DIY Dog Gate

A lot of our friends worried about the safety of our baby before we even brought her home from the hospital. Not because they thought we were going to be bad parents, but because of the size of our dogs. We have a 100 pound Great Pyrenees and a 200 pound Daniff (Great Dane/Mastiff mix). Their size is very intimidating, but they are by far the sweetest dogs in the world. Our friends would ask silly questions like: “What if they carry her away?” “What if they step on her and you can’t get them off?” Um, I’m not going to be leaving my baby unattended on the floor the first day home from the hospital….now the 180th day is another story.

The dogs have been amazing with our LO from the very beginning. Our Daniff, Dirt McGirt, just adores the baby and is so gentle with her. The older dog, Huggy Bear, is always good about alerting me when she is crying or upset … as if I cannot hear her. He also never fails to let me know when there are birds flying in the sky especially when she is taking a nap. Anyways, they are great dogs and do well with our baby, however, I’d like to keep them out of the living room where she plays. Not because I think they will harm her, but because I’m tired of cleaning all their damn fur up every five seconds!! I have a Roomba, which is God’s gift to moms, but it can’t keep up with the massive amount of shedding! I looked in to getting a child gate for the entrance to our living room, but holy moly 6-foot gate is expensive. At least too expensive for me to buy one for a house that I rent and won’t be living in much longer.

Now that I am a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) I decided to be resourceful and crafty. I made my own gate out of cardboard and it worked like a charm at keeping the dogs out. If you are interested in making one of your own this is what I did.

DIY Dog Gate

Materials:

• Cardboard box(es)
• Measuring Tape
• Scissors
• Duct Tape
• Con-Tact Paper
• 3M Command Hooks
• Ribbon

Directions:

1. Measure length of doorway
2. Cut cardboard to fit length – if you are using multiple boxes you may need to Duct tape them together.
3. Stand cardboard up and use flaps to stabilize (you can alternate the direction of each bottom flap for balance).
4. Duct tape the top flaps together to make your gate more sturdy.
5. Cover cardboard in Con-Tact paper. Con-Tact paper comes in about a billion different designs so I am sure you can find something to match your living room décor. 
6. Use 3M Command hooks to fasten cardboard to wall – the ribbon is so you can easily unhook and open your gate.
   

   

   

   Now I’m not saying this gate will work for everyone, but it has been 100% effective in our house. Both my dogs can walk right through my cardboard gate if they wanted to, but they don’t. It is enough of a hindrance that it keeps them out of the living room and we now have one fur free zone for the baby to play!