks after 20 seconds. So if your dog is timid and suspicious like ours, the dog can get stuck while it's sniffing to see if it's safe to go through. I'm not sure if anyone has come out with something better suited for timid dogs, but that was what we found. We didn't want to deal with non-automatic doggy door since we have lots of very friendly cats in our neighborhood. So, we opted to use the "automatic door" John Wolff way. Good luck with your search!
-
-
This is actually for my cat, who's a pretty tough girl. She's had a traditional door her whole life so I hope this won't be much too much of a stretch for her. Thanks for your info.
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
