Sliding Doors with a Built-In Dog Door

Name: Krasiva Windows & Doors
Price range: $$$

A pet door made right into the dual-pane glass of a Desert Mountain sliding door, so your dog can come and go while the door still slides, locks and seals.

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A Dog Door Built Into the Glass, Not Cut Into It

A built-in dog door is part of the sliding door’s glass. Your dog gets its own way out to the yard, and the door still slides, locks and seals like any other door. Nothing gets cut or bolted onto the door at your house.

Only one line we sell offers it: our Desert Mountain doors. The pet door comes in four sizes and can sit in any lower corner of the door, on the sliding panel or the fixed one. It goes into Desert Mountain swinging French doors too.

Dog doors come up often when we measure patio doors around the Valley. Below is how a built-in pet door compares with the other options, why the glass has to be made for it, how to pick a size, and how it handles dust, heat and security.

Doggy door in Desert Mountain sliding door wide angle

What Comes With a Desert Mountain Pet Door

Every Desert Mountain pet door comes with:

A heavy-duty frame made of high-strength aluminum
Two clear flaps with magnets that pull them closed
High-density weatherstripping around the flaps
A closure panel that slides in and latches when you want the pet door shut. With it in place, a sliding door still opens all the way.

The pet door is ordered with the door, and our own installers, paid by the hour, put it in like any other sliding door replacement.

Built-In Pet Door, Panel Insert or Wall Flap?

There are three common ways to give a dog its own door to the yard. Each one has a trade-off.

Built into the glass. The pet door is part of the dual-pane glass, so the door keeps its full opening, its own lock and its weatherstripping. The catch is that it comes with a new door, so you choose the size and corner before the door is ordered.
A panel insert. This is a tall, narrow panel with a flap at the bottom that stands in the track next to your old slider. It needs no new door, but it takes up part of the opening, and the sliding panel then closes against the insert instead of the frame. The insert also has its own frame and glass, which may not insulate like the rest of the door. Inserts aren’t secure, either. They make the door much easier to break into than a locked slider.
A wall flap. A flap through an outside wall leaves the patio door alone. It also means cutting through stucco or block and framing the hole, which is a separate project from a door. And if you sell the home, a hole in the wall is much harder to fill in so it doesn’t show. With a sliding door, the glass can simply be replaced to get rid of the pet door.

If your old slider is due for replacement anyway, a pet door built into the new glass is the cleanest of the three. If the slider is in good shape, an insert may be the simpler fix.

Why the Glass Has to Be Made With the Opening

Building code requires safety glass in doors (Phoenix’s 2024 IRC, section R324.4), and most patio door glass is tempered. Tempered glass is heat-treated to make it much stronger than plain glass.

That strength comes with a rule: tempered glass can’t be cut or drilled. It breaks if anyone tries, so any hole or cutout has to be made before the glass is tempered (Dulles Glass).

That’s why no one can safely cut a pet door into the slider you have now. A Desert Mountain pet door is built right into the glass at the factory. You get a pet door that is part of the door, not an add-on.

Dog Doors We've Built Into Sliding and French Doors

White Vinyl Desert Mountain 2 Panel Sliding Door with Grids in the glass and medium doggy door in glass installed in Block Home.

White Vinyl 2 Panel Sliding Door with Large Doggy Door in glass. Stucco Home.

White Desert Mountain 2 Panel Sliding Door with Extra Large Doggy Door in Glass in Stucco Home

Tan Vinyl Desert Mountain 2 Panel Sliding Door with Large Doggy Door in glass in Stucco Home

Tan Vinyl 2 Panel Desert Mountain Sliding Door with Medium Doggy Door in the glass in Block Home

Tan Vinyl 2 Panel Sliding Door with Medium Doggy Door in Glass. Block Home

White Vinyl Desert Mountain 2 Panel Sliding Patio Door in Block Home with doggy door in the glass

Tan Vinyl 2 Panel Desert Mountain Sliding Door with Doggy Door in glass installed in stucco home

Double Vinyl Desert Mountain French Door with 2 Stationary Sidelites and Prairie Style Grids and Doggy Door in Glass in Stucco Home

Picking a Pet Door Size

Desert Mountain pet doors are sized by your pet’s weight. Here are the four sizes and the flap opening for each:

Small: pets up to 15 lbs; opening 4¼” wide by 8¼” tall
Medium: up to 40 lbs; 7¼” by 12¼”
Large: up to 100 lbs; 9¼” by 16¼”
Extra large: up to 200 lbs; 12¾” by 23¾”

Weight only gets you close. Two dogs that weigh the same can be built very differently, so grab a tape measure. Measure your dog across its widest part and from the floor to the top of its shoulders, then compare those numbers to the openings above.
A few more things to think about:

A puppy needs the size it will grow into.
Your dog steps up and over the bottom of the door frame to use the flap. That matters for an older dog with stiff hips.
A bigger flap is a bigger opening for heat and dust, so don’t go larger than your pet needs.

Dust, Heat and Security

Any opening in a door is a way in for dust and heat, and a pet flap is no exception. Here’s what keeps it in check:

The flaps. Two clear flaps with magnets pull shut behind your dog, and high-density weatherstripping seals around them.
The closure panel. Slide it in and latch it from the inside when you go to bed or leave the house, and the flap is blocked off. That way the pet door isn’t an easy way in while no one is watching. It’s also handy when a dust storm rolls in.
The rest of the door. A new door replaces the worn seals and sweeps of an old slider, so the whole opening seals tighter than before.

French Doors, and Which Panel Gets the Pet Door

Double Vinyl Desert Mountain French Door with 2 Stationary Sidelites and Prairie Style Grids and Doggy Door in Glass

Desert Mountain swinging French doors can have a pet door built into the glass too. The photo shows a double French door with prairie-style grids and a pet door in the lower corner of one door.

On a sliding door, the pet door can go in either lower corner of the sliding panel or the fixed panel. Our photos show both. In the fixed panel the flap never moves; in the sliding panel it travels with the door when you open it.

When we measure, tell us where your dog heads in the yard and where its bed and water bowl are inside. That helps you pick the corner that suits your dog and your furniture.

Shopping for the door itself? Our sliding doors page covers the styles, panel layouts and frame materials we install.

Sliding Door with a Doggy Door in the Glass

More Patio Doors We Install

Built-in pet doors come only in our Desert Mountain sliding and French doors. See the other patio doors we install.

Dog Door Questions

Answers to common questions about sliding doors with a built-in dog door. Have one we didn’t cover? Call us at (602) 678-3737.

krasiva

Sliding Doors with a Built-In Dog Door

Request a Free Quote

Request a Free Quote

A Dog Door Built Into the Glass, Not Cut Into It

What Comes With a Desert Mountain Pet Door

Built-In Pet Door, Panel Insert or Wall Flap?

Why the Glass Has to Be Made With the Opening

Dog Doors We've Built Into Sliding and French Doors

Picking a Pet Door Size

Dust, Heat and Security

French Doors, and Which Panel Gets the Pet Door

Sliding Door with a Doggy Door in the Glass

More Patio Doors We Install

Sliding Doors

French Doors

Bi-Folding Doors

Multi-Slide Doors

Dog Door Questions