Best gate for Akita pushing it open

An expandable wooden gate and a determined Akita is a battle the gate will always lose — those gates rely on friction and lateral pressure, and a dog that leans or pushes at the centre will pop them open every time. Gate choice really comes down to three things: your dog's size and jumping ability, the width of the opening you're blocking, and whether you can wall-mount it — because pressure-mounted gates are not safe at the top of stairs. Before I point you to something that'll actually hold, can you tell me roughly how wide the opening is, where you're installing it (doorway, room divider, or stairs), and is drilling into the wall an option?

Perfect — wall-mounting is the right call for a dog that size, and a doorway between two rooms is straightforward to work with. How wide is the opening? Standard UK doorways run around 75–82cm, but if you've got a wider opening or an archway it changes which model to go for.

Right in the standard range, which is good news. For a 45kg Akita who already has form for pushing gates open, I'd go straight to the Safetots Extra Wide Safety Gate. It's a steel walk-through gate with a wall-mounted pressure system that you anchor properly with fixings — not just tension — so there's no give in the middle for him to exploit. The latch is a two-action release that adults operate easily but a dog pushing with his nose or chest won't trip. It fits openings from 75cm up to 82cm without an extension, so your doorway is covered without any adaptor faff. It's available on Amazon UK for around £50–60 and has strong reviews specifically from owners of large breeds. The wood gates are fine for small dogs; for an Akita, you want steel and real fixings, and this one delivers both.

It's worth thinking about, actually. A dog that can see through a gate is generally calmer — they don't feel cut off, which reduces scratching and throwing themselves at it. The Safetots gate has vertical steel bars with good visibility, so he'll be able to see you in the next room. That tends to reduce the motivation to escape in the first place, which is a nice bonus on top of it being physically more secure than what you've got now.

Good luck with the installation — just make sure you use all the wall fixings it comes with rather than skipping any, and you'll have something that'll hold a dog twice his size. Should sort the kitchen raids out for good.