We bought a Plexidor pet door and love it. The doors are solid clear plastic and very thick. We have had two of them. The first was the super giant size that can fit a St Bernard. We didn't have a dog that size, but we had a beagle (short legs) and a long legged shepherd mix. To have a door that went low enough for the beagle and was high enough for the shepherd mix, this was the best solution. That dog door was moved into 2 other doors, and worked great for many years. Then both those dogs passed away and we got a smaller dog, who is only 35 pounds. So we bought another plexi-door that was his size (no need to have a huge door for a smallish dog). We still have the original door, and if a big dog walks into our life we will install it into yet another door :) You can get replacement insulating strips for the Plexidor on their website. I won't lie, these doors are NOT cheap but they are a once in a lifetime purchase ... Unless you change the size of dogs you have :) Here is a link that might be useful: Plexidor website

I just met with my contractor and the glass guy about these issues. I am going with the low iron glass and we are going to have the protectant fused into the glass during the manufacturing process instead of being applied to the surface where it will eventually wash/erode away and have to be recoated. My contractor has also suggested adding a system to my water heater that "softens" the water without the use of salt. Will this substantially add to the costs? Yes, it will. It's possible that I may have bought the Brooklyn Bridge.......

I think cost of replacement door/wall depends on the cost of your door and what your wall is made out of. We had a couple doggie doors put in our walls and it turned out to be a lot simpler and cheaper than I thought it was going to be (we have dry wall in inside and stucco on outside). Save your stucco cut out and you can repair the wall very easily and cheaply (far cheaper than replacing a door, unless your door is super cheap). Also, if your door is part of a double, door styles are always changing and matching the other half of the door if you decide to sell, or want to move the doggy door elsewhere, often necessitates replacing the entire door set up (to me, this is WAY more complicated not to mention expensive than fixing a hole in the wall... but again, I think that depends sort of what your walls are made of). BUT, the cost of a doggy door made for a wall is usually a lot more than one made for a door. If your wall is super thick, generally the screws that come with the doggy door kit are almost never long enough, so you will need to go purchase special screws at an large outlet store. The reason I like doggy doors in walls is there is less of a hassle dealing with the door being open or closed, and with the decision to put the door in the wall, you can pretty much put it anywhere you like it... generally most people only have a few doors as an option, and putting one in a nice door can really ruin the look of the door.. and the door just may not be the right spot for the doggy door.

HHHHHHHAAAAAHAHAHAHAH great photo....my biggest beef with invisible fencing is that other dogs can get in and attack your dog. I know a couple of you know this story but it had such an impact on the dog and it family that I want to let people know what can happen. Our neighbors dog was an Aussie, highly trained to the invisible fencing, it worked like a charm. One day the dog was hanging out in the back yard minding its own business when a pack of dogs came into the yard. The dogs were chased off by the Aussie who ended up running through the invisble fence mark while in pursuit, finally having run off the other dogs the Aussie was going back home - now without a focus of chasing intruders the dog felt the invisible fencing zap more and could not get back home apparently it tried for hours. 6pm comes by and the owners return from a day at work only to find their dog quivering and dehydrated on the outside of the fence. They took it to the vet, hydrated it and brought it home. Next day, routine as usual only the Aussie refused to go outside at all. He had been so traumatized by not being able to get back home having been zapped in his quest to get home who knows how many times. That Aussie, a once vibrant and healthy dog has continued to refuse to go outside on his own, his owners are also traumatized. Point being, invisible fencing does not protect your animal fomr other animals, raccooons, skunks, other dogs, people all have access to your property and your outdoor dog who has little recourse but to interact with these intruders. As far as doggie doors go, here in our community we have had all sorts of critters use them, raccoons, possoms, skunks, cats, other dogs, one house even had a bobcat in it!! Not good for anyone. Im a hands on person and believe the positive behavioral training gotten by proper daily leash walks is invaluable. But like I wrote before not everyone has the type of property or neighborhood for leash walking. It boils down to different strokes for different folks for wahtever reason.