When your newly adopted dog comes to “ask” you to open the door for it, you might find it funny or even cute, but after a few weeks of this, it becomes tiresome and irritating. To avoid being your pet’s doorman, you should install a pet door at home and train your pet to use this door to go outside.
Purchasing a Pet Door
You do not have to spend a lot of money to install a pet door at home. You can get one for a reasonable price that’s also easy to install. To help you chose the right door for your pet, measure your pet’s height and body size. Once you have the measurements written down, you can start looking for a pet door in stores or on the Internet. Actually, it’s easier and more practical to get the pet door from an online store than by driving to a shopping center to a pet store. Shopping online will not only help you save energy, it can also help you save some money especially if you use a price comparison shopping tool. Such a comparison will allow you to find the cheapest model from several suppliers.
You should always try to get a model that you can install yourself. This will save you from having to hire someone to install the pet door.
The Installation
Even if your skills on carpentry or building things aren’t impressive, it’s not difficult to install a pet door in a few minutes. The first thing to do is to measure the distance from your pet’s stomach to the floor. The bottom of your door should be at 2 inches lower than the lowest part of your pet’s body and the width of your door should be at least three inches bigger than the widest part of your pet’s body. If you have a young pet, keep in mind that you may need to expand the measurements of the pet door after some time.
Training the Pet
After the pet door has been installed, you should start training your pet to use it immediately. To train your dog or cat to use the door, place your dog or cat in front of the door, open the flap and gently push your cat or dog outside. With some repetition, your pet will eventually start to use the door on its own and won’t “ask” you to let it out anymore.
