A doggie door for Kota

We decided that getting up every 15 minutes to let Kota out was going to be a bit much. What was needed was a doggie door that our newest family member could use anytime she wanted. Besides, I really wanted to let her out of the cage at night. Even though it was OK with Kota, I kind of felt bad about it, and Jo wanted her to have more freedom to decide when she wanted out.

I picked up a double flap, medium sized pet door from Lowe's and installed it. There were some issues with the exterior electrical wires because they were mounted right where the door had to go.

I cut out  the hole inside first, with a drywall saw, starting well away from the stud so I could tell where to mount the template before cutting the real hole. Once it was aligned properly and level, I cut the rest of the hole inside and drilled the bolt holes but only the two top ones to the outside wall. This was so I could reposition the template on the outside wall and get it aligned with the top two bolt holes so the rest of the door would also line up. I used a sawzall to finish the big hole outside, and then drilled the bottom holes according to the template. I was worried that the bolts might not line up perfectly so I wobbled out the outside holes a little extra so there would be some wiggle room.

Next thing was to assemble the pass through tunnel that goes inside the two halves of the pet door. It looked like it was going to be too long so I broke off the first pre-etched section of the tunnel to shorten it.

Shoot, turns out I miss-judged it and cut it too short. So, back to Lowe's and another new tunnel ($32). I saved the other parts from my error and will offer them for sale on craigslist or something for a reduced price as they'll fit a thinner wall just fine. Who knew?

Finally got the thing assembled in place and now the training could begin. Kota was sitting outside watching me working on the inside of the house before I even put the door together and when I called her she jumped right through the hole. But getting her to go through now it with the flaps in place was proving more difficult. Jo thought she just needed to know she could go out through the hole but pushing her through turned into a battle of wits and strength that only frustrated Jo and made Kota afraid of the door.

That's when I came up with the idea of tapping the flaps up so that there would be nothing in the way. Now she is OK jumping through the hole so long as there is something being offered on the other side, but still won't go through on her own. So, we left her outside with the flaps open and went into the living room to wait to see what she would do. It took may three minutes for her to overcome her fear and get through the door.

Still, she would not go near it with the flap down. Then I decided to do some progressive enticement. I put the inside flap down and then went outside with a dog biscuit. Kota loves these little bone shaped treats, and I broke it into three pieces. Then I put the first one in the opening just about an inch from the flap. She wanted it bad. Pretty soon (with a little encouragement from me) she pushed the flap open far enough to open it and get the treat. I put the next one in the middle of the tunnel, and this time she had it in about 10 seconds.

The last one I put as far out as I could, where she could still see it. This would require her to put head and shoulders inside the tunnel to get it. It didn't take long and that treat was gone too. She sat inside the house for about 30 more seconds and then just came through the flap to see what I was up to, and to see if I had any more treats.

She continued to pick up speed until she was hitting the opening with such force that the flap was swinging up and hitting the wall as she flew through it. Those Mini-Aussies are spring steel and hard headed, and boy are they fast. After a couple of days, I put the outside flap down too. She never even noticed.

A new family member

After Bear left us, we didn't think we would want to be pet owners again. It's painful to lose them, and we're getting older. And then some friends on Facebook posted a message saying they were caring for a dog but it was just too much for them to care for it and thier other much older pooch. When I showed the picture of Dakota to Jo, she fell instantly in love.

How could you not love that face? I called and she was still available and so, we went to meet her. She was man-shy and wouldn't come near me, but she took to Jo like, well, a duck to water. I decided to just ignore her completly because if I didn't show any interest, she would stop seeing me as a threat.

Odd thing was that once she was on a leash, she was a totally different dog. She was able to be led (even by me) and seemed fine with going out and getting in the car. I could tell right away she was smart. It was just going to be a matter of time before she figured out how to master me.

We took her home. She was crate trained and was happy sleeping in the cage. I started sharing goodies with her and it wasn't two days and she was in my lap. Poor Phil had her for three weeks and she wouldn't even approach him, much less allow him to touch her.

Check back over the weeks as we get to know this new family member. We've decided to shorten her name to just "Kota" and she seems to be fine with us dropping the "Da" from her name. Next stop, the vet for an exam and to have her chipped. Then a license.

What's not to love?