....a tall, fixable, strong door gate?

Archie and Willis are in love. Archie spends 99% of his time grinning at Willis at the kitchen gate. Willis spends 50% of his time hanging over the top of it, dribbling on Archie's head and trying to lick him. My mum is just about having a heart attack. Willis could clear the gate if he wanted, but is content with hanging over it, size 9 paws flailing perilously over my 3rd born.

When not allowed to lick/kiss/dribble over Archie, or nibble his fingers, Willis goes off and lets himself into the cereal cupboard. I am so tired of sweeping up coco pops than have been flung around the kitchen. The crisps are also in that cupboard and Willis has put a footprint in every packet he's dragged out. The kids are tired of squished crisps.

I am hoping that by using a full length gate Willis can sniff him through the bars and Archie is less likely to get a dane print on the top of his head - the Health Visitor does not approve :rolleyes:

So I need a full length gate and an exploding cereal packet please :D

I've got a lindam dog gate - tall - and my VERY large gordon (we joke he has dane in him somewhere!) could not get over it!

Or you could look at a real gate??  like an outdoor one but not sure how attractive they are?

The cupboards - have you tried putting locks on or child locks?

Hi.........we have moved now but in our last house( previously owned by a Deerhound breeder) she had a full size wrought iron garden gate fitted and painted to match the decor, we found it invaluable even with our beagle/spaniel breeds that we kept it!.............everyone[ doggy people] said what a great idea it was.............much cheaper too than the wooden tall dog gates we found!
hope this helps?......oh, and of course they are chew proof!
Pauline

Obviously the Argos dog gate is not going to be any good then, (my choice for a dog gate) but I guess with a great dane not tall enough.  How about a metal garden gate that you could buy from B and Q or Homebase, remove your kitchen door and store it somewhere and fix a barred iron 6ft garden gate there instead, no way that Willis could get over it as it would go from floor to ceiling, he can still see through and Archie will be safe as houses.

As for your Coco Pop horror, Naughty Willis :-D get those plastic cereal containers pop the cereals in and close them up, but with the tall garden gate he will not be able to get in anymore.

The Lindam gate from Argos is very secure and think it would be too tall for Willis to hang over. In the old house, ours was screwed to the wall, but not sure if that was an included option or a David modification. I could ask him if you decided to go that route. Hasn't gone up in new house yet, or I'd take pics of how he attached it.

M.

Thanks. A wrought iron gate may be a good idea - there is no door to the kitchen so that would be easy to install. Will have a look at the Lindam one too. It has to be something that can be screwed in with very long, strong screws. It also has to be difficult to open - he can open some with his mouth - not good!

Cereal wise - if I lock the cupboard he just ups the ante and caves the door in :rolleyes: He's a very determined dane :D If you remove something that Willis likes to do you get punished.... :D

Hi Carla - re: the Lindam I have sometimes 4 setters leaning on it - and ours isn't screwed in and it 'takes the weight' without coming away!   (that's about 140kg!)

So with being screwed in hopefully might be enough for you!

Sorry can't help with the cupboard then - mine aren't that determined!!   I'm guessing he has kongs and toys but just prefers trashing the cupboard contents ?

what about using storage boxes or moving to another 'out of reach' cupboard and put 'his' stuff in 'his cupboard!

Obviously guessing what set up you have in your kitchen completely!

I have the lindam dog gate (I have dobes) and my boy can see over the top and hang paws on quite easily, it is 107 cm tall. But can't physically jump it. He can on normal babygates though. Not sure how big willis is, but blade is about 29" at the shoulder. if not could you not have a barn style door their with a lock on bottom half also could you not change your cupboards around so that the food is up the top cupboards and crockery in the bottom ones, he might not be so temted to get in their and find an empty plate ;-)
edited to say, we also don't have ours screwwed to the wall and have at least 70 kg of dog leaning against it regularly....

Thanks all.

It really has to be screwed in - he's about 15 stone. He's huge. He stands on his back legs and looks my 6ft husband in the eye. This is no ordinary dane. If he senses weakness in something he will just go on and on at it until it gives in :rolleyes: And there are two of them in there - a combined approach at the gate could be fatal :D :D

I'm loathe to move the cupboards as my son likes to get his own breakfast in a morning - he's only 7 and its his bit of independence. I'll use some of those plastic containers though - they will work well.

I know how his mind works. If I can let him and Archioe talk through the gate he will stop getting frustrated and leave the cereals alone :D

I was in a house last year where they kept the dogs in the cupboard under the stairs.  2 boxers used a large walk in cupboard as their crate and it had a wrought iron style, but maybe lighter material, on it to keep them in.  I'm sure they said they had a blacksmith make it for them and the dogs had plenty room.  I know it isn't what you are looking for but just to illustrate it can be done and you could adapt it for your own needs.

We looked at getting an outside gate too, but when we phoned to order one we were told that they would be too heavy for an inside door frame and you would need to reinforce the wall My Dobe easily clears a normal baby gate - we thought about getting the tall lindam one but I was worried that he would have done serious damage to his undercarriage if he tried to jump it (which I could well imagine he would have done!) The lindam one may well be fine for you if it's just a hanging over problem, rather than jumping over :D

We looked at getting an outside gate too, but when we phoned to order one we were told that they would be too heavy for an inside door frame and you would need to reinforce the wall

That is a good point, something that was not thought of ;-)  second thought of perhaps a lighter weight gate, but he may possibly break that off it's hinges if pushing it with his full 15 stone or third thought what about a stable door, fourth thought what about a re-inforced glass door, he can see in, but boy it would need some cleaning from his paws and slobbering :-D I don't think any dog gate will be strong enough and if he took a running jump he could really even clear a 5ft gate if he really wanted to.

I've got the Lindam one from argos too, it's tall enough to keep the borzois in - but they could jump up on it if they wanted - being higher than chest height though they can't hang over it :)

The screw attachments are included, it's very secure.

We used the Lindam dog gates before BUT found that eventually they broke with several dogs hanging over it, and one day we came home to find all the big dogs had got out of the kitchen, raided the cats' litter trays and had a party in the living room. (Good job the little dogs were crated to play safe.) After that we bought a plain wooden interior door and sawed it in half to make a stable door. It's PERFECT. We were able to chose the height and there is no way on earth they can knock it down.

i am hopefully teaching the mad boys that it is best NOT to hang over but they like to peak round the corner! ;)

Carla - you can screw the Lindam gate in - just we haven't! :)  And so far haven't needed too!

Willis sounds a little I mean large character!

http://www.cannockgates.co.uk/index.php?r=wggbr&brand=C

I've just ordered one from these guys (for outdoors though).  They offer good advice over the phone.

I have the lindam gate and although its okay height wise - but then I only have small/medium dog - within the first week the catches on the bottom of the gate came off - kids managed to do it not the dog - but it does now mean that it is only secured at the top - I would imagine that if a heavy dog was to push it enough it could also break the catches off at the bottom.

Mind you reading about all your heavy dogs I'd like to know now just what my four and a half stone son was actually doing to manage to break the catches off...... 

HI MW184!

We actually took the catches off the bottom - a right pain I found them - and so far we haven't had a problem (despite 4 setters leaning on it)  they only hang on the top not shove at the bottom mind you!

My OH made two screen doors to keep our cats from killing each other.  He used pretty heavy one inch square mesh, a hook and eye latch and put some nice design features in to jazz it up a bit.  He hinged them on the outside of the solid doors that were already in place so now we can use whichever we want.  If you or someone else could build one I think you would need extra latches at the top and bottom of the door.