Description
The Carlson Tuffy is an amazingly versatile expandable pet gate with patented small pet door. This all-metal expandable is the first of it’s kind. Expanding 22-38-inch wide and stands a convenient 24-inch tall. The metal frame is strong, sturdy, and durable making this gate extra secure and superior to plastic. Super easy to install, takes literally seconds. Pressure mounts and locks with the patented Easy Fit Locking System. Soft rubber bumpers are gentle on walls and keeps them scuff free. The lightweight compact design is great for travel and storage. Slate size is 1.75-inch wide. To set the gate, grab both sides and expand to the desire width, lift the locking pin, moving it into place and securing it in the open hole. Now just twist the plastic knob to adjust the pressure until the gate is safely secured against the wall.
Amazon Customer –
This gate is easy to install. I bought this gate to keep our Huskies from eating our cat’s food & litter. I put a tension rod above the gate to discourage jumping over it. If our room was bigger, our dog likely wouldn’t be able to reach the food through the gate as her hind legs don’t fit through the gate…yet (I stopped her, pretty sure her motivation would have gotten her through). Our dog is 52lbs. I will be using long cable ties to make the door opening more narrow to prevent our dog from going through. I would buy this gate again.
BGinCA –
As a dog trainer who once recommended Carlson products to all of my clients, especially those with new puppies, I’ve extensive experience in the use of their ‘expandable” and “walk thru” gates. I have no fewer than 5 expandable gates and 3 walkthru gates in my own home. All have failed well before one would expect a quality product to wear out due to normal wear and tear. The expandable gates have failed within a year of purchase with the walkthru gates latch failing within 14 months. The latches on the walkthru gates are made entirely of plastic, with the exception to a spring and small metal plates with retain the actuator buttons. The buttons are of made of questionable quality plastic that will begin to crack and splinter after a couple months of light use.
Whereas they present an invaluable product, the workmanship is of questionable quality. The expandable gates have 4 rubber bumpers where the gates contact the door frame or wall. These rubber bumpers are merely rubber with no reinforcement to prevent the screw from pulling through the bumper rendering it useless. I’ve tried modifying them using a small washer to allow me to reattach the protective rubber bumper with no success.
I’m not sure what form of a liability is presented by Carlson believes supporting their products but do not expect customer service. It’s not as if a failed gate will send a dog tumbling off a cliff. Moreso, it would impede human access to a room or require the human to continue to step over the lower expandable gates.
Unless I see a change in Carlson’s investment in their products, I will no longer be a customer and cannot morally recommend their products.
Jan –
We already had a two-year-old dog and then we adopted a rescue cat from a hoarding situation and gave him one room in the house to decompress in for 2 weeks. We borrowed a baby gate from a friend so that the dog couldn’t go in there and annoy the cat, but it was a pain taking the gate on and off to let the cat out for a while each day. I saw this on Amazon and figured what a perfect solution it can just stay up and the cat can go in and out when he wants to. I didn’t give a high rating to how easily the little door locks or unlocks because frankly we don’t use it, we actually secured it to be open at all times. I have issues with my hands, and I found it actually fairly easy for me to pop the gate into the door frame and take it back out again much easier than the baby gate we have been using. If we have to leave the house for the day, we just close the solid door behind the baby gate so the cat can’t roll around the house when we’re not home for the day and he has his litter box and food and water in his room. The little doorway in the gate is too small for the dog to get through but he can stick his head in. What I like most about it is that the cat is still adjusting and there are some things that will scare him suddenly and this way he can go flying back into the safety of his room and go into his closet whenever he feels he’s threatened by some noise.
WOODY –
Easy to assemble and mount, sturdy.
Kaylen –
I bought this so my new rescue: a blind 20lb poodle, wouldn’t fall down the laundry room stairs, but the cat could still get to her litter box/food. It’s perfect! The dog kept nosing through the cat door, so I flipped the whole gate upside down and the cat door is now at the top of the gate. It works great this way, the cat makes a graceful (most of the time) leap through her door, and the dog can only stick his head through the cat door. I was worried the bars would be too far apart, but none of the animals can stick their heads through them, so I feel like it’s safe. It is low enough so I (5’7") can easily step over it. The installation was easy. Other reviews said the holes weren’t lined up properly to make the gate snug against the walls, but that is why you screw or unscrew the knob after you adjust the gate to the closest hole. It’s nice and snug, even with the dog jumping on it. I think this is a great quality and buy, especially for the price. Came the next day after I ordered it.
Cathy Rahimpour –
I love this. It does keep my dog in the room and it’s good size for shih tzu.
K. McGraw –
This gate is well-made and very functional: The rubber feet hold the gate in place solidly and it is working well to keep a small dog out of the laundry room (where the litter box is located).
I saw some negative reviews complaining it doesn’t adjust correctly, but I suspect that is due to not using the twist adjustment piece to lock into place: This isn’t the easiest and most intuitive fitting, but it does work. You can pull up the clip piece to unlock quickly, but I still have to fiddle with the twist part to lock it back into place (maybe that’s just me). If you can’t step over this height and you need to go through this gate regularly, this might be an issue for you, but for anyone else, I would recommend it.
DIF0924 –
I’ve spent hours researching pet gates and finally got this one. I have a small breed dog, a teacup Morkie (Yorkie/Malese) who is 6 pounds at most. After I rescued her, I put up a dog gate that I already had and she was able to chew right through the plastic wire material and walked right out. So I jumped on Amazon to buy a metal gate. The problem is that every other dog gate on amazon and in the stores is made of slates wide enough for a small breed dog to walk or wiggle through. I would search the reviews for keywords like "small breed" or "yorkie" and sure enough, every gate had some people saying their little ones could make it through the gate or the side of the gate where it tends to be wider. The Carlson gates were the only ones that didn’t have that problem and also stated that the spacing between slates was 1.75" so I settled on them. I liked that they have different heights as well. I didn’t want a tall gate because I’d like my cats to be able to jump in and out of the room to keep the dog company if they please. And it couldn’t be too, too short or even my small dog could jump over it. This is the perfect compromise and its working great. I don’t use the cat door feature since my dog happens to be smaller than my cats but it’s a nice bonus anyway.
I like the way it latches. It has two components that allow for perfect fine tuning to your doorway. Overall, I am thrilled at this gate, especially the great price and highly recommend it for use with small breed dogs.
TxBluSky –
I purchased this about 4 months ago to keep two 90# dogs out of the laundry room where the litterbox is kept. The “ho-ho thieves” are dismayed that the snack bar is forever closed. We zip-tied the small cat door open and it’s low enough that I can just step over it to do laundry. 100% satisfied.
Sue –
Have a new cat who does not tolerate one of our dogs. Was using a baby gate and watching all 3 cats jump repeatedly over it. BF did not want to invest in another gate. This gate arrived and required no set up (we did not choose to use screws in doorway.) It was easy to adjust. Fits securely. Cats love their little cat door. BF is impressed with it. Says it’s better than the old one we spent 3x the price on. A win-win at this house.