SLAMMING into the glass sliding door!

lillibirdy · #1 10th October 2003, 11:13 AM

The two of them get to playing rough on the deck sometimes, and end up with both of them, from the momentum, just slamming into the sliding glass door. I have actually seen it bow in when this happens and am SO afraid they will go thru it and seriously hurt themselves. Do you think it is possible? It isn't like auto glass is it, it will just shard and be horrible awful....

Laurie_Duke · #2 10th October 2003, 11:45 AM

They have great stickers now...and also you can buy some stencils and spray paint on the doors...like flowers and stuff and hopefully they will kind of stay away from it....I am sorry, but I do not want to imagine the thought of what could happen if indeed they ever went through it...also check if the glass is tempered, it should say on the inside of the sides, this means that the glass breaks into millions of small piecies, reducing the seriously of the injury of the broken pieces of glass...

Good Luck...silly boy's !!!!

Laurie.

Vela · #3 10th October 2003, 11:50 AM

If it's not tempered and breaks that would be SO bad. I saw a little girl go backwards through one like that and she doesn't weigh much. I would really consdier replacing it with tempered glass if they really bang into it often. It could break and the cost of replacing the door would be much less than what could potentially happen. Check and see if it's tempered, it should say on it somewhere. YOu can maybe even call the manufacturer and ask them if you aren't sure.

jray · #4 10th October 2003, 11:54 AM

This is very serious!
My cousin has a 1.5 year old boxer who went through the glass door (got stuck actually) trying to get a racoon. He severly injured his front paws/legs. She was in the shower at the time and found him stuck in the door (he didn't go through just his front legs) He was thrashing around trying to get free. He severed the tendons in both legs and almost cut off his right leg. They did reconstructive surgery but he now has perminant dammage to his right leg and limps. Please be careful I always keep my shades closed on our sliding glass door to hopefully prevent this from happening.

lillibirdy · #5 10th October 2003, 12:42 PM

Great! I saw on the door the word tempered upside down and backwards on the top of the door, along with some other things that didn't seem to even be words. I feel a little better now. All the boxer burning and rough housing is so cute to watch, but man, when they get to 80+ lbs and crash into stuff it can be kinda scary. We try to make them chill out in the house now days, after they slammed into the coffee table (whilst running/wrestling) and sent one furmonster sliding right across the top of the table and off of the other side, clearing everything on the table.....drinks, remotes, ivy centerpiece flying. Since then all we have to do is say "chill out" and they will, altho begrudgingly, lay down and chew something. So they save their crazy wild stuff for outside, and this is where they end up running full bore together, and end up on the deck sliding/slamming into the door. We have given up on repairing the screen that was on it, they just crash into it and pop it off the runners, and hubby is tired of fixing it. Now he just mans the fly swatter and gripes.....lol. Thanks for the info on tempered. BTW, are these smaller peices still quite sharp?

Vela · #6 10th October 2003, 01:00 PM

They are not sharp like shards no. With tempered glass you are much better off. It usually breaks into small pieces but a lot of times doens't even come apart. They could cut paws and what not but not anything like big shards of glass. I would just keep an eye on them and it SHOULD be okay. Good luck!

bustermom · #7 10th October 2003, 01:07 PM

You may also consider a barrier of some sort on the outside - a few strategically placed potted plants, a big non-slip mat... or anything else big and obvious that says "there is a wall here".

Perhaps get some of those big, lightweight fiberglass planters (filled with potting soil) and put them in a line about 2-3 feet outside the door and along the entire width of the door. That way, they'd need to walk around the planters to get to the door - and in a worst case they'd just plow into the planters (make a mess, but not get hurt). Or you could do the same thing with benches or patio furniture.

And yes, the little pieces have some sharp edges but as they're so small, the worst they do is cause lots of little cuts. When tempered glass breaks, the entire thing collapses in a shower of tiny pieces. This avoids the life-threatening deep gashes that regular glass can cause, but it's still gonna hurt!

adeinert · #8 10th October 2003, 03:18 PM

I know a few boxers who have gone through windows, three off hand I can think of. One went after a noise, another leaped after the foster family left the house - it had separation anxiety and the third leaped through a window to follow an owner.

My three are constantly slamming against my glass sliders. They are double glass (we are in FL -everything has to be hurricane strong). I would definitely worry if they were banging into regular glass.

It is amazing the beating they take while playing and act as if it doesn't bother them at all!!!

Ashlie and the boxertrio

Albie · #9 10th October 2003, 06:47 PM

We had a sliding glass door break once for no apparent reason. It was tempered glass and broke into hundreds of tiny pieces, which eventually all fell out in a sheet on our deck. It was a real pain in the rear to clean up. Right now, we have these clingy window art things on our sliders that my daughter made. Not only does it help Lacy see the doors, but it helps us humans too since we've been known to bang our heads into the sliders on occassion!

lillibirdy · #10 11th October 2003, 01:51 AM

I am famous for walking into glass doors, and screens too if they are one sheet.....

Decals would help me but they wouldn't help with my dogs. They don't seem to even notice where they are, or what they are slammin into most of the time. I agree with whoever commented how puzzling it is that they don't seem to get hurt in their rough play. When they are mouth fighting under my heavy oak coffee table, all you can hear is thud thud crack crack of their heads hitting the undersides of the table. I would have SUCH a headache!
Kathy

siris'mom · #11 11th October 2003, 04:41 AM

Who needs decals. We have really dirty windows. Of course everyone knows it rains alot here in Washington, so even ten minutes after the slider is cleaned, it's dirty again. My dogs have ad-libbed and made their own doggy door by ripping out the bottom corner. It's really quite handy. When we replaced the screen, we left that lower corner open. Works great.