Sadie Gets A Dog Door!

Sadie and I would like to present the fruits of our home improvement labors: a dog door!

Sadie loves going outside on my deck, in all types of weather and at all times of day. Because this deck is located on the second floor of my house, where I don’t have to worry about Sadie escaping the yard or a strange dog getting in, I decided that it would be nice for her to be able to go out to the deck whenever she pleased. So Sadie’s Grampy and I set to work installing a new storm door with a doggie door. As soon as the storm door was in place, Sadie loved the see-through aspect of the dog door. She was so excited to have a “window” at her height! Then I showed Sadie that she was actually supposed to go through the dog door and she was somewhat skeptical of the idea.

At first Sadie’s grandparents and I tried the usual treats approach to get Sadie through the dog door. I sat on the inside of the door and Sadie’s Grammy sat on the outside. We would then take turns holding out a treat, trying to convince Sadie to go through the dog door to get the treat. That method only worked maybe one in ten tries, most of which ended with one of us lifting Sadie through the door. But as you know, Sadie is not very food motivated, so I wasn’t too surprised this method failed.

Next we tried what I’m calling the abandonment approach. Sadie’s grandparents and I would all go out on the deck and then close the human door before Sadie could get out. Then we would call her and encourage her to come through the doggie door to join us. She would just sit in front of the dog door looking out at us, whining and crying because she was too scared to push the flap open. So we tried the scenario in reverse, leaving Sadie alone out on the deck while we were inside calling her to come in. This arrangement actually worked! Sadie hesitated only a few seconds, and then burst through the dog door to join us inside!

But I wanted Sadie to go through the dog door in both directions, without her whole family standing on the other side cheering her on every time. So I came up with a new plan. I got a new squeaky ball from my stash, showed it to Sadie to get her all excited, then threw it out the doggie door. Sadie practically leaped through the dog door to get to the toy! I went out onto the deck, threw the ball back inside, and Sadie raced back through the dog door after it. We repeated this process many times over the next few days, and eventually Sadie got comfortable using the door with or without the toy incentive.

I’m really glad I made the decision at install the doggie door. Sadie loves going in and out without having to beg and plead for me to open the door. If she’s sniffing around out there, I’m no longer stuck waiting for her to finish so I can let her back inside. She’s free to get some fresh air whenever she feels like it. It’s wonderful to see her enjoy her time outdoors, but it’s even better to see how proud she is every time she comes back in through her doggie door.

This post is part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like A Dog.

  This post is also part of the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Love Is Being Owned By a Huskie.