# Dog Doors



## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

I had a housefire and we just brought the dog out with us when we escaped the house.

Of course this obviously does not happen every time.

Will the dogs even know to leave the house if it is on fire? That would be my concern about the dog door. Its great to have one for peace of mind, but pets do not necesarily understand what to do in a fire situation. They may just hide.


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## Qarza (Feb 23, 2013)

When we built our house we put a cat door in. Our dogs were all small and were used to using cat doors. Now we only have our poodles and they refuse to use the cat door. Also because of a safety to wildlife thing we now keep our cat door closed and the cats in at night. So although we have a cat/dog door we no longer use it. I don't think the cats and dogs would think to make their way their in time of an emergency. I only hope I would be able to find the all and get them out. 


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## Locket (Jun 21, 2009)

Babykins, sorry you have had to go through a house fire. That is so scary.

I was thinking more along the lines of having a house fire when you are not home. The woman on the other forum was out at a friend's home when the fire started. I think if I were home during the fire, I would do everything in my power to get all my pets before leaving, as stupid and dangerous as that may be.


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## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

Locket said:


> Babykins, sorry you have had to go through a house fire. That is so scary.
> 
> I was thinking more along the lines of having a house fire when you are not home. The woman on the other forum was out at a friend's home when the fire started. I think if I were home during the fire, I would do everything in my power to get all my pets before leaving, as stupid and dangerous as that may be.


We were hit by lightning and it was fairly scary, but no one was hurt. The scariest part was dealing with the insurance company--and really not so much them as the people hired to clean up our stuff and rebuild the house. My advice to everyone now is to let that sucker burn right into the ground and be done with it.

I agree, I would be bringing my baby with me. I remember that I told my son (13 at the time) to take the dog and go outside. It was just lucky for us on many levels.

I am still not sure that a dog door would solve the problem. The pets would have to realise that fire is deadly and that they need to leave. They may be more concerned with protecting the house from attack--and I think they may see the fire as a form of attack.

You can get those stickers that you can put on the door that indicates how many pets are inside and what they are etc.

The good news is that dogs are short and there is the least amount of smoke on the floor.

I know it is shocking and fear causing to hear about stuff like this happening--but the chances of it happening to you are very low.


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## bookwormjane (Dec 18, 2011)

I have a dog door for my three dogs and a cat. The upside, is that they can go in and out during the day to relieve themselves, play, etc. The downside is the dirt and mud they manage to track in. I have been worried about theft, etc., but haven't had any issues in 12 years.

As far as a fire, it's hard to say. Animals who are afraid tend to hide where they feel safe, which is usually inside. If they are on their own, I think they'd stay inside.

One downside of having the door is the two opossums that my greyhound brought in late at night. Fortunately, I was able to remove them both times before he brought them to bed. GACK!!!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Mr Babykins Jasper said:


> We were hit by lightning and it was fairly scary, but no one was hurt. The scariest part was dealing with the insurance company--and really not so much them as the people hired to clean up our stuff and rebuild the house. My advice to everyone now is to let that sucker burn right into the ground and be done with it.



You made me laugh with this comment. Lightning is scary but insurance companies and contractors - that what you should be scared of. Sadly, I bet you are right, better to let it burn. 

I think in the case of fire most animals hunker down and don't leave even through an open door. I think the risk of something happening to the dog outside while he is alone and unsupervised is probably higher.

I am so relieved to hear no one was hurt in the house fire Babykins. I knew someone who died in a house fire. She had made it out and went back in for her photos. You priorities were right. You, your son and your dog. I do think it is a good idea to think about these thi vs in advance so you don't have to think in a panic situation.


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## tattoogirl73 (Nov 18, 2012)

I live out in the country with no neighbours so having a dog door big enough for my dogs is a definite no no. If my dobe could fit through it,a potential burglar could too. If my house set on fire I would try and get my pets out with me. My two cats sleep on my bed with me so would be easy to grab. The dogs sleep downstairs in the kitchen/dining room which runs the full length of the house so hopefully we would be able to get them out one end or the other. I hope I never have to find out.


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## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

bookwormjane said:


> One downside of having the door is the two opossums that my greyhound brought in late at night. Fortunately, I was able to remove them both times before he brought them to bed. GACK!!!


GACK!!!!!!! is right! What is to stop him from bringing critters in during the day? eek!

Something like this better not be in my future!


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## Qarza (Feb 23, 2013)

One of my cats was always bringing something home. She would sneak it into the house because she knew I would take it off her, but the she would take it up to the living room which was above our bedroom. There she would proceed to torture the mouse, rat bird whatever. That is what would wake us up. Either the animal screeching or her prancing around. I would then be straight upstairs to either rescue the animal if still alive or dispose of it if dead. Either way she lost it. Now with the cat door closed she sleeps inside and the bird life is safe. I don't care so much about the rodents.


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## Pluto (Jul 8, 2012)

With previouse dogs I would not have considered a dogdoor because they were such high energy escape artists that I didn't trust the yard, even when reinforced, to hold them. Plus they were big dogs and we live in a sketchy area so I had security issued. 

I have started to think about it again for our current girl. She is much calmer and prefers to hang inside so my hope is that she will just use it to pop out and pee if we get stuck late at work. There are some really nice, secure, sensor activated doors advertised and I have wondered how well they work/how secure they are? At a minimum they would keep other animals out.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Babykins...So glad to hear you are ok! Yeah cleanup after a fire sucks! It's never happened to me but it did happen to my Best friend when we were having the wildfires out here! She raises GSDs and evacuation was a nightmare as not only did she have the dogs, but she had 8 pairs of breeding Macaws and other parrots to get out of large aviaries! Thank God the bird community is like the dog community and she was able to save everyone! She was lucky that all that got burned on her property was her deck while her neighbors lost their homes! 
As far as Doggy doors go, up until I moved into my apt , I had one and I loved it Housebreaking
my Cairns was so much easier after they learned to use it and I always locked it at night
to keep the critters out, although with Cairns I didn't worry too much LOL!
I also kept it locked when I wasn't home as I didn't want my dogs to get stolen from the yard! But yes it was a great convenience!
As far as it being an escape route ... I don't know if an animal would know to use it in that case?


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## frankgrimes (Nov 28, 2011)

I was so worried about Ralph being stuck if a fire broke out and we weren't home that I had a security monitoring system installed. If a fire breaks out the fire dept is called immediately by my security company and they are told that I have a dog to save. I hope it never happens but it's peace of mind having it.


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## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

CT Girl said:


> You made me laugh with this comment. Lightning is scary but insurance companies and contractors - that what you should be scared of. Sadly, I bet you are right, better to let it burn.
> 
> I think in the case of fire most animals hunker down and don't leave even through an open door. I think the risk of something happening to the dog outside while he is alone and unsupervised is probably higher.
> 
> I am so relieved to hear no one was hurt in the house fire Babykins. I knew someone who died in a house fire. She had made it out and went back in for her photos. You priorities were right. You, your son and your dog. I do think it is a good idea to think about these thi vs in advance so you don't have to think in a panic situation.


My goodness, if photos are that important, it is a good idea to keep the negatives or a digital copy at a relatives house or in a safety deposit box. How sad that she died :-(. We were very lucky and in fact there was a chain of events that were very lucky. After many years the municipality had finally come to remove a giant dead elm in front of the house about a week or so before the fire. Chances are that the lightning would have struck that tree and then it might have fallen on the house and crushed us. 1 week before I had a large party where many people were camping out for the weekend in tents around the house. When the lightning struck, it exploded the chimney and bricks flew everywhere, and were embedded in the ground. Someone could have been killed just by that. On the night of the fire, my son and I were up extremely late. I was working on my MA thesis and my son was at the computer beside me and we were both watching that Jamaican bobsledding movie, Cool Runnings. When the storm started the electricity went out and so we decided to go to bed. I was inside my closet when the lightning struck and my son was in his bedroom. If we had stayed where we were, we may have been beaned in the head by that chimney. The luckiest bit of all is that we were UP!! If we had been in bed sleeping, we probably would have just rolled over and gone back to sleep--and then died of smoke inhalation. So everything turned out ok.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Thank God you were up although hopefully smoke alarms would have kicked in but fire spreads so fast. After the person I knew died my husband scanned all of our photos and made several disks that he gave to members of our family.


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## sammy66 (Oct 26, 2011)

I bet you could train dogs to go outside at the sound of a smoke detector. I know when we had a small kitchen fire here Sophie could not get out fast enough. Probably too get away from the sound of the alarm.


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## Marcie (Aug 2, 2011)

In 2005 we had a house fire and thank goodness my husband was home. He had to find carry the dog and cat out of the house as they were hiding under and the cat on the bed. They didn't even try to get out the door, their first instinct was to hide.

Our smoke alarms did not go off even though the batteies had been replaced two months before. After the fire when the celing was laying on the driveway one of the smoke alarms went off. We were told that from one of the policemen that was patroling the subdivision after the fire.


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## Qarza (Feb 23, 2013)

I am truly sorry for the people who have lost family, pets and possessions in a fire. I think we have come to the conclusion the pets will not use a pet door in the time of a fire. 
Now here is what it is really used for. Cat #2 was not inside last night when I went to bed and it was a stormy night so I left the cat door unlocked so she could come in at her own convenience. This morning I went into the living room to find a dead rat on the Persian carpet. Nice one Piper.


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## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

sammy66 said:


> I bet you could train dogs to go outside at the sound of a smoke detector. I know when we had a small kitchen fire here Sophie could not get out fast enough. Probably too get away from the sound of the alarm.


I was thinking this too. Poodles can probably be trained to do something when the alarm goes off.


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## Mr Babykins Jasper (Dec 8, 2012)

Qarza said:


> I am truly sorry for the people who have lost family, pets and possessions in a fire. I think we have come to the conclusion the pets will not use a pet door in the time of a fire.
> Now here is what it is really used for. Cat #2 was not inside last night when I went to bed and it was a stormy night so I left the cat door unlocked so she could come in at her own convenience. This morning I went into the living room to find a dead rat on the Persian carpet. Nice one Piper.


Hehee it was a special gift for you!


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## cindyreef (Sep 28, 2012)

No dog door here! It would have to be quite big and Im sure the racoons and even young bear would come inside. They don't mind sitting and looking in the patio door screen so Im sure they would come in. The racoons will push up against the screen.


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