rbinck's Full Review: Petsafe Ultimate Pet Door Medium
Introduction
When you own a pet there are many responsibilities that come with the deal. A very important one is the training of the pet to go outside to potty. We have had many pets and have always trained them to go outside without the benefit of anything other than someone letting the dog outside. Little did we know how much better it would be for both us and the dog if we had a pet door like this one.
We finally went shopping for a pet door after we got a new dachshund puppy. He is a double dapple silver with dark gray, brown and white markings. And being a dachshund he had the excitement pee thing that so many puppies have. He also had separation issues and so when we needed to leave him at home it was a recipe for disaster. Well disaster may me a stretch, but you get the idea. The thought occurred to us that a pet door may solve some of the issues. At least he would be able to go outside whenever he needed without someone being home to let him out.
But we procrastinated because the back door of our house had a full height window in it and initially I thought the door would need to be changed out in order to accommodate a pet door. Then we were asked to foster another older female (8 yrs) that was used to having a pet door. Having had several dogs that lived a long life we knew of the kidney issues of a dog holding it and since she was used to a door, it was time to get serious.
The Search
So on the Internet I went to see what was available and specifically if they made any that could be installed in an outside wall. To my delight I found there were such units that could be installed in a wall. So down to the Lowe's we went to see what they had. There was a pretty good selection of pet doors that were designed to go into a door, but none that were intended to go into a wall. Then I had an idea. I would take two of them and use only the half that had the flap with one flap piece inside and the other on the outside of the wall. Not only did this provide a solution to the wall installation, it also gave a double flap installation for additional insulation from the outdoors.
Installation
Not only did I need a place in an outside wall for the door but also a place that was free of other obstructions in the wall such as studs and electrical wiring. I decided on a spot beside the back door and started on the inside drywall opening first. Turned out to not be as easy as I thought it was going to be as on the outside there was an electrical outlet that had to be moved about 1 inch. I didn't think that was going to be an issue because it was far enough away from the door, I thought, but when I got the opening in the drywall cut out I realized instead of two vertical studs around the door that I expected, there were three vertical studs. That meant notching the stud in order to move the outlet. Since there were three studs, I added some deck screws above and below the notch to attach the stud I was notching to the one behind it just to be sure any bowing would not occur. Strength was not really an issue and it turned out the notch didn't need to go completely through the stud anyway.
Backing up a bit, once the inside cutout was made, I used a long masonry drill bit to mark the corners of where the outside cutout needed to be. Then I went outside, marked the cutout and with a masonry blade in my circular saw, made the cutout. I used a masonry saw because I was going through Hardi Plank siding, not brick by the way. I'm not sure I would try putting a pet door in a brick wall.
Next to be able to clamp the flap piece in the wall I modified the piece that would normally go on the other side of a door with a Dremmel to fit in the opening behind the drywall and the outside siding. Since the pet doors are designed to fit a door thickness, the two in the wall provided a neat tunnel which was a worry when I started the project. The tricky thing was attaching the two halves together, which some Liquid Nails solved nicely. I glued the two halves together, working in the wall, and let the glue dry thoroughly then attached the flap pieces. To finish off the outside I used caulk to set the outside frame.
Operation
The operation of the door is elegant and simple. Basically a heavy gage clear plastic flap is hinged at the top and is secured in place at the bottom by some relatively powerful magnets at the bottom. The pet basically uses its nose to push the flap, or I my case flaps, open and when they clear the door the magnets pull the flap perfectly into their closed position.
Funny thing happened when I finished the installation. We were dog sitting my daughter's mini doxie, well actually a toy doxie, and she kept wanting to see what was going on as I was finishing the project. When I was ready I ask if she wanted to try it out not thinking she would understand, but to my surprise through it she went! She loved it and I have since installed a pair of doors in her house!
Now the foster dog, now permanent, being used to a door had no problem going through it. The young dapple male was another story. He was afraid of the door at first but leaving him inside the house and both of us going outside, eventually coaxed him through the door and he has used it ever since.
Conclusion
This device can be a life changing item for pet owners. Before getting this door we would be aware of how long we had left the dogs in the house and on several occasions left somewhere early just to get home to let the dogs out. Now there are no worries and the dogs do not have the potential kidney problems of holding their eliminations longer than necessary. I would highly recommend this for any dog lover.
A word of caution might be in order though. If you live in an area where wild critters roam about like, but not limited to, raccoons, squirrels and wild cats or dogs, this might not be an answer for you. There are automatic pet doors that use a collar tag the door senses to open the door that might be a better choice.
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