How can I make an inexpensive pet gate for a wide opening? It will be used inside the kitchen so it will need to look nice as well.
By Forever 18 from Monroe, NJ
What about a child's gate that expands & is held with tension? You can often buy these at yard sales or discount places.
My brother and his family use a baby gate for an inexpensive dog gate they go to garage sales or thrift stores and buy two baby gates that would work together and make it into a dog gate and it recycles what the baby's once had :) and doesn't put trash back into the dumps.
I'd get a plastic lattice panel at your local home-improvement store, cut it into panels, and edge each panel with thin wood of some kind, fasten panels together with hinges, and make more than you think that you will need so that you can zig-zag it and make it free-standing. Good luck.
I have an extra wide opening between my living room and kitchen so the baby gate idea doesn't work for me. So I use lattice.
Find some inexpensive netting. Attach one end to the wall and the other to a pole (or both ends to poles). If you don't have anything to use for a pole lying around you can get PVC at the hardware store for $0.30/ft (depending on which diameter you want), and paint it. Weight the bottom of the pole(s) so it stands up. This will probably only work for smaller or less venturous dogs.
I used to have a large chalkboard, when my kids were small. We found that it fit perfectly into the open door hinge side, the other end went on the side we kept the dog. Pushing in is easy for them, pulling not easy. We would just put it behind the door when not in use.
