Big Molly and the Dog Door
For Christmas, Chris and I gave the dogs a dog door. We thought they would love it. As much as they are constantly whining to go outside and inside and outside and inside, we figured this would make them so very, very happy.
Daisy loves it. She runs in and out all day long. She brings her toys outside, then she runs them back inside. She sees a squirrel outside and she’s through the flap chasing it across the yard in seconds. She gets in trouble, we put her outside, and she skips in through the dog door before we’ve even turned around. She is a very busy puppy.
Big Molly? Not so much.
You know that saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” Well, Molly loves that saying. It’s her favorite saying.
We thought she was pitching temper tantrums because maybe she couldn’t get through the door with her old, rusty hips. So, Chris spent an entire Saturday building her a little geriatric step out the back door to make it easier for her to use.
She barked at the step for three days.
Now, she will at least get up on the step and poke her head through, but she absolutely will NOT go through the dog door without some serious protesting. Can’t you just hear her cursing us in those barks? Oh, man. She cracks me up.
But for real, Big Molly. Just go through the damn dog door, woman.
One Comment
Allie
I have a 14 year old large dog who has had a dog door since he was about four months old. Never a problem in the two prior houses I lived in or other peoples’ houses. I moved about 18 months ago and he turned super bizarre about the dog door. He would just stand outside and bark until I went to the door and looked through the flaps (same door as you) and told him to come inside. Then he’d push the flaps and come on in. Every. Single. Time. And my other dog would go in/out no problem. I could not figure out what his new deal was. Okay, he’s old, but ??? He went out just fine, but pitched a fit about coming in. While this isn’t a perfect theory, I began to wonder if the door looked closed to him because the room he was entering wasn’t super bright. (I’ve never closed this dog door and he’s used doors in/out of dark spaces in past, but I was getting desperate for ideas.) So, I made a point of having the area inside the door be bright so it would be easier to see into the house. I think that must have helped, because that’s the last thing I remember thinking/trying and he has been using the door like a pro. Might be irrelevant for your situation, but I thought of it because it was dim inside in your video…