# Doggy door for goats?



## WillowGem

I'm thinking about installing a doggy door in my barn. Well, my husband will be doing most of the work. 
The reason being, that with winter coming fast, we can then keep the doors closed, keeping the elements out, but the goats will have access to the outdoors.

Has anyone else done this, and what were the results?
Will the goats use it, or just chew it apart?

I know they can be rough on things, so the one I'm looking at is aluminum rather than plastic. It also has a panel that can be slid in, to keep them in at night.

Any thoughts, pros or cons?


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## ThreeHavens

I think that sounds like a good idea. You'll have to teach them to be brave enough to use it, I had to do that with my poor dog. He didn't understand why I was asking him to walk through a wall.


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## WillowGem

Woodhavenfarm said:


> He didn't understand why I was asking him to walk through a wall.


 LOL!!!
Mine will do pretty much anything for treats...so I don't think it will be too hard.


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## ThreeHavens

WillowGem said:


> LOL!!!
> Mine will do pretty much anything for treats...so I don't think it will be too hard.


They will probably also be smarter than my dog was. Shadow was the best dog of all time. But the size of his heart took over his brain section


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## WillowGem

Hahaha...I've had a couple "not so smart" dogs too.


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## sweetgoats

I had a bottle baby that used the doggie door. 

When she was older and went to the barn, we could not find her and I was SICK that something happened to her. Drove all around looking for her, went to my room and there she was sound asleep on my bed.


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## Jessaba

We have a barn doggie - goat door. Its a dog door and a goat door since our LGD's are with our goats 

Our goats use it ALL the time. We have ours where we can close it if we have to clean it or something so we don't have a bunch of crazy goats "helping". Doggy door was a hit with our goats, they all went in right when I first opened it because they were curious. Doesn't take them long to use it. But I do suggest making a door you can prop open and close back if you ever need to use the barn and keep goats out.

We especially close the goatie door when we are storing hay in the barn. Definitely comes in handy being able to close it every now and then


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## Texas.girl

A friend of mine in town had doggy doors for her dogs to leave and enter at will. It can be a problem sometimes. Last spring they doggy-sat for a friend who had surgery. Well, he recovered and took his dog back. The man likes to run his dog down the road in the middle of the night when there is no traffic. One night he ran the dog near my friend's home and the dog headed straight into their house, waking them up at 3am. My friends thought someone was trying to break into the house at first. The owner had no idea what happened to his dog until he received a 3am call asking him, "missing anyone". That is not my friend's only canine visitor. Some people who moved in next door bought a very small dog who can squeeze through the fence without any difficulity. Gerdy's owners work during the day and Gerdy thinks nothing of coming over and going through the doggy door to see if anyone is home (my friend's are retired). Gerdy just comes and goes as she wants. Occasionally my friend wakes up from a nap and finds Gerdy in bed with her. Another time my friends got up one morning and thought they smelled skunk. They never found anything but the smell was closest to their doggy door.

A kitty door allows my cats to come and go from the cabin where I feed them and they have an area for napping. These are outdoor mouse catchers. This cabin is a makeshift building the previous owners lived in before buying a Mobile Home. I use the cabin like a garage. I have lots of metal garbage cans in there filled with cat, goat, and bird food, etc. Sometimes the evidence is overwhelming that a raccoon has used the kitty door and helped itself to my cat's food and water.

So, before you install a goat door, ask yourself if anyone besides your goats will be able to use this door too? You need to make sure you are not putting your animals in harms way or providing an open door to a raccoon or skunk for free food or shelter.


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## Jessaba

Texas girl has a good point...I do not worry about these things with our goat doggie door because our LGD's are in with our goats and keep everything far away from them. But just look at it from all sides


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## peggy

I have a doggie door for my dogs but it is closed at night. I don't have a doggie door for the goats but I have heavy canvas hanging in the doorways so the they can go in and out when they want and still not loose too much heat from the barn. It is not like having the doors wide open. They goats quickly learned to duck and go through the curtain.


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## WillowGem

Thanks, Texas.girl 

My boys are in an enclosed pen, they don't have free roam because of my dogs.
The door I'm looking at has a locking panel that I will close at night, I'm pretty sure that will keep them safe. 
Goats in, and critters out! 

This is the one I decided to get:
http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Freed...remium/dp/B000OXAEJA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


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## WillowGem

The "goat" door has been installed!










Now the trick is to get them to use it.


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## ThreeHavens

Haha! Their faces are priceless!


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## WillowGem

LOL! They can't figure out what the heck we did to their door.


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## PznIvyFarm

peggy said:


> I have a doggie door for my dogs but it is closed at night. I don't have a doggie door for the goats but I have heavy canvas hanging in the doorways so the they can go in and out when they want and still not loose too much heat from the barn. It is not like having the doors wide open. They goats quickly learned to duck and go through the curtain.


I'm a cheapskate, i didn't like the price of the canvas so i use two of the plastic coated feed bags, i toss a few pebbles in the bag to weigh them down, staple them (slightly overlapping each other in the middle) to a piece of wood and screw the wood into the barn above the doorway. The goats learned pretty quickly to push it apart in the middle so they can go in and out. I shut their solid door at night so they can't go out. If i had a taller door i could probably sew two bags together for a longer curtain, but their goat door is just the right height for the feed bags


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## WillowGem

I can already see the flap won't be lasting very long...they've already been chewing in it! :eyeroll:
The canvas or feed bags sound like a great idea.


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## Used2bmimi

You could go to your local truck stop and get a cheap mud flap (less than $10) it might say Peterbilt on it but it is a cheap replacement door flap. Go ahead,....ask me how I know


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## WillowGem

Used2bmimi said:


> You could go to your local truck stop and get a cheap mud flap (less than $10) it might say Peterbilt on it but it is a cheap replacement door flap. Go ahead,....ask me how I know


:ROFL: I have a good guess...LOL!!


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## neubunny

We hang a tarp across the barn doorway for the winter -- goats have never had trouble figuring it out. Alpacas seem spooked this year (we just put it up) but Moonshine (yearling and brave) and his mom were inside this morning - so they must have figured it out. -- My guess is that Moonshine followed the goats (he likes them as they are smaller than him) and his mom followed him. 

The goats like going through the tarp. I think it gives them the same feeling of accomplishment that escaping does. --- They never go anywhere when they escape, but seem to take getting through a fence as a challenge -- they laugh at our attempts to confine them -- Milkdud always seems to show us how she mastered the latest hurdle by going in and out and in and out as if proud to show us she figured it out.


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