Should You Use a Doggy Door?

For most dogs under two, no, and for any dog with a barking problem, definitely not. A doggy door is enormously convenient and it costs you two things people rarely connect to it: the structure that house training runs on, and control over how much your dog rehearses barking, fence running, and patrolling. There are households where it is the right call, and they are narrower than the number of doors installed would suggest.

If you already have one and things are going fine, this is not a reason to rip it out. This is for people deciding, and for people whose dog has developed a yard problem they have not linked to the door.

What it costs you

1. House training loses its feedback loop. Potty training works because you take him out, he goes, you pay it, and you learn his schedule. With a door, he goes somewhere out there at some point and you know none of it. Puppies trained around a doggy door take noticeably longer and regress more.
2. Unlimited rehearsal of yard behaviors. Barking at the neighbors, running the fence, chasing squirrels, digging. Every one of those is self rewarding and every one gets stronger with repetition. A door means he can practise all day, including while you are at work.
3. You stop knowing his output. Frequency, consistency, blood, diarrhea, straining. These are the things that tell you a dog is unwell, and a doggy door means you see none of them.
4. Arousal has no ceiling. In and out forty times an hour is a dog who never settles. A lot of dogs with doors are noticeably more restless indoors and owners rarely connect the two.
5. Security and wildlife. In Florida specifically, a doggy door is an entry point for wildlife, and it is worth thinking about seriously rather than dismissing.

The barking problem in particular

This is the one I see most and it is the one people are most surprised by.

A dog with a door hears something, goes out, barks, and the thing eventually leaves. From his point of view the barking worked, and it works every time, because things passing a fence always eventually pass. Twenty or thirty repetitions a day, unsupervised, for months.

By the time an owner calls me about yard barking, the dog usually has hundreds of hours of practice. That is a much bigger job than a dog who only barks when he is let out three times a day, and the first thing I do is close the door.

When it does make sense

• Adult dogs, fully house trained, with no yard barking. If he is three, reliable, quiet, and the yard is private, the door is a reasonable convenience.
• Long work hours with no alternative. A dog alone for nine hours needs a way out, and a door beats holding it or soiling the house.
• Senior dogs with weakening bladders. Genuinely kind, and the house training concern no longer applies.
• Fully enclosed private yards with no street or neighbor sightlines. If there is nothing to bark at, most of the objection disappears.
• Medical situations. Post surgery frequency, medication that increases urination.

If you are going to use one

1. Wait until he is at least eighteen months and fully house trained. Twelve months minimum, and only if house training has been clean for six of those.
2. Fix any yard barking first. Not at the same time. Before.
3. Put it on a timer or lock it for parts of the day. Most models can be locked. Open access during the day, closed in the evening and overnight, gives you back the structure at the times it matters most.
4. Block the sightlines in the yard. Solid fence panels, or slats through chain link along the sections facing the street or the neighbor's dog. This does more for yard barking than anything else you can buy.
5. Keep going out with him sometimes. A few supervised trips a day so you still see what he is doing and can pay the quiet.

The honest alternative

For most households the better answer is a schedule. Out first thing, mid morning, after lunch, late afternoon, and last thing at night. Five trips, each about three minutes, each supervised. It costs fifteen minutes a day and you keep everything the door would have taken from you.

If the reason you want a door is work hours, look at a midday visit instead from a walker or a neighbor. It costs money, and it also gets your dog a walk, some company, and a person checking on him, which a hole in the wall does not.

If yard barking is already happening, that needs fixing before any door goes in. My free stop the barking blueprint has the management and mat protocol for exactly this. Download the Stop the Barking blueprint

Ready to train your dog?

Every drill in this article comes from the WorldWide K9 Academy course library. If you want the full step by step system, start with the $5 intro course.