[Dailydrool] Dog doors

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

Becky asked why I went through a doggie door. That's kind of like  
asking why the chicken crossed the road.... to get to the other side,  
of course!

I was taking care of my friend Jennifer's dogs at her house for once.  
I can't remember why they weren't at my house like they usually are,  
but I'm sure there was a good reason. When I got to her house, I  
couldn't get my key to unlock the back door. She'd had a new lock put  
on, and it was supposed to be keyed to the old key, but I couldn't  
get it to turn. The front door stuck something terrible, and I knew  
it'd be impossible in the current humidity to get into the house that  
way.

That left the dog door in the back door. And I was wearing a summer  
sun dress.

But the dogs really needed to be let out and have their water checked  
and refreshed. So I did what any good friend of slight body build  
would do for a couple of really nice dogs--I went through the doggie  
door.

It wasn't that hard (though it would have been much easier if I  
hadn't had to worry about that dress staying where it should). I got  
down on the ground kind of on my side and put my head through, then  
raised one shoulder higher than the other and sent it through, and  
then brought my other shoulder, still in its lowered position,  
through. Once my shoulders were through, getting the rest of me in  
went smoothly and quickly because my shoulders are the widest part of  
my body. It was a little tight again with my hips, but I just tilted  
them so that one went through first and then the other, like my  
shoulders. Home free after that. Even better, none of the neighbors  
seemed to notice my illegal entry, and I was able to keep my dress  
from hiking up.

After taking care of the dogs, I found I could unlock the back door  
from the inside and then relock it from the outside, so I wasn't  
forced to leave in the same way.

That trip through a doggie door made me realize just how easy it is  
for a smallish adult, and definitely a child acting under an adult's  
instructions, to go through a medium-sized dog door with a flap. To  
make the realization worse, Jennifer had had a plastic "security"  
panel slipped down a track behind the plastic flap, so that, in  
theory, no one could get in. In practice, however, I had absolutely  
no trouble raising that plastic panel up from the outside because it  
didn't have any locking mechanism to keep it down. All it was good  
for was keeping out wild animals, not wild people. When we bought our  
dog door, I made sure it had a lock and a panel that can be truly  
secured. I can't get through our dog door when it's locked, so I'm  
pretty sure no one else can either.

I told Jennifer when she got home what I'd done, and she's since  
secured her house against people like me. Even better, she's also  
replaced the front door with one that doesn't stick.

Elizabeth
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