I love this gate! It's so pretty and makes a great visual obstacle across doorways. I know it's not meant for baby use, but we have a cape cod house with open stairway & no walls to anchor to - we also have an infant new crawling granddaughter and two cats. We were able to put this lovely wood gate between the matching white spindles and use sturdy Velcro wrap to hold it in place. Baby is only here 2 days a week, so it's a great obstacle which the cats can easily jump over but it stops baby from going up the stairs. She is never unattended & we will have to get a more secure fix in a few months. But I love this for now. I think it would deter medium size dogs, unless food was present. lol This would be great for tiny dogs.