Choose the route before the door.

Name the job the route needs to do

Start with one sentence: “This route lets our pets move from ___ to ___ while ___.” The last blank is often the most revealing. It might say “someone is home,” “the garden is being used,” or “the other animals remain in a separate room.” A route that works for one routine can be unsuitable for another.

Sketch two candidates before settling on one. Mark each starting room, the threshold and the destination. Include human use of the room: carrying groceries, opening the main door, parking a stroller or using a mobility aid. Do not count a route as available if it depends on a normally locked interior door being left open.

Apply a destination stop check

If a proposed opening leads directly to a pool or backyard water, stop planning that pet-door route. The CPSC’s residential pool barrier guidance warns against pet doors providing this access because children can crawl through. A flap cover or a convenient supervision routine does not resolve that route in this worksheet. Have the property’s barrier arrangements assessed by an appropriate professional.

For other destinations, identify the actual boundary and who checks it. Mark gates, paths to the street, shared areas and any access to equipment or stored chemicals. Write down unresolved conditions rather than awarding a route a “safe” score. This guide provides a planning method, not a property safety inspection.

Walk the whole route at ordinary times

Look at morning, evening and wet-weather use. Where does the main door swing? Where are muddy paws first likely to stop? Can a person reach and operate the selected product’s access cover without moving furniture? Can you inspect the outside landing without stepping into planting or storage?

Record the level change from each side. Hale’s sizing guidance explicitly considers access on both sides of the opening. Keep “inside step” and “outside step” as separate entries, and give the professional photos of both. The floor plan alone does not capture these height differences.

Compare routes with a short decision record

Choose which unknown to resolve next rather than adding up a numerical score. For example, if route A has an awkward landing and route B has unknown glass construction, first request the landing assessment and the glazier’s opinion. Do not order a product to force one route to work.

Make a household access routine

Agree who checks the destination, who controls access and what happens during maintenance, gardening or visitors. Include a fallback route for times when the opening is unavailable. Store the operating instructions where another household member can find them.

Revisit the plan after furniture moves, a new pet arrives or an animal’s mobility changes. The useful output is a marked route, a list of unresolved questions and a workable routine—not a promise that an opening can replace supervision or boundary checks.