Pet gate for vet-prescribed stair rest — Border Collie

A pulled muscle and vet-prescribed rest is stressful — the hardest part is often convincing an energetic Border Collie that the stairs are off limits. Gate choice here depends on three things: your dog's size and jumping ability, the width of the opening you're blocking, and whether wall-mounting is possible — and for stairs specifically, a pressure-mounted gate is not safe, so wall-mounting is essential. Can you tell me where exactly you're blocking access (top of stairs, bottom, or a doorway to the stairwell), how wide that opening is, and whether your walls or door frame are solid enough to take screws?

That borrowed gate is the problem — most basic baby gates sit around 75–76cm tall, and a healthy Border Collie can clear that without breaking a sweat, injured or not. You need something taller. What height is the gate she jumped, do you know? And is she putting full weight on the affected leg, or is she still partially lame?

Right — a frustrated, mobile Border Collie is exactly the scenario where gate height really matters. A gate that's merely inconvenient won't cut it during recovery. My recommendation is the Safetots Extra Wide Baby Gate in the 80cm width, which also comes in a taller 'Extra Tall' version at around 100cm high. It's a wall-mounted, screw-fix gate with a smooth one-hand auto-close mechanism, a double-locking latch, and no trip bar at the bottom. For an 80cm opening you'd be fitting it at the minimum of its range, so it'll be rock solid. The extra height is the key thing here — at 100cm it's a genuine deterrent for a 20kg Collie, not just a suggestion. It's around £55–65 on Amazon UK and the hardware included is solid. Given this is a short-term medical restriction, the wall fixings are absolutely worth it — patch the holes later, protect the leg now.

Fitting is straightforward — two wall plates, a drill, and about 20 minutes. The instructions are clear and the fixings go straight into plaster with the wall plugs provided. On the latch: it requires a simultaneous lift-and-push action that dogs can't replicate — there's no lever or simple paw-accessible mechanism. Border Collies are clever, but this one defeats them consistently. The auto-close feature also means it won't accidentally be left open by anyone in the house, which during a vet-rest period is arguably more useful than the lock itself.

Good luck with the recovery — two weeks feels long when she's bouncing off the walls, but a solid gate makes it manageable. Search 'Safetots Extra Wide Extra Tall gate' on Amazon UK and make sure you select the taller variant. Hope she's back to her normal chaos soon.