Author Topic: DIY dog door ideas  (Read 23599 times)

meadow lark

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DIY dog door ideas
« on: February 20, 2013, 12:31:09 AM »
Has anyone made a DIY dog door?  I would love to have one mounted in my window.  During the summer we just leave a window open all the time, and my dogs come and go into the back yard as they please.  In the winter I have to be much more aware of putting them outside.  Has anyone ever put some kind of a dog door flap in a window?  They are big dogs, the biggest is a German Shepherd.  And I don't want the 20* wind coming through...

burly

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2013, 07:52:55 AM »
I've never made one.. but there are a few ideas I found on pinterest...

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=dog+door

And wow, German Shepherd dog door... I would be weary of that where I live.. anyone/anything could come in thru that.

Rural

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2013, 02:51:41 PM »
We're making a dog door for our Great Danes with warehouse strip door material: http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/material-handling/dock-truck/doors-strip/replacement-strip-curtain-strip-door-strips?ref=uat/mvrc

Haven't got it done yet, so can't say how well it works, but we're hopeful. We're actually building in an airlock -- they'll go through two of the curtains.

As for worrying about people getting in, well, anyone who's willing to come through two territorial Danes was going to find a way somehow. I'm not too worried about meeting anyone willing, though.

Spork

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2013, 03:01:06 PM »

What we did was actually build a tiny "dog room" (I think about 5x7) that has 2 exterior grade doors.  One goes to the outside (with a dog door in it) and the other to the house.  If you want the dogs to come and go... open the interior door.  If it is raining and they're a muddy mess, close it and they have a sheltered area outside of the main house.

If a human crawls through the dog door, they're still met with a locked door.  (Of course, if they're really that keen to get in, they can kick it down or break a window.)

It may be a bit wasteful to dedicate 35 sqft to "dog room"... but I'll always have dogs and keeping them safe/warm and sometimes "not inside" is important.

singingbombadil

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2013, 03:04:35 PM »
Just an off the cuff idea, but with a few RFID tags, an arduino, some motors, and some gears, you could probably piece something relatively sturdy together that would only open for your pups.  From a DIY perspective it would be cool...but not the ideal option for having the lowest cost...

Crabricorn

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2013, 07:00:44 PM »
I built one a few years ago - and I'm not handy - LOL! I found the dog door itself at a deep discount store for a few dollars. Then I used plywood to make a frame around that and the whole thing fit perfectly into the window frame. It wasn't that pretty, but it was on the back of the house, so no one saw it. My window was low to the ground and my dog could just hop thru the door. He loved it!

burly

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2013, 07:33:08 PM »
Just an off the cuff idea, but with a few RFID tags, an arduino, some motors, and some gears, you could probably piece something relatively sturdy together that would only open for your pups.  From a DIY perspective it would be cool...but not the ideal option for having the lowest cost...

That is a fantastic idea. Kickstarter?

slugsworth

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2013, 11:50:18 AM »
That is a fantastic idea. Kickstarter?

I would back it in a heartbeat. . . there are very few companies that offer an automated dog door and the offerings that are out there for a good sized dog door are extremely poorly made or really expensive.

MrsKensington

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Re: DIY dog door ideas
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2013, 09:18:12 PM »
This may not work for you, but we only needed a doggie door sometimes (depending on the tenant) in our basement. A dog-owning tenant found an identical basement door in a neighbor's trash and cut a standard doggie door into that. We just swapped out the doors and knobs when he left, and could put them back in when another dog comes to live with us. It cost maybe $40 or so.