Dog Door For RV: Can You Put a Doggie Door In An RV Door?
It may be doable. The issue with putting a doggie door in a door on your RV or trailer may sound like a solid one. However, you may be facing issues you may not have thought of that will hinder your installation. Those obstacles are not construction or feasible in nature.
It can be done as many doggie door options come with the flexibility to adjust to different door thicknesses. Installation would be similar to the way installation takes place on a door in a traditional home. You just have to measure and cut correctly to make it work.
To learn more about this topic, just continue to read out article. It has the information about this topic you want to know about. There is more to this subject than meets the eye. So keep reading to find out all about the issues surrounding this project.
Is There an RV Door With a Dog Door?
There probably is one somewhere but we do not know if it would be factory installed or not. We have never heard of a factory making an RV with a doggie door as a standard option but it might be offered as an optional feature.
It is just that in all the years that we have been writing and researching for the content of this website, we have never come across any offers of this feature. What we have come across is that individual owners have installed their own doggie doors.
So, technically, yes, there are probably RVs and travel trailers that have doggie doors in them. They were just placed there by the individual owners to make their lives a little easier.
Once the RV or travel trailer is yours, you are free to install these handy little features to help make life a little easier for your treasured pet. It might be a good idea to have one installed so that your pet doe snot do any damage to your expensive RV or trailer.
We have seen pictures of a dog scratching its way through an RV door. It is not a pretty sight as the damage left behind is not going to be cheap to fix. The door would have to be replaced and some discipline applied to the pet who did the bad deed.
Can You Put a Doggie Door in an RV Door?
Yes, you can do this project as it has been done many times before by different pet and RV owners. The standard doggie doors for traditional homes and doors should suffice and work for your RV or travel trailer.
The key to doing this project is to make sure you follow all instructions on the package. If you are still not sure, get some advice from door experts as you will have to adjust the thickness of the new pet door to match the thickness of your RV’s door.
This project is going to have some delicate steps involved and two of those delicate steps will be measuring and cutting. You have to be careful with both of these steps as one mistake can make a very expensive difference.
If you are not handy with a jigsaw, a circular saw is not the power tool to use on this project, then it is best to get someone who is a handyman and has experience with cutting RCV doors.
You want this project done right as you do not want to install the door wrong or make a cutting mistake that has you replacing the door.
RV Screen Door With Doggie Door
This is also possible but the only drawback you would have to overcome would be the thickness of the door itself. Screen doors are notorious for being very thin and a regular doggie door may not work on one without some adjustments.
For example, those adjustments could be adding some plywood or plexiglass to the screen door to make up for the lack of thickness in the original construction materials.
If you cannot overcome that drawback, some owners have installed their doggie door in the wall of their RV or trailer and one did it in a small slide-out between two reclining chairs. You do have options available if you cannot put one on your screen door.
You would have to take stock of your RV and see which is the best location for you to install one. Keep in mind that the other side of the door should have a small deck for your dog to get out on instead of just a small step.
You can add the steps to the deck giving your dog security as they go through the door. The steps should be a set where your dog is comfortable with going up and down. The deck should be large enough to give your pet enough room to maneuver before going down or before going through their little door.
Is a Dog Door Worth It?
This is up to your judgment. We can only speak for ourselves and say that a doggie door can come in handy and may be worth the expense of installing. But it might not be worth it over time due to some complications that come.
If you want your pet to go in and out at night without waking you up, then it might be worth it to you to install one. Hopefully, you are camped in a very safe region of the country and there will be no predators around looking for lunch.
But if your dog doesn’t like the door and does not want to use it, then it may not be worth it to you to install one. This is something that you may not find out until after you have spent the money.
The choice is yours to make and you should run through all the pros and cons involved to make sure you make the right decision. Where you camp will be one of the biggest issues as would the weather conditions.
Having a doggie door means that you need one to protect against bad weather as well.
Why You Shouldn't Get a Doggy Door?
There are a lot of legitimate reasons why you should not get a doggie door. We have alluded to a couple of those reasons already and we will start the list with those and go on to some we have not mentioned.
1. The weather- you have t make sure that the doggie door is capable of keeping the weather outside and still let your dog go both ways through the door. There are such doors on the market but the cost may not be worth it.
2. The region of the country- having your dog able to go out while you are sleeping is very convenient... for you. However, you may be camping in a region of the country that has some wild animals that like to prey on dogs.
These predators will be out at night and even if you have a pen, they are able to get inside that pen and lie in wait for your pet. You have to take great safety precautions if you install a doggie door.
3. Resale value- while a doggie door may raise the value of your RV, etc, IN YOUR eyes, it may not in other people’s eyes. A doggie door may cost you some value and have you lose money on any resale or trade-in you want to do.
The cost of replacing the door to make it more valuable may not be worth it in the long run. It is up to you but be careful about degrading the value of your RV or trailer.
4. Rules- there are many different campgrounds in the nation and they all have their own set of rules. They may not allow for dog pens, dog runs, or even a dog wandering around along at night.
You would have to check the rules of each campground you want to stay at to make sure you have that type of freedom with your pet.
5. Theft- if the door lets your dog out, it can also let people or wild animals inside. You have to be careful of the type of doggie door you get as you could be putting your valuables at risk. Not to mention your pet or yourselves.
Some Final Words
Having a doggie door in your access door or screen door may sound like a good idea. But in the long run it may cause more problems than the door is worth. Convenience for you also means convenience for some negative aspects of life as well.
You need to look at all the pros and cons to see if this project is viable for you or not. It just may be easier to walk your dog on a leash than it is to install a doggie door.
