I am my dogs door opener....

hah mazer lol. Me too, even at 3 in the morning.

Even the ones electronically controlled can be locked. So you could secure your home at night. There is a Solo-Fully-Automatic door that someone it selling on Craigs list. They are saying it lists for $545 and asking $215. So the doors aren't cheap. Just google because there probably are only a couple of manufacturers.

Hopefully your dog would scare/eat the intruders, but the big thing with having a radio controlled unit is it would also keep out raccoons, squirrels, neighbors cats, etc.

Thank you housefairy. I will google some more. The usual pet stores (Petcetera etc) don't seem to carry electronic ones at all. Yes this is expensive, more than I figured, but I think my dog would appreciate it. She's reluctant to wake me up at night to let her out, always polite about it; she just has to "go" at all hours.

Btw, we free-feed her: food is always available. Perhaps I should schedule her feedings (to help schedule when she has to go). It's just that when we got her at 7-8 months old guesstimate she was starving to death and I think it makes her feel more secure to always have food on hand. She's about 8 now and still gives the cats the evil eye or chases them from her food if they get too near it. Mazer if you're still there - or others -what do you think? Apologies if I'm wandering from original post. Thank you.

Here's the link for where the person bought the pet door mentioned on the Craig's list. Personally I have not used this site/supplier. If you live in the Pacific Northwest I can give you the actual Craig's listing. Apparently it is a new door, never used.

My past pups I have always free fed. However, whenever I babysit a doxie that is not possible. She would eat everything in site. With my new pup I just changed her dog food brand. Now I'm having to ration it, otherwise she eats up her daily amount first thing in the morning. She's still young and really needs an energy boost of food in the afternoon. As far as your dog protecting her food, that's just a dog thing. If you think she might actually bite the cats, then you could split her daily serving. Feed twice a day and the rest of the time pick up her bowl. Otherwise, if she's not gaining weight I wouldn't worry about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moore pet supplies

Suesan maybe you can just take the food up at night....my old bulldog was free fed but she still seemed to eat at particular times during the day. I started free feeding her because she would not eat if I was not home and her breakfast always ended up being eaten at 5 when I came home. Since she did not gobble food like most dogs it was easy to just keep her food available for her. My new dog is not free fed as she gobbles food.... She is on a schedule. Your dog will get used to not having the food available at night. Also since your dog is no longer starving you may want to start monitoring how much she is eating every day. Sometimes the easiest way to tell if something is wrong with your pet is by their appetite. Also you do not want her to get overweight. My free fed dog was never over weight. She ate when she was hungry. Of course she preferred people food so would only eat her kibble if she did not get enough people food to fill her during the day.

I also have thought about the dog door. But I live in Florida and have a bulldog who loves to sit in the sun. I have to monitor her when she is outside so a pet door would not really work for us. We are also her door openers I guess :-) We also clean her every time she goes out so a dog door really would not work for us. As for the cats getting out....I have noticed cats can be smart...I would not be surprised if they learned to just follow the dog outside.

Thank you housefairy and trinigenimi.
That looks like a superb quality door at MooreÂs (and a lot of other neat stuff on the site). IÂm Canadian, so even more expensive for me, and even though my dogÂs worth it, the clear tips about reasons for setting up a feed schedule makes much sense, even though she is not overweight - being able to watch eating habits/appetite to help monitor health, etc., and yes, my cats are smart and I certainly can see them quickly learning to follow Sybil out. Two of them really are her buddies (except when it comes to the food proximity). IÂll just try to make an easy transition as possible, taking up SybilÂs food a little earlier each night until I can get to the point that she knows to expect food twice a day. IÂm feeling confident sheÂll be ok. She had even been beaten too before I got her, and it took awhile for me to be able to pick up a broom without her cowering, but she eventually settled down. I shouldnÂt be underestimating her. Thank you again!