Need a dog-proof door surface

[Brian Kent]

Multiple choice quiz.
This is a picture of…

1) the inside of our bedroom doors
2) the place where we keep the 2 big rowdy puppies when we are gone.
3) a place where we don't show our best friends but I am now posting on the internet.
4) a cry for help.
5) all of the above.

See how you do on the quiz, and then give me a suggestion about a tough surface for the door. (I am already planning on replacing the floor with stone tile.)

Humbly yours,
Brian

[Georg Zudoff]

Dear Brian!

Probably it would be enough stupide advise but you have only 3 choices:

1. Dog must live outside of your house.
2. Some kind of education - my friends live in an apartment on the 6 floor and his wife is passionate lover of zvergpinchers. So she spend a lot of time for education each new dog not to eat furniture, doors etc. But this not include sleepers (kind of home shoose) of her husband ;-))
3. Probably some kind of removable sheets - plywood, laminated boards with easy removing and installing.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Good luck with this...
When our huskey figured out he couldn't chew through the steel door, he went after the wall.
We put up sheet metal on the wall to stop that.
When he figured out he couldn't chew through the sheet metal, he went after the door jambs.
We came home to find the whole door laying on the floor.
He also chewed up at least 7 door knobs - busting all his teeth in the process. The vet bills for the teeth alone were a couple thousand.

Then he decided he wanted to go outside via the sliding door - w/out our help in opening it first of course.
He chewed the sliding door out of it's frame and that whole thing fell outside. Lucky no one (our "Little Peanut dog - specifically) was under it when it let go.

Plywood will work for a little while. Once they get their adult teeth in though, the plywood will only slow them down a little.
Sheet metal or some chain link fencing attached to the plywood will work. How well or for how long depends on the size of the dogs.

FWIW - our Huskey is only part huskey & only weighed about 50/55 pounds when he did all the damage.

[Peter Kelly]

Why not wait until the 2-3 year mark has passed with the puppies? Could make something you really like and not have to worry about dog-proofing it.

There's also the Scat-Mat. Zaps them when they get too close to the door, couch etc. http://www.petsafe.net/products/pet-...z-away-24-x-48

[Van Huskey]

Crate the dogs...? We have always crated our dogs and they see the crate as their "den". All of our dogs are med/large so that isn't an issue either. You just have to make sure they have good exercise time when you are home.

[ray hampton]

Why not wait until the 2-3 year mark has passed with the puppies? Could make something you really like and not have to worry about dog-proofing it.

There's also the Scat-Mat. Zaps them when they get too close to the door, couch etc. http://www.petsafe.net/products/pet-...z-away-24-x-48

this mat will work for humans too- sometime

[Sam Layton]

Brian,

Georg is on the right track. By the looks of your bedroom doors, your bedroom is not a good place for your dogs to live. I would recommend, OUTSIDE. Build a nice dog house, with an attached dog run. You and your dogs will have a better quality of life. Who, is in charge...

Sam

[John Gregory]

I have heard this suggestion from the pros a lot. With the right training the dogs enjoy it. Becomes routine and satisfies their "nesting" instinct.

Crate the dogs...? We have always crated our dogs and they see the crate as their "den". All of our dogs are med/large so that isn't an issue either. You just have to make sure they have good exercise time when you are home.

[Ryan Brucks]

this might not apply to you but here goes.

I had a bunch of extra melamine shelving available since I changed my plans and ended up not having enough space for them.

I used the extra melamine to make a dog section of my garage. Basically just cornered off a section and made a sliding door also using the malamine... and I used an old hole-saw scrap as a wheel to help the door slide. I have 5 dogs and they're way too much for the house, plus they'd get in the way while I'm woodworking (some are young and very hyper still)

you could always go super cheap and go the plywood/melamine route full knowing you will have to replace/rebuild it every so often. mine's still going a few months strong... the edges look kinda crappy already but on the whole its held up better than I would have thought.

[Jacob Reverb]

Cold rolled steel, oh about 20 gauge?

[Tim Boger]

Multiple choice quiz.
This is a picture of…

1) the inside of our bedroom doors
2) the place where we keep the 2 big rowdy puppies when we are gone.
3) a place where we don't show our best friends but I am now posting on the internet.
4) a cry for help.
5) all of the above.

See how you do on the quiz, and then give me a suggestion about a tough surface for the door. (I am already planning on replacing the floor with stone tile.)

Humbly yours,
Brian

I had the same issue, after repairing the surface and repainting it I secured a 1/16 thick plexi-glass sheet to the door up as high as the dog can reach. Dang near invisable, problem solved.

Tim

[Stephen Cherry]

Sriracha sauce on the surface may help. I tried lots of things with my beagles, and now if I want to keep them off of something, I put a little hot sauce on it. I know, I'm not a nice guy.

[Peter Quinn]

They will chew through anything not made of steel, so I would either crate them, or cover every surface and all furniture in diamond plate. If you cover the doors, they will just move on to something else. My dog was crated as a pup on advice from the trainer, now when we go to bed she puts herself in her crate and stays there until its time to get up, when she jumps up and licks my face.

[Jim Heffner]

Why not try some sheets of Lexan or polycarbonate (clear) cut to fit on the door and glued on with an adhesive like liquid nails or the like? That stuff is pretty tough and will
probably outlast the dogs or at least till they give up and quit trying to destroy the doors.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got inside puppies too. Giving them each a crate is the best option. It's a bit unsightly. Mine are in my office, but it gives them a den and dogs love their dens.

You could try plastic laminate on the lower half of door.

BUT

If the dog is determined, he/she will find an edge and then they won't stop. 18 years ago I had a great big goof of a yellow lab named Bear. We put him in a pen in the kitchen when we went to work. He found an edge on the vinyl floor and chewed through the sub-floor. I fixed the floor, only for him to do it all over again. It was like a canine version of the Great Escape.

Bear also gnawed my square balusters round. Hmmm. He also ate an outside corner of drywall.

When he was older, he also ate several indestructible Kong toys. These things have 1/2"+ thick rubber walls.

Where there's a tooth and a will, there's a way.


But oh my, was that dog sweet. He treated our then newborn son like he was the most important thing on the planet. You always had to step over Bear to get to him.