Choosing between Ideal and Dogwalk brand dog doors

12 years ago

One of the many things we must choose for our remodel is which in-wall dog door to have the contractor install. With all the insulation that is going in, we want a door that won't create a big energy leak as well as one that is reasonably attractive (or at least unobtrusive).

Right now my attention has gone to these two models:

http://www.petdoors.com/ideal-insulator-pet-doors.html

http://www.petdoors.com/dogwalk-wall-mount.html

Oops -- just noticed this one, too:

http://www.petdoors.com/endura-flap-wall-mount.html

We like the very low-key look of the Dogwalk brand and we like the fact that it's intended to be installed in a wall, but I'm not finding many reviews for it. The Ideal brand has a lot of good reviews, but we like the look less. Also, it seems to have been designed for installation in a door, although there is a wall kit available for it. I'm not sure if that makes it less likely to work optimally.

The Endura got the highest rating from the website all these links came from. I don't love the look, but I suppose performance is the major consideration.

Does anyone have experience with any of these doors, or comments about other brands? One other thing that I think it important is that the flap be replaceable, as I know from experience that they can get pretty disgusting over time.

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Comments (5)

annzgw
12 years ago
I don't know about the ones you've listed but I've owned and installed a few of the brand listed below. IMO it's the best around. Easy to install and held up to wind, rain and the abuse from my dogs. Looked great and insulated well.

My DS has a door that looks like the Ideal brand you listed. Not sure if it's the same, but it was a pain to install and it's very noisy as the dogs go in and out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hale
k9fan
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the recommendation of Hale. We'll check it out as well.
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annzgw
12 years ago
You may want to post the question on the Pets Forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pets Forum
sierraeast
12 years ago
We have a plexidoor from petdoors.com. They are pricy but are the most quality by far over pet doors we have had in the past. They have a 5 year warranty and when that runs out, replacement parts are easily obtainable as the construction of the door is straight forward. The airspace between the doors along with the quality weatherstripping make for the most efficient door system out of all the past doors as well.
pam29011
12 years ago
We have 2 plexidoors from petdoors.com. We bought an XL to fit a beagle and a tall shepherd mix (the door is sized so the body of the dog fits through, the beagle is lower to the ground and the shepherd mix was tall, so we got the Newfoundland size to span the different breeds we had).

After those dogs passed away we got a 35 pound dog and got an appropriately sized door for him. Same style. The build quality of those doors is just unbeatable. The first door we had was installed in 3 doors before the dogs passed away (we moved). The company sent us new paper templates to use to cut the holes for the 2nd and 3rd installation, and didn't even want to charge us for it!

We've had a flap-style door in the past but it relied on magnets to stay closed and the wind could blow it open. The hard plexiglass doors hold up well and can be cleaned off more thoroughly, it seems. Like Sierraeast, I know they aren't cheap but after having one we wouldn't buy anything else. We kept the XL one just in case some big stray wanders up and needs a warm bed for the rest of it's life, we'd just install it for the 4th time ;)

-Pam