Rise Illustraion

This dimension is extremely important!

The top of the flap is ideally placed at least as tall as the pet at the withers (top of the shoulder). Usually, you'll need to add rise to get the flap up high enough. For example: Your dog is 22" at the withers and you buy a pet door with a 15" flap. You'd need a 7" rise to get the top of the flap up high enough. If you had purchased a 19" flap, then you'd only need a 3" rise.

Generally, the shorter the rise the better. As dogs age or become arthritic, it becomes more difficult to step over a higher rise.

When in installing a pet door in a door or wall, you can choose the rise dimension. However, most patio panels have a fixed rise. The exceptions are the Quick Panel III, Thermo Panel IIIe and Pet One panels which have a patented user-adjustable rise.

The Pet 1 Product patio panel is licensed by Patio Pacific Inc to employ a user adjustable rise.