[Dailydrool] speaking of doggie doors

[Valerie]

We also found, with Bo, that having the type of doggie door that was clear/see-through helped. That way, when he had sight, Bo could look through the doggie door first to reassure himself there was no boogieman on the other side before venturing out. Once he lost his sight, Bo developed a new behavior to test the safety of the egress. Before going through the door either direction, he would stick just his nose through and yank it back in quickly, and repeat this behavior three or four times before venturing through. I'm guessing that when he neither smelled anything on the other side or encountered any attack, only then did he judge it safe to proceed.

In fairness to Bo, this fear of a boogeyman on the other side of the door had some basis in fact. When Bo was young, we had a big cat who enjoyed abusing his kitty powers. Lynx entertained himself by sitting outside by the doggie door and swatting any basset nose that poked through. This terrified Bo, though it served as an invitation to Harley to barrel through the door and chase Lynx away.