Old Dogs; New Trick

Yesterday, I had a new doggie door installed, one that goes through the wall. The purpose was so I could actually use the slider out to the backyard as it has been blocked off with a patio door doggie door thingy, making the passageway pretty ... slim ... for humans to pass through sideways. The installation went very well, as did the over-the-stove microwave installation necessitated by the repositioning of the doggie door.

However, the dogs aren't too happy about their new door, especially Mia, who has hip issues. We positioned the door to accommodate her size, agreeing that Daisy will figure it out regardless of how we position it. The dogs were not included in that conversation; had they been, they would have argued for the lot of humans in their lives to lose weight, rather than moving the doggie door.

In the middle of the night, when night noises set Daisy off like a car alarm, she took off running from sleeping next to me to full protection mode in a heartbeat. I heard her hit the slider, where the doggie door used to be, followed by a yelp. No, she didn't figure out to take one step to the right and go through the doggie door -- she came slinking back to my bedroom, either chagrined or pissed. She must have explained the situation to Mia because she didn't move from her floor pillow once during the night.

Part of the problem is a double flap, one inside the house and one outside, which is great for inclement weather, but not so great for the dogs to deal with when they are used to one flap. I've used Velcro to fasten the inside flap to the frame until they get used to the new process, so we'll see how that works.

Meanwhile, I'm afraid the dogs of the neighborhood are going to get away with uncontrolled barking and roaming of the streets because neither Daisy nor Mia wants to deal with the doggie door to get outside for neighborhood watch duty. It would be funny, but I love my dogs and don't want them to hurt themselves until they figure out this new thing in their very comfortable old lives.

Addendum: I had to add "ramps" on either side of the wall-through as Mia's hips don't allow her to crawl through as easily as she did the former doggie door, and poor little Daisy can no longer simply soar through the flap and fly out the door. They will get used to the new door, but the meantime is going to be challenging.