Worth Every Penny:  The $1,200 Doggy Door

With four dogs and a full-time job, I dreaded coming home.  I knew a pile of poop would be waiting on the slate floor or one of the dogs would have lifted his leg on the Christmas cactus sitting next to the sliding glass door.

When it comes to animals, I prefer the term “compassionately crazy,” to hoarding psychopath.

The dogs that share my home include Faith, a Bernese Mountain Dog (24 inches from shoulder to paw); Booker T. Washington, a 22-pound Cockapoo; Captain Augustus McCrae, a 16-pound poodle mix rescued from a puppy mill; and, Sunny Sunny Bun Bun, a toy poodle with Cushing’s Syndrome who came to live with us in early August.  Sunny’s Cushing Syndrome caused him to gain a dramatic amount of weight.  Sunny weighs 17.5 pounds.  Essentially, he’s the equivalent of a 400-pound man.

Knowing that I’d come home to a mess after teaching 200 junior high school students all day was daunting.

But, with the wide range in shapes and sizes of my canine friends, a dog door didn’t seem like an option.  To be large enough to accommodate Faith, most dog door had a rise of six-eight inches.  Sunny would high-center himself trying to get over something that high.

I tried everything. 

Really.

Each morning, we get up at 5:00 am, eat breakfast and, in the dark, take a 30-minute walk in the neighborhood.  Everyone poops and pees.  But, each afternoon, I came home to a mess or two or three.

One afternoon, after wiping up an ocean of urine next to the sliding glass door, I started GOOGLING pet doors.   I found Solar Window and Door in Salt Lake City.  Even though it was almost 6:30 pm, I called.  Andrew answered.  He listened to me.  Then, sent an installer out the very next day for measurements.

Instead of a panel with a riser, they removed the glass in the slider and installed a custom dog door. 

My neighbors didn’t even put the “compassionate” in front of crazy when I told them I was buying a $1,200 dog door.  One friend asked via Facebook, “Is it 4-inches thick and made out of Brazilian Walnut?”

But, once it was installed, the response was, “That’s so worth it.  Your sliding glass door still works.”

While it took a bit of training and coaxing to convince the dogs to move through the flap, now they move in and out freely while I teach America’s future.

Crazy?  Maybe.

But, I’m no longer frustrated.

It was worth every penny.

Call Andrew at Solar Window and Door.  (Andrew@solarwindowutah.com)