We had a dog door installed on our door that leads from the garage into the mud room. I see them sold at Lowes, HD, The Anderson's, etc. Saw a panel at HD that can be used on a slider. All by Petsafe. You can install yourself or hire someone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Doggie doors

I have an acqaintance whose doggie door was installed in the laundry room. It was installed in the wall that faces the the back yard. Built a covered ramp on the outside with the forethought of the time when the dogs can no longer do steps. I was skeptical about this plan, as I have never seen a doggie door installed in anything other than an entry door, but it works perfectly. With their back entry being glass french doors, a doggie door there would have been impossible. This is where a great architect considering the homeowner's lifestyle is worth his/her weight in gold.

Point being, you don't necessarily need to install your doggie door in an entry door. In fact, the entry/exit being in the laundry room is perfect. Tiled floor and a nice decorative gate installed at the doorway of the laundry room prevents the dogs from entering the rest of the home when wet. The placement works very well, especially if the dogs are going in and out when no one is at home.

Just another option.

Word of caution:
Be careful when installing a doggie door on outside door! A neighbor with a door installed on an outside door was used by a burglar to gain entry!! Mine is on door entry from garage. When garage doors are down, no access...even for the pooch!

I hope you have better luck than I did several years ago. I had sliding glass doors and wanted to change out one of the panels to half glass/half dog door and surround but couldn't find any way to do it.

We went with the dog door panel that fits in the slider - hated it! It reduces the width that you have to go through the slider.

Now I have a dog door into the laundry room. With the size of the door needed for my dog, a sumo wrestler could come through it.

We built ours through the wall at our last house. I loved it that I didn't have the unsightly dog door visible to most guests. We used the Hale door because I wanted it insulated and a secure way to seal it when not in use. It was pricey though.

At our house now we have it in the back door but as soon as we replace some windows with a sliding door, I'm going to move it there.

On the Hale website, they show building the dog door thru the wall and then building a dog house on the outside of the house--very clever.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hale Pet Door

I hate to be so dumb, but if a man can get in, what keeps other animals out? Raccoons, feral cats, mice, squirrels? Thanks for not laughing at me....

We have the pet door that goes in the sliding door also - and have had it for at least 10 years. We've not had anything that does not belong come into our house. But we live in town & have a fenced in back yard, so not too many strange critters around. I've seen a family of possum & lots of squirrels, some cats in our back yard - but only our dogs have used the doggy door. An occasional grandchild has tried it. Lol. I also don't like the size left on the sliding door.

We had our dog door in back door and liked it except for drafty in winter unless we closed hatch. Now with reno, we put it in the wall of playroom/mudroom side entrance to house. Architect thought for weather proofing this would be better. We got the one with double flap.

FYI - we did have a raccoon coming in issue over the summer and had to close hatch at night for about 10 days. Kept cming down in morning and finding garbage can knocked over and a big mess in kitchen!

We don't currently have a doggie door, but then again my dogs like to dig holes for hours if they wander, so we have to keep a hawk eye on them, so when they go out, we go out!

My boyfriend's grandparents have 2 large dogs, and a oppossum came through their doggie door as well..but not willingly. Their aussie caught it, and was trying to bring it inside but was holding it in his mouth so that its tail and head were hitting the sides of the door and Rascal couldn't make it fit through, poor darling! Luckily they heard all the noise and caught him in the act!

They have had quite a few animals come through the door though! But they live in the country with a pasture, horses, etc so you can imagine the vermin out there!

Sherrmann, there is a flap on the door that you have to train the dog to push with his nose to get in. I've never seen a wild animal try to get through the door.

Thanks for the horror stories! Drafts, wild animals, burglars, YIKES! I think I'll leave my walls and doors intact and just let the dog out.

An acquaintance of mine had a doggy door from the kitchen to the garage, another from the garage to the fenced yard so her dogs could take care of themselves. Something - a raccoon, perhaps - got into the garage and encountered the dogs while they were at work. A huge fight ensued, leaving blood, guts and body parts all over the walls and things in the garage, and one dead dog and one injured dog. They decided it was a one-time occurrence and still have the doggy doors, and are glad the attack happened in the garage instead of the house. The injured dog made a full recovery.

Thanks, everyone! I should clarify that we are looking for a door with a doggie door already built-in. We had a doggie door built into the wall in our old house, and it worked fine (no raccoons or squirrels fortunately), but our current house is trickier to find a place for the door in a wall and the current back door has too many panes of glass to install a doggie door into it. Since I have to buy a new door anyway, I am hoping to find one with the doggie door already built in so that I don't have to hire someone to install the back door and install the doggie door. My neighbor has such a door, but I am having a horrible time finding one.

The link from laexpat shows what I am looking for -- I just wish this company was in my area.

Thanks again!

Just an FYI, I know there is now a doggie door that only opens when a device that you clip onto the collar comes near it. :)

My JRT's doggy door is screened and located on our screened porch...just outside our back door. We don't like the dog going out unless we know she is out. All I have to do is open the French door and she runs out through the doggy door. I don't have to walk over to the porches screened door to open it.

See door at far left corner.

Regarding a doggie door in the door from the house to the garage - I believe the International Residential Code (IRC) requires that this door be a 20-minute-rated fire door. If you install a doggie door in it, will it still meet code?

No it will not dekeoboe. We were building our cat's room in the garage and I wanted to be able to clean in from the garage with a window or large dog door and it wouldn't pass code. So if you do have one installed you need to know it might have to be removed upon sale of your house (ie door replaced with fire rated door).

I used to crawl through the dog door in a rental we had whenever we lost the keys. It was a medium size and I was limber and skinny :) It did teach me about the issues of having a door anyone can skinny through easily. We were never robbed, but I'd not put one on my home now knowing how easy they are to get in.

I do like the idea of the electronic one though...much safer.

I've installed a gazillion cat doors myself OP. You need a kit (hd has them) a drill and a jig saw. It comes with a pattern and you drill in the corners then just cut the holes in a solid wood door. Easy stuff really. The kit hides your jiggly jig saw cuts if that's an issue. If you can't do that you can easily hire a handy man or woman to do it I would think...It's really not rocket science.

I only suggest this because it sounds like you're not finding what you want and it's a pretty easy solution. Ours are always then painted to match the door so they blend in better. I'm going to add one to our hall to laundry in the next few weeks so I can keep the litter box out there (it's in our closet room now...I prefer it not be LOL). I miss our kitty room!

I live in the exurbs with lots of wild life, including raccoons, opossums, and neighboring cats who used to come into the house via my cat's door (a panel in the slider.) I changed that door for a panel that has the magnetic lock. Each cat has a magnet on the collar which unlocks the door. The other day my cat came flying in at full speed with the neighbor's bully cat about two seconds behind in hot pursuit. He tried to come through the door and banged his nose. The door held shut. Worth every penny. Each morning a raccoon comes right up on the concrete pad and peers through the slider, but can't come in any more.