Doggy Doors

We have been thinking for awhile about installing a doggy door so our dogs can come and go as they please during the day - anyone have experience using one? My only reservation is that they will abuse it and run outside whenever they think they hear something or want to bark at the neighbor, is there any training that can be done with the door to let them know its only for potty breaks?

I know that there are trainers that can assist with things like this though I would not know how to do it at home. I know that most doggy doors come with some sort of locking device and you could lock it at certain times and unlock it maybe after they have eaten and late at night etc. Good luck !

That would be great - I guess I need some sort of 'high tech' doggy door.

Cool a high tech doggie door. That would be my worry too- that they could just run out it when they heard someone pull in the driveway.
I do think it's a good idea to have a doggie door though- gives them a bit mroe freedom. As long as you have boundaries set up- so they can't just go roaming anywhere.

I have one that goes out in the yard, but the yard is fenced in. It works well for me as the dogs can not go anywhere but the yard.

I have a dog house for my dog in the yard and it is fenced from all sides. My dog do come inside the house but most of the times it prefers its house and the yard.

Make sure the doggie door can be locked. I have seen it where other animals got into the house through the doggie doors and the family had to call the cops to get the other animal out.

I also wouldn't want my dogs to go out whenever they felt like it -- unless I had a big yard with a good fence and they couldn't get out of it in any way.

If your dogs aren't used to running outside on their own, unless you want to spend a lot of time training them to behave without you around, doggie doors might not be a good idea.