Doggie door or no doggie door?!?!!?

[Kristine and Charlie]

We are contemplating a doggie door and I'm wondering how many doodles out there use one.  Right now our little Charlie (7 mos) rings a bell to go in and out so we have control of not letting him out if he is going to bark at the neighbors dog or whatever and wiping his paws off when he comes back in (we live in the Seattle area so his paws are wet/muddy quite often).  I feel like a doggie door could be a disaster at times.  On the other hand my sister-in-law's new puppy (he is 11 wks old) has been using a doggie door for the last 3 weeks and they say he only had a few accidents the first few days and nothing since.  He also has had free roam of the house (upstairs and down) since day 1 expect for when they leave or at night when he is crated.  At 11 weeks our puppy had random accidents about every other week or so and we were gating him in the family room/kitchen/dining room so that it was easier to keep an eye on him and to minimize potty accidents.  It seems like puppies might train easier and quicker....thoughts?

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I would give anything for a doggie door. Even the idea of mud seems less work than getting up to let my 2 out, especially at night when I just want to sit down!!!  The weather has been perfect here this weekend, so I have the doors open and haven't had to "let" anyone out for 2 days and it's been heaven!  I would have loved it even more the first month or so that we got Bella who is now 6 months old. She does have free roam of the house now and hasn't had any accidents in quite some time, but that is probably due to the fact I think she just has a good size bladder.

[Kristine and Charlie]

I know it is a pain sometimes when Charlie wants to go in and out, in and out.  Usually when we are sitting down for dinner or getting ready to watch a movie.  He also has free roam of the house when we are home and is close to being house broken....in the last 2 months he has had 2 random accidents in the house but I think his bladder is strong or a good size too because he never has to go out during the night (it's usually 8-9 hours between the last time he is let out and morning).  Another thing I worry about with a doggie door is him dragging something outside like a indoor dog toy (which he would probably try to bury), throw pillows or shoes.  Sometimes he steals random things and runs around the house while we try to get him to drop it and so I could just see him running outside (when it's dark and rainy) with something in his mouth.

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

Puppies I know learn quicker when they're put on a leash and taken outside by their owner. That way when they take care of business, they get lots of positive reinforcement when the deed is done. :-) Puppies want to please, so the happy reaction gets the message across faster than having them go on their own.

Assuming you have a fenced yard, my concern over a doggie door is someone leaving a gate open (yard man, utility worker, etc), your dog walks out through the doggie door, then wow! gate's open - time to explore. (A friend's 2 goldens got out this way!) I also have concerns about a puppy being out without supervision and eating who knows what in the way of plants, rocks and whatever looks interesting to a baby dog and just generally getting into trouble.

It takes a puppy about 3 months to have the neurological development to make the connection about feeling the urge to go, letting someone know, being able to hold it until the human gets him outside. It takes a little while after that to get the action down pat, too. Sounds like your pup was completely normal with his housebreaking. I've never heard of an 11 week old puppy being completely housebroken, but your friend's dog could be a potty prodigy. :-)

[Jamie Petro]

We have a doggie door and we absolutely love it, BUT we didn't introduce it to Wrigley until she was potty trained. Once she was trained we taught her how to use the door, we would treat her as soon as she pottied, and then we'd bring her right back in and close the hatch on the door. We did this just for a few weeks b/c we wanted her to learn that the door was for her to go potty. It worked! One night my husband and I were home and had left the door open, Wrigley went out, did her business, and came right back in. We gradually began to leave it open for longer periods so she could explore the yard, and now it stays open almost all the time. We've never had a problem...knock on wood. We do keep padlocks on our fence just in case. We don't have alot of rain here or mud in our back yard, so I see your concern with all of the rain in Seattle.  

[Bonnie and Kona]

I think your sister-in-law's dog is remarkable. We have a doggie door (which we love) but the puppy didn't use it until he had full roaming access to the house because he was not easily housebroken. We have two dogs and love that they go through the doggie door. Ours goes to an area under the stairs of our house then there is another door that we can close to keep them out of the main part of the house if it is rainy and muddy out. That way they are warm and dry but not tracking dirt everywhere. When we put in French doors and had to figure out a different way to have a doggie door, this idea has become a god-send! I highly recommend doggie doors.

[Lisa Ortmann]

Hmmm  I am sitting here thinking over both sides of the discussion...  I have to agree that my puppy (now 4 months) needed the positive reinforcement to get the theory that he was supposed to go potty outside.  Also he is such a SISSY and is scared of everything, I can't imagine him actually going through it until he gets a little older.   Is your puppy still having accidents in the house?  I think every dog has their own time frame for potty training, just like kids!  I will also say that I do not have a dog door anymore with our doodle but we had one for about 4 years with our previous 2 goldens.  It was convenient at times, but my husband and I agreed to never have one again.  The dogs would come in and out tracking in such a mess and would bring extra things in with them, twice I was shocked to see a snake in the middle of the room!  We also had new fluffy friends that let themselves in like a few chipmunks and mice.  It just always feels like our house is so much less messy without one...  I guess everybody has different things that work for them.  I just feel that letting him in and out is somewhat an incovenience but the mopping and critter catching was worse! 

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lucy was trained to use a doggie door before we brought her home. I remember visiting the breeder when Lucy was 5 weeks old and the entire litter of 9 were in and out the doggie door. It didn't go to a yard, but to a small caged area. That was the last time Lucy ever used a doggie door. We also live in the Pacific NW (and our property sits on an incline as well). Our backyard is so saturated that any walking on the lawn areas sinks you into the mud about an inch. That reason alone is enough to prohibit even the idea of a doggie door. But, I'd also worry about what others have already mentioned... ingesting foreign matterial/etc., pupply escaping somehow, digging and the like). Lucy was an exceptional puppy in that she was completely potty trained by 10 weeks (again, her breeder worked on training in those early weeks, making our job easy). Still, we always encouraged her and praised her for doing her business (and still often do). Since our back yard is such a mud hole we've been having to take Lucy to the side yard (unfenced area) ourselves on a leash. She's actually learned to go in pea gravel lately, and prefers it to grass. Good luck, whatever you decide. I for one just couldn't put up with the mess. Its enough of a chore keeping Lucy's feet clean without a doggie door.

[Kristine and Charlie]

Yeah I don't think a doggie door is for us.  I want to be able to control when he is allowed out.  One of my main concerns was the messiness of it.  We wipe his paws everytime he comes in if it's wet out and the thought of him running back into the house and then onto the couch without us around makes me ill.  ;)  Thanks for the input because you all mentioned some things I hadn't even thought of...the gate being left open by accident and us not knowing because we aren't keeping an eye on the door to let him back in, him dragging something dead inside or a critter coming in on its own.  Well we've used the bell from day 1 and it has worked great so we will just continue with it.  Thanks again everyone!  

[Lynda Kamrath]

I agree with others here that it is best to introduce your puppy to a doggie door after he is fully house trained and has free roam of the house.  Keep the house training separate from using a doggie door.  We have them installed but don't use them because our dogs also have great bladders.  I'm amazing that even the puppy can go all night without having to be let out.  Since we live in the "perfect climate" and have a big fenced area including a doggie run, there are no problems there.

But, has anyone read "Merle's Door? It is about a dog's independence with his doggie door (among other things).  Takes place in Wyoming, where there are no real problems with a dog having the run of the town. 

[Aimee Santa Monica]

Hi! Sounds like your Charlie is doing real good! Great Job!  We've had our pup Storm for 7 wks now.  I also have our 16 wk old pup ringing a bell to go out- but accidents happen (1-2x/wk) when i don't have my eye on him, and i'm in another room where i can't hear his bell ringing. My oldest son (10) heard him ring the bell the other day, but my sons knows not to go outside without an adult (autistic) .  I would love to install a doggie door, but we have'nt built a fence yet.  Our top floor balcony (sliding door)  is an option to build steps going down to large backyard, that we must fence.  That is our next big project! :)   Let me know how it goes! :)