After their owners built a secret door in their fence, two dogs who became “best friends” are now able to see each other whenever they like.
Pooches Fritz and Trapper, both 5 years old, have been next-door neighbors for the last two years.
In 2022, Miranda Stockton, 45, rescued Fritz, a German shepherd, from the Humane Society as he had several anxiety issues that stopped him from socializing with other dogs.
Around the same time, Ms. Stockton’s neighbor, Whitney Tipton, 35, adopted Trapper, a golden retriever.
The next-door neighbors decided to introduce their dogs to each other, hoping they’d bond.
“As they grew up, Fritz and Trapper would smell each other under the fence,” Ms. Stockton said.
Despite having different personalities they grew to become best friends. Trapper, who has a “goofy smile,” is described as “big and sweet” while Fritz is considered very smart.
At first, the pair would take Trapper and Fritz to the local dog park, where the dogs would “aggressively” play with each other.
However, after a while, Trapper started to stick his head under the fence to look for his friend. This prompted Ms. Stockton to ask her neighbor if they could build a dog door as she couldn’t stand to see Trapper lying under the fence anymore. But Ms. Tipton rejected the idea, initially, and considered it “too weird.”
“I said ‘It’s not weird. They already play together,’ - and Trapper would always squish his little nose under the fence to see Fritz,” Ms. Stockton said.
She then messaged Ms. Tipton’s husband, Joe Parks, 35, with screenshots of dog doors on Pinterest, and he seemed enthusiastic about the idea.
The pair then tried to convince Ms. Stockton’s husband, Josh Levenson, 47, to get on board. After everyone was convinced, the neighbors contacted a carpenter and received a quote for $600.
“We worked with him to design it,” Ms. Stockton said. “I shared my Pinterest photos with the carpenter.”
The carpenter then made a door replicating the examples on Ms. Stockton’s board.
The perfectly-framed, little wood door with mini locks on both sides for privacy cost the neighbors $300 each.
Now, Ms. Stockton and Ms. Tipton often unlock the door when they get home from work, and allow the dogs to play with each other.
“I see Trapper popping his head under the fence,” Ms. Stockton said, “so Whitney and I will text each other and ask if we can unlock the door.
