Walk-thru baby gates...

Originally I saw one of these at a friend's house who also had dogs and cats... At the time, I was using the older version (stretch across wood version that you pushed the bar down on)... Having fallen over it a few times when I 'thought' I was going to step over our version, I was up for a new idea when I spotted one of these at her house... 

My husband had been opposed to permanently attaching the version of the gates that had come before the newer ones... He felt it would damage the wood frame in a doorway, so the stretch-across version was the best I could come up with...  


Originally, this version was very expensive when it came out on the market and most of us couldn't afford $150 or more, especially when you needed more than one to quarter off various parts of your home... Pricing them today, you can find them as low as $39 if you shop around, Google or NexTag it... 

Our fosters and dogs generally have 'free roam' of the house and backyard... I block off areas of the house I do not want them in unless I have invited them in (such as our bedroom)... So one for the bedroom door was a must... Once we had one, we wanted more (like Ruffles potato chips!)... Because you don't need to screw into the door frame, but just toggle back using pressure, it doesn't damage the wood frames... They have all kinds of 'prettied-up' versions now in various motifs and styles according to your tastes and decor, by the way... 

If you have a dog that consistently charges the front door or a door you frequently go out of, these baby gates work wonders in training... Using our infamous squirt bottle and a baby gate, you can quickly teach them the 'back' command if the door is open and the baby gate is installed across the doorway frame... Give the command and if they don't respond, follow it up with the command again and a water squirt... Again, it doesn't take much for any dog to learn to stand back from an opened door and they can only pass through when invited by the owner... It only takes one dog escaping and running into the traffic for an owner to deeply regretting not having one along with the command taught!