Homeowners are turning to smart technology to help enhance their experience in the house – that’s for the family, though. But isn’t your pet part of the family so that it deserves to enjoy smart technology as you do? Well, that’s true, a pet is your best companion at home, and she deserves a great experience.
Installing the best dog door with a collar sensor is perhaps one of the best ways you can improve your dog’s experience at home. If you’re a pet owner with a gorgeous backyard and patio, you find that an electronic dog door with a collar sensor offers your dog a secure way of accessing the outdoors without you having to walk to the door to open it for her.
As a dog owner, you may want to consider installing a smart dog door to do away with the inconveniences your pet causes you when you have to open the door for him. In this guide, I bring you some of the best dog doors with collar sensor products I have tried installing in my home and how they performed.
Best Dog Door With Collar Sensor
🏆 Power Pet Electronic Pet Door
The High Tech Pet Electronic Power Pet door, it’s an ultrasonic-activated automated dog door. It’s different from the traditional RFID- activated systems. When it comes to the ultrasonic mechanism, it is fully directional, meaning that it only activates if your pooch is in the direct pathway of the signal. I see this as a unique feature that you won’t find in many other smart dog doors. This feature prevents a non-deliberate activation of the High Tech Power Pet door if the doggie happens to be anywhere near the door.
Additionally, Power Pet comes with four different access controls allowing you to decide how the door is going to behave at any one given time. Also, although it may be pricier than PetSafe SmartDoor, it’s a cheaper option than Solo. That being said, with High Tech Power Pet door, offers you an excellent option if you want a door that has a fully automated mechanism for your doggie.
Key Features
• Works with both MS-4 ultrasonic collar and RX-10 multifunction collar
• 4 different access controls
• Built-in directional sensor
• Secure as well as weatherproof design
• Vertically sliding door mechanism
What We Like:
• Simple installation
• Offers convenience
• Waterproof SmartKey
• Door and wall installations
• Airtight
What We Don’t Like:
• Malfunction complaints
• Expensive changing batteries
Solo Pet Door Automatic Electronic Dog and Cat Door
This is one of the pet doors with a collar sensor you may want to install in your home. Its full automation makes it an ideal unit to use. With about 10 different sizes you can choose from, this door is an amazing choice. Although it is priced lower than some doors, it still is a more expensive door compared to many other units.
The Solo’s large door allows you to keep your pooch or doggie where you want her to be without you needing to wake up from the couch to go and open or close the door every time. Dissimilar to other pet door products, Solo operates using a magnetic tag mechanism – this helps eliminate the need for batteries.
The fact that the collar sensor does not use batteries makes it light, so your pooch won’t feel the heaviness of a collar sensor. It’s lightweight and ensures comfort for the doggie.
Additionally, the mechanism for door closing is gravity-dependent; however, it is slowed down by a distinctive mechanism that can be likened to hydraulic door closers. Also, if you can afford to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a dog door, then you may as well consider Solo Pet Electronic Dog Door.
Key Features
• Features magnetic pet tag sensor
• Fully motorized or automated pet door
• Available in 10 different sizes – wall or door-installation designs
• 1-year warranty
What We Like:
• Security assuring features
• Wall and door installations
• 1-year warranty
What We Don’t Like:
• A bit pricey compared to others
PERFECT PET The All-Weather Energy Efficient Dog Door
The Perfect Pet Dog Door is another fantastic smart dog door on my list. It’s an impressively designed door, having been manufactured by one of the top brands in the industry. For a dog owner who wants to keep his pooch safe and secure, he or she may consider this unit.
Perfect Pet Dog All-Weather Energy Efficient Door is made using premium durable material to ensure durability. The material makes many dog owners feel more comfortable knowing that they have a durable door unit for their doggie. This best dog door with a collar sensor is made using two primary materials – structural foam and nylon. The latter material helps with the draft restrictor while the former form the body structure of the door.
It is energy efficient while also being affordable. So, if you are looking forward to heating and cooling your backyard, you may as well forget about the traditional, old-fashioned dog doors and go for the Perfect Pet All-Weather door.
Since Perfect Pet Dog door delivers an air pocket reaching as high as 3 inches, it can be used throughout the year regardless of the weather or season. The smart pet door is suited for dog owners living in the plains, where temperatures tend to rise and fall. It’s also suitable for dog owners who live in the west where summer doesn’t seem to end.
Key Features
• Energy efficient
• Adjustable frame telescopes
• Energy-efficient structural foam
• Molded plastic
• Optional wall kit that’s sold separately
• Nylon made for draft restrictor
What We Like:
• Allows your pooch to play close by
• Comes in four useful operational modes
• Long-lasting, reliable, build or construction
• Adjustable frames
• 2-inch thick insulation
What We Don’t Like
• Noisy
• A bit the pricey side
SureFlap – Sure Petcare – Microchip Pet Door Connect
SureFlap Sure Pet Care is a smart pet door that many dog owners look upon. And, there are many reasons why they have an interest in this pet door. The Sure Pet Care SureFlap Microchip Pet Door system is among the least expensive of the various automated pet door units I have featured in this list. Again, it’s fully compatible with different microchip formats found in the world. What you have to do is ensure you program the SureFlap to be able to recognize the signature of the microchip.
Additionally, SureFlap can store different microchip signatures – reaching 32 different microchip signatures. This makes it perfect for multi-pet households and kennels. However, you will need to buy the SureFlap microchip tag designated for each pet. Ideally, even when you have another pet tag brand, Sure Care SureFlap is going to recognize it.
Besides, the smart pet door features a Curfew Mode, meaning you can decide to keep the dog door closed at designated times. With the SureFlap system, it runs on 4 C-sized batteries able to last at least a year in normal use. So, it will not stretch your electric bill.
That being said, one downside with this best dog door with collar sensor is that it will not fit with the large breed dogs. It will also keep the un-microchipped dogs and those unrecognized dogs away from gaining entry, but it will not stop the ones already inside the house from coming out.
Another downside is that you have to get your dog to a vet to have the microchip implanted. That’s something not many dog owners would want to do. All in all, I still find SureFlap one of the innovatively designed and suitable choices for pet owners.
Key Features
• Compatibility with your existing pet ID microchip techs
• Super secure – works with the pet ID microchip signature it can recognize
• Comes with SureFlap’s ID microchip collar tag
• Different control models
• 32 storable pet identifications or microchip signatures
• 3-year warranty
What We Like:
• Modern design
• Comes with an installation manual to make the installation work easier
• Long-lasting battery- can take you a year or so of normal use
What We Don’t Like:
• It’s mostly suitable for small-sized dogs
My Experience With Dog Doors
I find the traditional dog doors quite inconvenient to both my pet and me. Before I installed my first smart pet door, my pet never stopped pawing at the door. Whenever she wanted to get out, she had to aggressively paw at the door so that she could get my attention. And, because she gives me the companion I need and I have great times with her walking outside, so I had to give her the attention she deserves. So I would, without being annoyed, walk to open the door for her. But her pawing ruined the door’s painting.
When I got my first smart pet door, I noticed some changes in the way things used to happen with the traditional door. I didn’t have to do many trips to open the door for my pet friend. And, there was no more pawing at the door. So I don’t have to repaint the interior part of the door anymore. Installing a dog door with a collar sensor has offered a lot of reprieve in things that I did when I had the traditional door.
Benefits of Smart Pet Doors
Upgrading to a dog door with a collar sensor offers many benefits to both the pet and pet owner. For one, peace of mind is the biggest perk; smart doors give your dog the ability to access and get out of the house without needing your assistance. She can comfortably access and leave the house. Also, smart doors offer security. Unlike the traditional dog doors, the doors with a collar sensor get signals from the smart collar or microchip of the pet so that the furry friend becomes the only pet allowed to use the door. No other pet can use the door because they don’t have the microchip.
Again, you don’t have to keep on chasing after the neighbor’s cat because she had sneaked into your home through your door’s dog. In the past, there was a time I was so angry with my neighbor’s cats – three of them – because they would find their way into the house through my dog’s door and eat all of my cat’s food. However, since I installed smart dog doors, I don’t have to deal with that mess anymore. Another thing is that the automatic locking feature of the smart door helps keep away potential thieves.
When it comes to using the door, it is very easy. Some smart doors incorporate motion-activated sensors to help automatically open the door as soon as the pet approaches the door.
Besides, many models of these doors have weatherproofing properties, which makes them superior compared to the traditional doggie doors. The smart doors lock behind the pet, thus providing a secure way of sealing against outside elements while keeping cold out and heat in.
Things to Consider When Buying Smart Doors for Your Dog
Before you can consider a particular the best dog door with a collar sensor for your doggie, you want to make a number of considerations. In addition to the sensing device that has been used in the door, you may want to consider other things like:
Size of Your Pooch
The size of your doggies is something you need to consider before you can buy an automated pet door. SureFlap, for example, maybe an excellent system; however, it won’t fit the larger breeds like Labrador Retriever or Saint Bernard or even a hulking Great Dane. This is because of its small opening. Ensure you measure your dog so that you get the right-sized opening for the dog.
The height of the door hole or the tunnel needs to be not less than 2 inches higher than the shoulder level of your dog. So, you need to measure the shoulder level of your dog and add two inches.
Sensor Mechanism
If your pet has a microchip implanted under her skin, you need to consider a microchip-enabled system. Otherwise, you can go with the RFID mechanism or even magnetic and ultrasonic types. What you need to realize is that magnetic systems don’t necessarily distinguish between dogs, meaning your neighbor’s doggies may enter inside your house. In case you are looking for something cheap, you can consider radio frequency-operated systems.
Door or Through-the-Wall systems
The accessways for dogs come in two different designs – door installation and through-the-wall installation. With door-installed systems, they are easier to accomplish, and they don’t require you to make additional tunnel extensions.
Wall-installed systems, on the flip side, require a significant amount of effort to install, particularly if you are fitting them in thick walls made of concrete.
Frame
A dog owner will have to select between metal and plastic frames. For small breeds of dogs, the plastic frame may work perfectly. However, if you have a doggie known for crushing down things or a heavy-sized breed, you may want to go with the aluminum frame.
Energy Efficiency
Because installing the best dog door with collar sensor means creating a hole in the door or the walls, this brings some changes in the energy efficiency of the home. You may have warm air entering the house from outside where it heats the interior. This increases your energy consumption because it makes the AC work harder to lower the temperatures. The same happens during winter, where cold air gets inside the house from outside, thus making the interior space cooler, which forces the AC unit to work hard to step up the temperatures.
When constructing the dog door, make sure that it has a perfect seal to prevent warm or cold air from penetrating inside from the outside.
Conclusion
Now that I have provided you with my best bets of the best dog door with collar sensor, you may want to make your choice. Remember that the mechanism of operation of the door or the technology behind it will play a role in choosing your pet door.
Also, the price is going to determine which door to choose – though; you don’t want to comprise the quality of a smart door for dogs over price. Also, look at the size of your doggies because some smart doors have smaller openings. Otherwise, with the information provided here, you have an opportunity to decide which pet door with collar sensor you should go for.
Some of My Favorite Products For Dog Owners
I hope this article has helped you just a bit in everyday life as a dog owner. Being a dog owner for more than 25 years myself, I’ve tried an abundance of different products with varying success, but these products below are some that I can highly recommend to every dog and their owner without hesitation!
These links are affiliate links, so if you do end up using the links, I will earn a commission. But it’s products that I use daily myself, and I have nothing but praise for.
Dog Food: Every dog needs to eat correctly, and finding the best food for your dog can be hard, as the market is absolutely flooded with products. But since 2015 when the company was founded, I’ve been using Ollie Petfood. With their product being tailor-made to suit every dog’s specific needs, and as my dogs absolutely love the product, I’m pretty sure I’ve found a product I will continue to use for many years more. If you use my link you can get 50% off your first order.
Dog Training: If you’ve ever owned a puppy, you know that they require a lot of training to grow into a well-behaved adult. Brain Training for Dogs has helped me immensely with the mental training part of raising a dog, and it’s something I strongly recommend you consider.
Grooming: If you have a dog in your home, you’re going to need a brush, and for this, I recommend a Hertzko Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush. For that price, you simply can’t beat this brush for everyday grooming.
If you’re looking for the most up-to-date recommendations, check out my recommended products section that I’ve created to help every dog owner!
