What Size Dog Door?

[Guest HondaV65]

Hello, I'm a new member in Louisiana. I searched for about a half an hour and found a lot of great info on this site about dog doors - but could not find the exact / approx. size most people are using.

 

My wife and I adopted a Greyhound, and we're picking her up this Friday. I already have an English Bulldog (which the Grey has met and they played well together) and my little bullie uses a dog door religiously. In fact, I got her when she was 9 weeks old and she's used that door since the day I brought her home - and she's never once eliminated in the house. I have a fairly large back yard that's totally fenced. The bully also taught my daughter's dogs to use that door - and it took them about 15 seconds to learn once they saw her charging in and out of it.

 

The door I currently have is about 16 inches tall and maybe 9 or 10 inches wide. It looks small for a Grey though - but my daughter's dogs are pretty big (like Springer Spaniel big) and they have no problems squeezing through it. My 22 yo son is 5'11 and he can even get through it - though he's like "Area 51" skinny, if you know what I mean.

 

Anyways - I'd appreciate any help on this!

[Hubcitypam]

Ours is a Petsafe large which is I think 15 1/2" tall and 10.5" wide. Several 90# greys have gone through with no problem.

 

With the English bulldog the low rise might be a bit low for a grey tho. The bottom of ours is 12" off the ground. I think someone on here had one set very low for bassets or something and the greys adapted.

[Guest HondaV65]

Thanks for the reply!!

 

Hmm ... I hadn't thought of the "low rise" ... my door is set in a window that extends down to about 6" off the ground. I had an old Jack Russell (who died when he was 14) ... and he made it through that door by jumping up. My bully though - since she was a puppy ... I put a "ramp" in on both sides of the door to make it easier for her.

 

Looks like the Grey will have to learn to crab walk through it or I need a taller door - I think I can get one about 23" tall and just enlarge the current opening. That might work.

[Trudy]

The door size should be fine. It will likely be the ramp that will cause issues.

Our door is also in a window and is about 8" up off the floor.

 

Wait until she gets home and see if it works for her. You may not need to upgrade to a taller door.

[Hubcitypam]

I had an old Jack Russell (who died when he was 14) ... and he made it through that door by jumping up.

That's what Poodle does. He puts his paws on the bottom and vaults thru.

[Charla]

Mine is the Pet Safe large, like the one above and is in a patio slide, it's got a 9 inch riser but my hounds have used my daughters regular doggie door with no real problems. Carl is a big boy at 93 pounds and he has no problems. They both trained easily, I stood outside with a chicken gizzard holding the flap out of the way ... they were pushing through it in two tries

Edited December 1, 2010 by Charla

[EllenEveBaz]

Mine think they've died and gone to heaven that our new house's dog door doesn't need any steps or ramps on the outside.

 

I read a suggestion that for greys, the top of the door should be about the height of their shoulders. That could be various combinations of door heights and bottom rise.

 

Congratulations on your new addition! We'll need pictures of your pups, door, yard ...

[Guest kelli123]

We got ours at pet smart and its the xlarge doggie door and works perfectly for them

[Guest HondaV65]

We got ours at pet smart and its the xlarge doggie door and works perfectly for them

 

Yep - that's what I did - just yesterday. It's a HUGE HONKIN' door too. I will have to make sure my gates are padlocked always - I think Jabba the Hut could crawl into my house through it.

[kickchick2000]

No advice on the doorway but I've also got an english bulldog and a greyhound. As different as they are physically are their energy levels work together perfectly. Good luck and post photos of the two of them.

[Guest HondaV65]

Yes the x-large dog door works great. Before I could get it in - I got a chance to test the grey with the large door and she could not get through it because of the low rise. The large door is great - and she runs in and out of that no problems now. However, she is a complete FOOD BOGART and spends all her time looking for food all over the house. And, she's a giraffe - which means that anything sitting on the counter is easily within her reach! LOL. She looks for things to play with up high too. Because of this - I'm still crating her when we're away - she seems none too bothered by being in the crate. I will try to wean her out of this though as I teach her not to do bad things - if I can teach her not to do bad things that is.

[GreytNut]

I had the X Large PetSafe door, but actually found it to be too big. The Large size works great and it lets less cold air (and other things) in.

 

Most dogs will grab stuff that's left out on the counters if they can reach it, and I've never been able to reliably train them not to do it. It's just too tempting. I can get them to leave stuff alone while I'm around, but once I leave the house the rule of law doesn't exist anymore.

 

The best (and easiest) cure for counter surfing is to never, ever leave stuff out on the counters.