Sawyer is able to open doors that have levers for knobs, and he can open baby gates. We have had to change several doorknobs because of this, but our front door and garage door still have lever-type handles because we have deadbolts on them. We just have to remember to lock the deadbolts. He also opens the baby gate we put up to separate the back of the house from the front, to keep the new puppy in our main living areas. Every time he opens it, she can get into our living room and has access to the stairs, unless I have her in the ex-pen! Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep him from constantly opening the baby gate?
You can get stair gates which you have to squeeze at the same time as lifting a lever, which might defeat your dog. Mine is made by Lindam but of course I'm in the UK but I'm sure there must be a similar make if that's not available.
We have two of that type, but he can open those as well. He learned to get right through it and onto the stairs not long after we got him He is a little trickster!
Not sure if you can do this on levers, but have you seen the Houdini-proof fencing for dogs that escape over fences? Basically you're putting a roller on the top rung of the fence so that the dog slips backwards when he tries to scale the fence. I wonder if you could try something similar on your levers? Although judging from how clever Sawyer is, he might defeat this trick, too! Anyway, take a Google of this type of fencing and see if you could adapt it. And then let us know how it works out!
We got one of these. My cousin found out the hard way that dogs can open some types of baby gate. She used a small loop of chain and a clip from the hardware shop to keep it closed.
I haven't seen those but will google them. Not sure it would work since he uses his mouth to open the latches! Thanks though
Charlie can open his pen gate, which is a latch type thing. He can open it from the inside to get out, and from the outside to get in (to nick Betsy's Kongs). I just have a bit of tough cord which goes round the gates and the gate post and I tie it in a double knot. He has never tried to chew the cord but if he did I'd just use chain.
