Dog gates

[AliandShooter]

I need suggestions for gates for our home I prefer the foldable ones that are sturdy as our hallway doors are arched and the traditional gates won’t fit 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We use an ex-pen anchored behind furniture to block a hallway or even our living room that is totally open to our entry.  For the large area we just zigzag it. Our boys are used to it and honor it.  Our visiting dogs do not - hence the anchoring.  Ex-pens fold flat and the panels bend in sections.

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

I know you said you prefer foldable, but I found the freestanding one worked best for me.  I knew nothing would fit between my kitchen and living room - everything now is "open concept".  I ordered this one from Chewy's and it did the trick while Zoey was still young.  As the dog gets bigger, they would probably be able to jump over it.  Zoey tried to climb.  lol

https://www.chewy.com/carlson-pet-products-design-studio/dp/54389

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

We use the Ex-pen like Nancy does- zig zag it to block off certain areas of the house, or just fold up to use in front of a doorway. We've got 2 of them, actually. They come in very handy for blocking off certain areas of my flower gardens when seedlings and perennials aren't big enough to remind the dogs to not trample them. :-) 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our second ex-pen is also outside blocking areas!  Aren't they great?!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Yes! This Spring they are going to be used to direct the dogs out of a massive muddy "play area" of the yard... :-(  Ugh. I'm thinking that we might have to re-sod the yard. They play and play and rip it up...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We re-sodded and they are ruining it again. We are going to try to put sections of St. Augustine in and hope it spreads. We sodded with tall fescue. Couldn’t stand up to 3 dogs peeing on top of each other and grazing like cows.  So sad. 

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Bob in particular slides a lot when he plays- tufts of grass flying everywhere. By the end of the summer we had basically a big dust bowl- I dreaded every time it rained! It was sooooo nice playing ball outside with them all winter on the snow-packed yard. We are looking into all options- resodding or maybe even artificial turf...

[Lynda Kamrath]

Fescue couldn't stand dog pee?  It seemed to stand up to anything in California.  We don't have it here in Oregon.  I don't know the answer as we have a night-time dog walk area and we have tried using pine needles for the base.  Then they pee and poop around the edges and makes it easier to clean up.

[AliandShooter]

Thanks Everyone we’ll be looking into that!

[Stacy]

I hope you have better luck with gates than I did! She has pogo sticks instead of feet!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Stacy, you have the element of anxiety involved like we did for our springer. That took some real figuring!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Inside the house we have used the gates for children to keep the dogs out of certain areas.  My mother was with us for a while and we always used the gates by her room and bathroom to keep the dogs out and keep her from wandering with her walker.  Doggie doors to the outside have been a problem because if you have a large dog, many things can come in through the doggie door.  One time a neighbor's child crawled through the doggie door and was in my son's room playing with his things when her mother discovered where she was.  They (the kids) knew how to open the back gate, so we had to change the lock on that.  Other things have come in also - skunk, opossum, cats.....Keep the slip-in door if you use these to keep other small things out of your house.