Doggy Door or Not for the first month?

[Frances S]

Hi,

I'm new to this site I came across today..We have a puppy goldendoodle that came home this weekend at 8 weeks.  She is crate trained..When do you think we should invest in a doggy door? Thank You..

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

i have had a doggy door for over 50 years and would not be without one.  But I always take my puppies out on a leash and never let them use the doggy door until they are for sure potty trained.  This is usually somewhere between 4 and 6 months.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our Springer Spaniel was beginning to use a doggy door at his birth home.  We had one also and it didn't take much more for him to learn.  Ned came to us as a 3 1/2 month old and we began doggy door training immediately.  He caught on really, really fast.  The only problems we had was they needed to be very near the door because they couldn't 'wait' or they were 'lost' in the rest of the house.  We still went out with them - let them walk through the door and we went out the people door.

[Jena ~ Dublin]

We would not get a dog door.  Not only because our labradoodle is going to be too big for one, we then have the issue of security of a human being able to get in through the door. I would consider training with something you hang from your door knob, we decided on a product called "poochie bells".  They are working really well and we can hear it all through our home.

Good luck on your decision, and WELCOME TO DK!

 

[Leslie J]

I always take Cocoa out to poo on a leash and then release her afterwards to run around the yard if I have time.  One of the reasons I do this is that then I can clean up the poop right away and reduce the flies in my yard and also avoid my kids stepping in it and tracking poop through the house.  Our neighbors have a doggy door and love it, but also have to be very careful to keep the poop cleaned up on the lawn.  Personally, I would be nervous letting a young puppy out in the yard unsupervised because they'll eat anything and are defenseless against other animals like cats, raccoons and hawks.

[Lorraine Bromley]

I don't know when is good but I do think that it is nice to train the dog to go potty in the same spot in the yard before allowing it to have free rain to use the yard as the toilet. It is nice to only have to clean up one area. You want to make sure there aren't bad behaviors happening either like digging. Puppies unattended will eat and chew and dig and more so I would put it off until they are trained. Your yard should have activities for the dog to enjoy as well. Neely uses the shrubs as an obstacle course to run and play around. One is his back scratching favorite one. A fountain is his outside water bowl. His outside toys are always available. He is allowed a sand pit area to dig in, he liked to put his treasures in the whole he dug when he was younger. A friend suggested the tether ball to interact with as well. Or having a scent trail laid with treats left around the yard for them to find. Shade is a must as well.

I loved our dog door for our older dog. After replacing the old door we never reinstalled the dog door for Neely. It is very handy and they do get more excercise on their own I think.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I say MAYBE when they are older, we have a fenced yard and we still have them on a leash on their potty time, you don't want to ruin the potty training by not knowing when or if they went. My brother has a doggie door on his back porch and his toddlers use it more than the dog-they taught themselves that! Good luck with your puppy!

[Christine & Shelby]

I started off thinking "I'll never have a doggie door" and trained my Shelby to ring the bell when she needed to go outside.  She took to the bells quite quickly and house training her was a breeze!

However - I live by myself and was scheduled to have back surgery.... and that was the deciding factor for me.  I knew it would be quite difficult for me to get up and down repeatedly for several weeks until I was able to move more freely on my own.  I had friends over to help take care of me... and Shelby, but I knew after a week or so, Shelby and I would be on our own.

I have a fenced yard, Shelby does not dig in an effort to escape, my gate is padlocked and quite honestly - she rarely goes outside to hangout without me present.  She'll go out to go potty... and since I poop scoop daily - I can keep track of how things are doing in that arena.  I did get a dog door that I can close off from either the inside or outside (helpful during playdates in the backyard).   Knowing Shelby and I are on our own - it's a great tool for us.  I work full time, so Shelby is home during the day.  

Now that I have one.... I can't imagine life without it!   FYI - Shelby was a year old when I had the dog door installed.

[Frances S]

UPDATE-Bella is now 13 weeks old and a ball of fluffy fun! I did end up buying the Poochi Bells and it took her about 3 days to ring consistently on a regular basis. At first she rang it only to go potty, but lately she has been ringing it just to go outside to play. My two children are happy to go out with her to play, but I have found out that without supervision Bella does get into trouble. Once it was rolling in the morning mist then into dirt to make a fluffy mess, next it was digging a large hole in my flower box, and the worst is somehow she finds all kinds of things to get into her mouth like bark, rocks and twigs. I would love to have a doggy door someday, but it would have to wait until she is a adult and more stable being unsupervised.

[PoochieBells]

Frances-

Bella sounds like a lot of fun - mischievous, but fun! Glad she took to PoochieBells so well!

 

Jennifer-PoochieBells