How to Measure Your Pet and Choose a Pet Door

Step 1:
Measure your pet from the top of the shoulders to the chest, just behind the front legs. Then measure the width of your pet at the widest point. This will be either the shoulder or hip area.

Step 2:
Determine your pet's weight.

Step 3:
Select the correct door size based on your pet's measurements and weight. You will need a pet door with and opening size that is bigger than your pet's measurement.


A Dog Door lets your pets come and go, as you please; so you can put an end to late night trips to let your pet out....AND, no more scratched doors or walls. No more "accidents" on carpets and drapes.

Dog owners love our dog doors because the flexible, two way panel is safe for any pet. The soft vinyl flap won't trap or injure tender paws, ears or tails....AND, the permanent magnets assure you of a draft-free, energy efficient closure. The translucent vinyl panel makes it easy to train your pet to use a PetSafe Dog Door. Once your pet has learned about its new freedom, your pet will set its own schedule-and not be dependent on you to let it in or out. Your pet will come and go freely, so it can get exercise outside, yet come inside for shelter from heat or inclement weather. Please review our complete line of dog doors.

Dog doors come in all types and sizes.

They can be installed in a wall, a door, sliding glass doors, metal doors, aluminum panels, and just about anywhere you want. PetSafe shows how to measure your dog to obtain the right size dog door and how to choose the dog door best for you.

One of the biggest questions people face is where to install their new dog door. We believe the ideal place is in a wall. Depending on your living quarters, we would place the dog door in a room or area that can receive some tracking-in-dirt that is inevitable when using dog doors. Rooms, kitchens, second bedrooms, dens, and other areas other than the main living area is usually a good idea.

Placing a floor mat on the inside of the dog door is also recommended. A great advantage of having the dog door installed in a wall (instead of a door) is that no one needs to know that you have a dog door. This is important for some people who fear an intruder may crawl through the dog door into your house. However, our guess is that if the dog door is big enough for an intruder to crawl through - he'd be pretty stupid to do it, as he may end up face-to-face with the big dog on the other side of the door! In any event, when you have an in-wall installation.

If you are renting your place of residence, or do not want to cut permanent holes in a wall or door, you can still have a dog door. In this case, you will want to install the dog door in either a sliding glass door, or a regular door. Dog doors that are made for sliding glass doors actually come as a whole panel (patio dog door) that you install in the doorway section, therefore it does not permanently affect your sliding glass doors in any way.

If you do not have sliding glass door for a patio dog door, you still have another option. Purchase an inexpensive door at your local home-improvement store, or door store. Replace the permanent door with your new inexpensive door by removing the door via its hinges. Now you can install the dog door in the new door, and when you move, simply put the permanent door back in its place!

As you can see, just about anyone can have a dog door! Once you get one, you won't know how you ever lived without it.