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Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Doggie Door That Isn't a Cat Door

Looking at doggie doors that fit into the sliding glass door.  While the dog cannot jump the fence,  the cat can.   I know there are fences that shock a dog to keep it inside a particular perimeter.   How do they work?  Thinking whatever goes on a dog could go on the cat at the doggie door.  He would not leave,  but the dog could enter and exit at will. 

I suspect we would also find out how many doggie size critters live around here,  and in winter,  the house will get unpleasantly cold.   Are there any other clever solutions to allow a dog exit for necessary biological needs that adequately keep out cold and critters? Something that attaches to dog collar and opens the doggie door only for that collar, leaving it otherwise sealed for bad weather and unauthorized quadrupeds?

YUP.  PetSafe Selective Entry Pet Door.  Not sure if there is a slider version but where there's an engineer,  there is a way!

2 comments:

  1. IIRC, the problem with those radio collar lock controls is it wouldn't work for dogs. There was a signal-capture/authentication/activation time lag that was ok for cats, who would sidle up to the door and hesitate, while they thought about entering. Dogs just charge up to it and bull through, normally. Dogs would get confused and frustrated by the locked door, and leave, or move around enough to leave the field activation range.
    It has a short unlocked time length to try to keep other animals from following the pet into the house. The combination wasn't compatible with the typical dog active habits.
    It's been a couple years now, maybe they've got it figured out.

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  2. I've used the magnetic-latch version of these with great success.

    They are sensitive to alignment when installed, the making the holes oversize and counting upon the flanges to cover the gap is a good idea.

    It takes a little time for the animal to get used to using it. Position of the "key" on the collar (separate from other tags) is important.

    If a 9 lb cat is spooked and has space to accelerate to full speed before hitting the door, it can cause rapid unscheduled disassembly of the whole mechanism. So having a spare animal flap or boarding-up materials on hand may be a good idea. The plastic parts are all reasonably cheap to replace (either as spare parts or because they are common with the cheaper non-electronic pet flaps)

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