Understood. Our dog is about 40 pounds and is 7 years old, and she has been indoors/outdoors for 7 years. Our older dog, up to 65 pounds, also spent his life indoors/outdoors. The kittens weigh about 3 pounds each.
Thank you for the multiple suggestions. I read the TCS article and will try to follow the suggestions. We're going to try the magnet trick. Hubby is handy. I've read the pros and cons of microchipping the dog/door and this would not be my first choice.
Will consider the distraction. Cannot change the deck; the dog still has to get out and whatever method she uses to get out, the cats can use. :( Also would render the deck a bit unusable for other purposes. But thank you for your quick reply.
I have two (litter mate) almost 4 month old kittens who are V-E-R-Y interested in the doggy door. One went out once and we have since kept the doggy door closed off. As you can mention, this is far from ideal for our puppy dog! In addition, any time we open the door - which opens to our deck -...