Automatic Dog Door Installation

One of the first projects we did to our home, was to install an automatic dog door.  We originally bought and used this door at our home in Massena NY.  When we sold our Massena NY house we took the door with us.  This is the coolest dog door I have ever seen.  The dogs wear a small magnet on their collars and the door opens up when they come near the door.  The door also has a lock which keeps animals and intruders from opening the door.  The door is closed by gravity only, so it can not force itself closed on a dog standing in it.

My dad helped me install this door in the exterior wall of our kitchen.  The door thickness and width is designed to fit perfectly between the 16" spaced 2"x4" studded wall.  My dad had the good idea of adding an outlet in the basement just below the dog door, so that we could route the power cord into the basement ceiling instead of into the kitchen.  On the outside of home we installed a couple of steps to allow the dogs to walk out the door and onto the driveway.

Dog door installed in kitchen wall.

Outlet for dog door installed in basement ceiling.  The door is plugged into a timer so it turns on late in the morning and off later in the evening.

Nittany fearlessly running through the dog door.

Misty using the dog door.

The dog door is now about 5 years old and a we had a couple of minor issues with it.  The first issue is that our beagle mix Misty has come upon 2 skunks in our backyard late at night and was sprayed both times.  Unfortunately with automatic dog door she was able to run into the house and spread the smell around.  About 2 years ago we rescued a white lab and named her Nittany after the fearless Penn State Nittany Lion.  Nittany was so fearless that she was impatient in waiting for the dog door to open fully and ended up breaking the original plexiglass door.  I easily fixed this problem by fabricating an aluminum door of same size and thickness.  Nittany has yet to do any damage to this door.

Overall Kristen and I love the door and we believe our dogs do too.  We both work full time jobs and this door allows our dogs to go outside as they wish throughout the day.