PetPeek Fence Window for Pets

My dog loves it

I was nervous about this after reading some of the posts from 'experts' that claim it is a bad idea. Just in case, I purchased 3 extra pickets for my new fence just in case I needed to remove it. My wife has been feeding our neighbor's pup through a small knot hole in our old fence. I was having a new fence installed and she was going to miss giving him his daily treats. We had seen one of these in a nearby neighbor's fence. I decided to modify it by cutting a 2" hole in the end using a standard circle saw. I sanded the edges very smooth so no pooch could get scratched. Installed the portal as per instructions. "Blackie" loves it. He comes to see just who is there to give him a treat. I see his head looking around our yard all the time. I have 3 dogs in the yard, a mixed breed lab, and 2 golden retrievers. All in all they all love it.

Throughout August Acme Canine tested PetPeek, a window insert for fences. The PetPeek is described as a durable, clear, hard acrylic dome 9.5 inches in diameter, with a black trim-ring. The company states it is an easy do-it-yourself installation into your wooden or vinyl fence and is an attractive addition to your fence.Here's what we found. We first thought of adding this window to our outdoor picket fence but decided not to since the hole needed to install the window would compromise the integrity of the fence. Our next choice was to install it in our solid half wall which separates the main room from our training area. We decided to install it about 15 inches above the floor. The window was very easy to install, but due to the thickness of the wall, we did have to add more washers than provided in the assembly packet.Three dogs were staying with us on the weekend so we worked on introducing them to the window. At first we tried treats to encourage the dogs to put their heads in the window. What seemed to work better was to go on the other side and tap on the window. Two of the three picked up right away with using the window as a portal to the main area. These were smaller breeds with a natural curiosity. The medium size dog at first would jump on the 1/2 wall when we tapped on the glass but soon was looking through the portal.Over the month we have taught 21 dogs to use the portal. Usually it takes two or three attempts before the dog picks up on using this. Smaller dogs seem to enjoy it more (maybe due to the height of this portal or that they normally don't jump on the wall to "see" someone).We highly recommend the PetPeek and are planning to add two more at different levels to reduce dogs jumping up on the wall as well as give them the opportunity to see who is coming in the building.

I was excited to install this window for my buddy who just managed to stick his nose and one eye under the fence gate to see the outside world. I knew my "shadowbox" fence wouldn't accommodate the installation, so I had to modify about 3 ft. of it to make a "stockade" style fence, which took the better part of a whole day and about $35 in materials. See the pics how I did that. I thought the installation of the window would be easy, but it seems nothing is EVER "easy." The issue is the supplied hardware. First, they supply cap nuts to protect my pet from the screw tips. The problem is that the screws are too long for my 5/8" thick fence boards to allow me to tighten the cap nuts, so I purchased four stainless steel 1/4-20 bolts 1-1/2 inches long. The installation was further exasperated by the supplied carriage bolts that SHOULD prevent them from turning while tightening the nuts from the opposite side, because I could NOT be on both sides of the fence at the same time (and I have yet to teach my dog to hold a screwdriver). The problem is that the black plastic ring had round holes, not square holes to accommodate carriage bolts...a MAJOR design flaw. Photo two shows the supplied black carriage bolts, the 1-1/2 inch SS bolt I purchased and the black plastic installation ring with round holes. I overcame this challenge using duct tape to prevent the bolt heads from turning while I tightened the nuts from the opposite side of the fence. OH, make sure you place the textured side of the ring facing the bolt heads, which will further hold the head in place.The installation, which took nearly two days, was finally finished and it looks great, however I have yet to teach my dog to use it!!

But my dogs do you use it, especially when they hear me on the other side of the fence. I've seen my dogs using it when they don't know I'm watching them (and I'm not on the other side of the fence), they don't put their faces all up in the bubble like the pictures show, generally they sit back and watch from a foot or so away, like they do when looking out the back door from inside the house. I didn't notice a big deal with distortion as someone mentioned, I was able to see clearly out of it, but if I looked out of the bubble at a certain angle/depth I did see some distortion. I'd like to think my dogs are smart enough not to look out of the bubble where they'd have a distorted view!As others have said, the biggest problem is the bolts are too long. It would be nice if the manufacturer would assume most people will be installing this in a fence and included a shorter set of bolts as the standard, instead of making buyers make what may be an otherwise unnecessary trip to a hardware store to buy replacement ones. I like the uniqueness of this little doggy window, I haven't seen anyone else with one and in my opinion it's better than just a hole cut into the fence with some window screen netting as covering.

like it alot