Registered: Jan 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 589

Gents,

Don't have anything to do with making or selling these spring loaded doors, but they work very well.. I bought mine from Scandaigua (spelling?) hound supply out of the north east.. Paid like $112 for 3 of them shipped.. Some friends have found them cheaper elsewhere, but...

I put these on in Mid November, learning curve was three hours to three days.. The dog I figured would get it right away about drove me crazy.. The other two in a matter of hours..

I over tightened them a bit at install so they would stay open about three inches.. Once the dogs figured them out, i loosened in two stages until they were closed and used to using them..

Took the heat gun out at 5:30pm last evening.. 26 degrees outside temp with snow.. Dogs had been out of the houses for 5-7 minutes.. 61 degrees and 60 degrees for those two.. Third dog had been out quite a while playing and watching for cats, 44 degrees.

I've put my hand down in the houses multiple times and figured the bedding temp was well over 70 degrees when the dogs immediately came off it.. Between this and heated water dishes, it's like the best of all worlds for cold weather hound keeping..

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Registered: Mar 2007
Location:
Posts: 307

I think these doors were another brainstorm of Tom Scott from right here in Indiana. He was selling these close to 50 years ago. Good idea then and now.

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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Kilkenny, MN
Posts: 893

https://hounddoggear.com/viewdetail...ge=&search=

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Registered: Jul 2004
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2765

Larry what are they made of ? Would you say they'd survive a couple destructive young uns...I notice the corners of your dog house isn't even rounded off like mine lol

I haven't decided if there's just enough walker in these redbones to make em crazy or maybe the other way around 💩

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Registered: Jun 2004
Location:
Posts: 400

Thin piece of mat nailed along the top always worked well for me. Easy in easy out.

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

I got one of these, and LOVE it..... dogs can't/won't tear it up, and it makes a nice tight seal.

I have two dogs in a good sized dog house together. It is insulated, and I keep it stuffed with a good bed of straw. I have this door on it to keep their body heat inside.

I keep a thermometer inside it. The other morning it was -16 when I fed the dogs... inside the dog house was 40 above. A good door is amazing for the hounds. This is the best one I've found. I went through several homeade attempts and wished I had just started out with this.

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Registered: Oct 2014
Location: mi
Posts: 228

Do the dogs open the door with a foot from the outside and push open from the inside ?

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Sheridan, WY
Posts: 1148

quote:

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Originally posted by ruttinbuck
Do the dogs open the door with a foot from the outside and push open from the inside ?

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location:
Posts: 589

I think you’ll find it is Sacandaga Hound Supply out of upstate NY.

hounddoggear.com

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Dan

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Washington, NC
Posts: 3301

I use a flap cut from conveyor belt.

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Bill Harper
Washington, NC
252-944-5592

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 589

Donnie, these are made out of aluminum.. The doors have only been on since November, I've only got one pup and he's a year old and is a pistol.. He's not worried the door a bit.. The houses have a thin metal strip of trim on the corners about an inch and a half wide or he would have ate his by now!!!

As Houndsound noted, these are flanged on the open side and the hounds use their foot or nose to flip open to enter and simply push with their nose to exit.. Observation I made is the two older dogs open with their nose almost all the time, the pup opens with his foot about 50 percent of the time..

Only downside to using these is now my treat cabinet in the pole barn is in a cupboard with a spring door and these boogers have all figured out how to open it since I put the doors on.

I switched over to canine ballistics beds in the houses a year ago and used a "porch" add on that created an east facing entrance and dead air space hall way.. No straw or chip mess anywhere in the kennels and yards and an extremely warm, durable bedding situation.. Been using the canine ballistic beds for two years.. The pup has used their warranty in the last year, replacements sent no questions asked.. In conjunction with these doors it's incredibly warm in the houses in cold weather.. We are getting ready to drop into teens and single digits at night and I will check temps with the heat gun..

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Registered: Mar 2009
Location: wisconsin
Posts: 880

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill(Chew)
I use a flap cut from conveyor belt.

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Patrick Barrett

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Registered: Mar 2005
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 1912

Larry,

I have two of those doors and I think they are great. Two things I have noticed is when you get snow ( and sometimes bedding) some will wedge the door open if you don't keep it cleaned away from the entrance. The other thing is because these doors do fit pretty tight I have installed two round 3" vents on the house under the roof edge on the south side. The dogs throw off a lot of heat and the vents keep the air "cleaner" inside the house.
I also have 4 houses that have the K9 Condo doors on them. Those are good but you have to watch for bedding getting wedged under the door so it does not hang open. Those have a pretty good air gap around them so ventilation is not an issue.
Between the two I like the first ones the best. I have had pups that within minutes figured them out.

Scott

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 589

Thanks for the information Scott - Hoping we dodge the big snow here this year so that doesn't become a factor!!! I live in the lake michigan snow belt, just on the edge, so occasionally we get big snow..

Early in the year I over tightened the doors just a bit so there was a slight gap and provided ventilation.. Now I have them adjusted down and closed. No issues with the hounds.. They won't hardly come out of the box except to eat and do their business on these cold days!

I use the Canine ballistics beds in the houses instead of bedding.. Did that from a clean up and mess perspective.. No issue on interfering with the doors unless the bone headed pup decides to jerk his bed out of the house for a play toy.. Noticed there is no issue with that in this cold snap!!

I had K9 condo doors on some houses years ago and liked them just fine, very similar to the flaps the other guys are discussing.. Way better than nothing for sure.

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Registered: Jun 2004
Location: 3515-38st-moline ill.
Posts: 548

Do you use the cots or the mats?

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 589

Critter, i use the matt/dog bed, it's a soft pillowy dig bed zipped into the canine ballistics cover.. Spendy, but a really nice product in my opinion..

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