Pet gate for arthritic older dog

A 16-year-old Border Terrier with severe arthritis needs a gate you can open without disturbing them and that they can walk through without any step-over bar — that's the priority here. Gate choice generally comes down to three things: the dog's size and jumping ability, the opening width, and whether you need pressure-mounted or wall-mounted (pressure-mounted is never safe at the top of stairs, by the way). To point you to exactly the right gate, can you tell me where you're installing it — stairs, doorway, or blocking off a room — and is wall-mounting an option for you?

That's really helpful. One more quick question — how tall is she at the shoulder? Border Terriers are compact dogs but I want to make sure the gate height is proportionate and that the walk-through door panel sits close enough to the ground that she isn't negotiating any lip or raised threshold.

Perfect — at that size and mobility level, I'd go with the Safetots Easy Close Extra Tall Baby Gate. It wall-mounts securely, has a built-in walk-through door with a single-handed squeeze-and-lift handle that opens smoothly with no wrestling, and critically — the door swings fully open so she can shuffle through without negotiating anything. The frame sits flush at floor level with no step-over bar at the bottom of the door opening. It fits your 75cm doorway comfortably within its pressure range, and the wall fixings make it solid enough that it won't wobble or rattle if she bumps it. It's designed for babies but it's absolutely the right build quality and mechanism for an elderly dog who needs calm, easy access. Avoid anything with a step-over threshold — even a 5cm bar is cruel for a dog in her condition.

Yes — when you fix the wall cups, mount them as low as you practically can while keeping the gate level. The walk-through door on the Safetots Easy Close leaves only a very small gap at the bottom of the frame, but positioning the whole gate low in the doorway minimises that further. Use a spirit level and take your time with the fixings — a gate that's slightly skewed will bind on the latch and become a two-handed job, which defeats the purpose. Once it's up, run the door open and closed a dozen times to make sure the auto-close function (if you engage it) doesn't swing back on her while she's mid-shuffle. You can usually disengage the auto-close on that model if you'd rather leave it open during the day and just close it at night.

Good choice — it's genuinely one of the easiest gates to live with day-to-day, which matters when you're opening it constantly. I hope it makes life a little easier for both of you.