I cut a few block out of the garage today so the dogs can get in/out – basically a 16″ wide by 24″ high opening…
Great Dane, Red Heeler, Cocker Spaniel & a cat
I’d like to put a flap in place – I thought about a mudflap from a semi, but the spaniel & cat may not have the strength to open it. Rubber roofing – too flimsy…
Thoughts?
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Replies
For my two beagles I use 1/4" plexiglass with a stainless piano hinge, attached with small bolts at the top. It swings freely in both directions. They often just lay on the "warm side" of the door, looking out.
Reg
I found some flexible plastic pet door replacements at Lowe's that i cut to fit my pet door. With a 16x24 opening, though, you might have better luck using 2 pieces (arranged kind of like those heavy plastic strips you see on loading docks). Some of the major pet store chains offer door replacement materials, too.
How about that laser force field thingy from Star Trek? Semiconductor lasers are so cheap now . . .
Forrest - always ready to confuse the issue
Thanks guys - yeah I definitely want the dogs to see through - a head on collision could hurt the smaller dog, and my kids already prefer the entrance.
Maybe some loading dock will have extra material - I'll check Lowes too.
Neoprene wet suit material (the same stuff that computer mouse pads are made from). Not sure where you'd buy it though.
Thoughts?
My dog says bacon strips!
The Great Dane is either small for his/her breed or there isn't much left of the door.
You can buy just the clear replacement flaps for the pet doors, which come in various sizes, but none that i've seen quite as large as that opening; it would need to be closed in a bit. Clear vinyl hall runner is sold by the running foot in flooring stores, or you could cut the flap out of a floor protector used under a deskchair.
The floor protector is a great idea, as it would also groom the dogs with the little nubs it has on the bottom.
No, really.
_______________________________________________________________
I didn't believe in reincarnation in my last life, either
Edited 10/26/2006 11:51 pm by Heck
Thank you dear one. My quats have destroyed thier tunnel of egress, time after time. The pet doors are really pricey for what you get,,,I am getting that chair plastic.
I was just now looking at the loading dock flaps, thinking along the air lock lines, two flappages, with a space betwixt.
This might solve the problem, I am gonna put one outside and one inside, they'll figgure it out, cats are smart that way.
Thankfully, Ed ( the mutt) just pees in the morning and evening. Really. And one dump at 10 o clock am, like a bus driver. Always on schedule and at the neighbors driveway.
Hissoner appears.
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Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
Or this..View Image
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
Hey, we've got a twin to that one!
Lily -
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Forrest
Wow . Lily huh? Guess what? Eddie is named after Eddie Munster, we had the cats Lily and Herman Munster.
All the chickens were named after the cast of Gilligans Island, and the goats were Moe, Larry and Curley.
I got Eddie at the rescue center in NC, he has a brother who I met and his owner named HIM Eddie Muttster..what a coincidence there.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
Qute dawg! My 'sooner that later' project is an anteroom on the outside of the dawg door, with the opening facing 90* from the other one to keep the wind-driven rain/snow from infiltrating. I'm going to try magnets along the back edge to hold it to the metal door. Today's project is new steps for the Humane Society's office...
I have some loading dock flap material.
How much ya need?
Could meet you or Grant somewhere along I-64 between Shelbyville and Frankfort.
Maybe cost more in gas than it's woth to ya, but the offer stands, and the price is right,...free.
Dave
I just need a little the cat door is only about 8'' wide by about 12" high, so if it overlaps say an inch or two maybe 4 hunks about a foot long?
Gunner comes out this way pretty often, maybe he can deliver? I'll call him this weekend.
Thanks.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
That'll work.
I'm sure I have more than enough. We periodically replace the strips in front of the overhead doors on our loading dock. I get anything less than 8' long that is left from a couple of 50' rolls.
Dave
Cool. I sent the wife for a chair pad thingy, but it didn't get done. I need to do something before it gets much colder.
Lemme see what Gunner is up to, or I can drive out to see ya next week sometime.
You hear about the wreck on 75? shut down completly down on MM15. 6 18 wheelers and 5 cars , 2 dead. so far. Bad day for driving there.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
Nope, I missed the news when I got in. Was reading a book and watching the inside of my eyelids by the eleven o'clock.
I saw the aftermath of one on I-71 at the I-264 split and wanted to know what happened there. It shut down north bound 71 from noon until about three.
A rainy Friday and Louisville drivers are a sure fired mix for disasters.
Have Gunner give me a call on my cell phone if he is going to be around the county this week. (502) 376-4619.
Since I have never seen his mug, other than the fest shots, he'll have to identify himself by his screen name. We'll hook up for you if we can.
Dave
Will do, if I can get him. I'll be working closer to home than I have for quite awhile, this week. But not over your way.
Maybe mail if all else fails.
I just heard that the wreck I was talking about was a 16 yo kid and his 13 yo sister on the way home from school on 75. Lost control in the rain and crossed the median, hit a big rig head on and then a second one. Ponyiac Grand am vs. Big rig was not pretty.
Sad. They both died.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Shooting rubber bands at the Moon
They put those cross over cable/post down the median on both 71 and 64 this summer. They work!
I have seen several cars, PU trucks ans SUVs snagged in them. The tare the hell out of the vehicles, but won't let them across or let them bounce back into the lane they left. I even saw one with a snagged 18 wheeler in it, but I don't think he was going very fast when he hit it. Still shredded his rig though.
Those things are a good spend of state and federal tax money. Maybe they should be installed down the I-75 corridor too.
Dave
Is the garage attached to the house?
Should you be thinking about security with an opening that large? Buic
replacement XL dog door flaps come that large..
Lowes or Pet's mart..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
You might look at conveyor belting, though it's fairly heavy too.
Go with the extra thick mudflap.
Then put a smaller, clear door in that for the cat.
All the animals get the benefit of the clear door, so they can see through before they go through. You get the benefit of a heavier flap that will not as easily let the wind through.
You should consider a couple of rare earth magnets at the bottom as well, to help keep that flap in place when the cold winds are blowing.
You might even consider a permanent inside "shutter" that can be closed and locked for when you are away, and/or for the colder times of the year. When it's really cold, the animals want to stay inside a bit more anyway. No big deal to let them out a couple times a day.
Get over it....... The angry going eat you up. ~Brownbagg '06
I buy the clear heavey duty plastic used for loading docks at a supply house for rubber and plastic. The widest I have used is 12", so I end up using two strips for wide dog doors.
Luka's idea of the magnets at the bottom is great. The first set of Johnson pet doors we had used them, and I have recycled them through each set of replacement flaps by using Goop glueto attach them.
Don't worry about the dogs running into each other, passing in and out. They hear so much better than us bipeds that they know when to wait their turn. The original Johnson flabs we purchased were a dark bronze tint that quickly got scratched up and emebedded with so much dirt that our Akitas could not see through them. Never once had a mid door collision,... they are are smarter than that.
If you can find the dock flap material, buy extra. The stuff is just the right consistancy for a young dog, or bored old dog, to use as a chew toy.
Luka's other suggestion about the inside panel is also good. A wooden panel in a small U channel doesn't add much security, but does keep the pets indoors when you want them to stay there.
Dave
This board is great - so many thoughtful ideas - thanks!
The carpet runner material sounds viable - if I cannot find the sturdier stuff.
The magnets - I thought of that too, may be trying the goop glue.
Security - the Dane is the security! Plus its just the garage - we lock the house at night (family), but the garage just has stuff anyway. I did think of building a doghouse against the dog door so it would be a hidden entry. Plus my lane is 1/2 mile long, in the country.
I'll likely hinge a piece of plywood for a door, or weld up a channel frame to drop something in for when the dog is in heat and we're away.
Treat every person you meet like you will know them the rest of your life - you just might!
You stated:
"Don't worry about the dogs running into each other, passing in and out. They hear so much better than us bipeds that they know when to wait their turn. The original Johnson flabs we purchased were a dark bronze tint that quickly got scratched up and emebedded with so much dirt that our Akitas could not see through them. Never once had a mid door collision,... they are are smarter than that."
I agree with you, but several years ago, I installed a pet door in the door leading to the garage, so the cat litter box could be in the garage. We later got a Cocker Spaniel, and she learned to use the "cat door" to get back into the house when we returned from car trips. She would bail out of the car, run full speed through the garage, and go through the flap at approximately 20 mph, or at least it seemed like it. I was working in the garage, with the garage door up, so I put the cover over the inside of the pet door, to make sure the cat didn't escape. My wife came back from somewhere, with the dog in the car. (I bet you all see where this is going.) She stopped in the drive, opened the door, told the dog to get out, and go in the house. All I saw was a black blur as she sped by, just in time to hear "THUNK" and see her laid out at the base of the door. After a few seconds she stood up, shook her head, and looked at me as if to say "What the h*ll?"
Since she was not hurt, it was funny, but we learned to watch out for her, since she couldn't see when the block plate was installed.
Check this out
http://www.petdoorsource.com/?gclid=CLb1w82emYgCFRyPFQodIBZMXg