We have a screen porch attached to our house; two walls of the porch are wood and two walls are screens. The door leading from the house to the porch is directly opposite the screen door to the deck. When we first moved here, the screen door opened only in one direction; shortly after we moved in Chet swapped the hinges so the door will swing either way. He also reinforced the lower half of the door, so the dogs can push the door to go out or come in. Basically, what I just said is that we are lazy. We don’t want to go out to the screen porch especially in the winter to let the dogs out or in. This feature is particularly convenient when we have really nice days, because we can just leave the house door open and the dogs can come and go as they please.
The door swings both ways...
When Chet first installed the hinges, Sampson would barrel through it, while Delilah was hesitant. She would wait until Sampson had pushed it open and then would sneak in during the ‘swing.’
Times have changed and Delilah is no longer timid with the door. Sampson on the other hand has taken to waiting outside the door for one of us to go out and basically invite him in. This is how I found him this morning.
Please mum, could you spare a bit of bread?
This is the strangest thing and neither Chet nor I can figure it out because when he really wants to come in, he does!
The door idea is genius! I think an enclosed porch just got added to my ‘ideal house’ list, specifically for the option of leaving the house door open in the summer without letting bugs in.
Suddenly waiting for an invite to come in is kind of odd. We have Gwynn trained to wait until he’s invited in, so that we have time to grab a towel and attempt to dry him off before he comes in and shakes – very important with the ridiculous amount of rain we’ve been getting lately!
It is perfect for the nice weather, to just open the door and leave it. My mom lives in the lower half of the house so if she is home all day I can leave the door open all day! They may come and go as they please into the fenced yard.
Ideally we would have put a “doggie” door in the house door, so they could always let themselves out. But the house door is mostly glass and I don’t want to disturb it.
Some days he just sits outside the door staring at it, some days he lays in front of it and sometimes he barks at it. It is definitely strange!
Good job with Gwynn waiting, I would like to know what type of training method you have used with him. Would you share?
Him waiting to go in and out of the house started off as a way for me to ensure that we practiced the SIT command. When he comes up to the door, I get him to sit, whether going in or out, and then I give him the release word (also part of practicing), and he goes in or out. He still occasionally bounds into the house and shakes off, but sitting and waiting at the door has become a habit for him. Sitting before being allowed to go outside seems to keep him calmer at the start of walks and things – no dragging me across the porch on the way out. Plus, the ‘reward’ for sitting is getting to go out and play, or come in and get affection when he sits at the door.
When you walk him, do you walk him off leash? If so, does he stay with you? How did you get him to do that? My dogs lose their ‘stuff’ when they see another dog and must immediately greet their new friend. I would also like Delilah to recall quicker, if she sees a squirrel or something that peaks her interest, it is all over!
Thanks so much for your help!!! I love reading your blog.
hah… I wish he would walk nicely off-leash in our neighbourhood. The few times I’ve let him off ‘for the last few houses until ours’, he’s taken off through neighbour’s yards, eaten cat food, and generally caused havoc. He also frantically tries to get to other dogs on the street to greet them. I make him sit when he starts pulling like that, which helps – now, he sees a dog, starts moving towards them, and then sits. He’s figured out that he isn’t going to get any closer to the other dog by trying to drag me there.
One trick for when you’re practicing the come command is to get the person not using the command to distract the dog with something delicious smelling. Start with your dog on leash, though, because if they’re anything like Gwynn, they’ll be much more interested in trying to do tricks for the person holding chicken strips or cat treats (cat treats work really really well as a distraction), and it’ll take a bit before you’ve got them leaving the treat holder and coming to you. Gwynn still has a tendency to ignore me calling him when there’s something more fun to do, but that’s how i’m practicing the command with him.
I carry roast beef with me when we are walking, but if she sees a squirrel forget about it! Today Sampson took off on me because he saw another dog in the park and wanted to greet him. I was so mad, I leashed him and we ended the walk! LOL, I will keep working with them, keep me posted on Gwynn and thank you for reading the blog!
Where did you buy the hidges that swing both ways? I’m currently looking to do this for me porch door. Thanks
We are shortly moving into a new house and I would like to do the same thing would our screened in porch. I’ve found the hinges on Amazon, but am curious of how it shuts.
Do you have a spring on each side of the door which will automatically pull it back to center (closed) after the dogs go through? Could you please post a picture?
I am also looking for a way to make my screen door swing both ways for an overgrown lab that wants in and out all day while i am at work. Does anyone know what type of hinges can be purchased and where for this idea?
Hi Kimberly, my husband said he thinks they are called “bar” hinges or “double swing”, we got them at our local Home Depot. Hope this helps!