Pet Doors

Question
Was wondering what brand or type of pet door you would recommend? We
have a bichon who recently has begun coming to tell us he has to go potty
even when he has no intention of going outside.  He is acting like a 1 yr old
child who likes to play the drop-the-spoon game.  He in enjoyinng watching
us get up put of our chair so he can then laugh at us when he's pranking! We
would use it during the day, keeping the big door open and having the pet
door installed in the storm door. Curious what keeps other critters out?
Curious which are the best for energy saving? Safest for the pet? Then, is it
difficult to train a pet to use one of these?  Etc.  Thank you in advance!
~Donna

Answer
To be honest, I don't usually recommend dog doors for the small breeds.  One reason is that they are highly prized right now, and a dog outside alone is an easy target for thieves.  Not much is available to keep critters out, and if you live in an area where coyotes are present, they will view him as food, and they can jump a six foot fence, or tunnel three feet down to get at him.  Don't think you don't have them just because you've never seen one.  They hunt in the daytime or at night, and tend to stay hidden at the edges of fields, just out of sight, for the most part.  If you are unsure, ask your state wildlife authority what the situation is in your area.  There is one product called a "coyote roller" that you can purchase, but then you still have the problem about tunneling, which may require you to do some digging, perhaps to bury wire that the varmints can't dig through.
It isn't hard to teach a dog to use a door, although some dogs never like them, but it might be easier (not to mention cheaper) to teach him not to bug you unless he needs to go potty!  First, you should be patting yourself on the back for having house trained this dog at all.  Bichons are notoriously hard to train, so the fact that you actually have one that asks to go out is somewhat a blessing:-))  Adult dogs can hold their bladders for several hours, however, so if you want, you can try to put him on a bit of a schedule, as long as there are no lapses.  Ignore any attempts to bug you to open the door unless it's a scheduled pee break.  Also, part of this may just be an attempt to amuse himself.  So, any attempt you can make to enrich his indoor environment, such as rotating some toys to play with, training (mental exercise tires them out, plus you have an even better behaved dog, or maybe even one that can do tricks), stuffed Kongs, or compressed rawhide chews, etc. may help to give him other options beside the attention-seeking.  Good luck!