Need Advice on Hardwood Floors and doodles

[Steve Drury]

I'm considering replacing the carpeting in the major living areas with tile or engineered hardwood flooring. I have done a search on this site and most of the remarks I found were coincidental on not the main topic.
My two concerns are dog safety---do they slip, slide and fall? and wear and tear on the floors. How do they hold up? I noted some of the folks who had positive feedback noted that they are diligent about trimming the dogs nails; those with negative feedback sometimes confessed being lax in trimming.
We are also considering tile. Same questions.
If you have had positive experience with your dogs living happily with wood, please provide information about the type of floors: old fashion hardwood strips, engineered wood; brand names would be great, type of finish if you know; smooth or "rustic" texture or distressed finish?
Anything you can offer will be appreciated. Thanks

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We have hardwood floors in about half of our downstairs, and it has not been a problem with Guinness. I do get his nails trimmed about once a month. The only time he slides is if he is running really fast, but he has never fallen. He seems to be aware that it's slippery and is pretty careful for the most part. Our floors are Brazilian cherry which is a pretty soft wood. He has never scratched it, but our grandkids certainly have. I think some of the prefab hardwood is more durable, but I just really liked the look of the cherry. I like the wood because I can keep it cleaner than the carpet. A quick dry mop at the end of the day, and it looks great. At some point, I'm going to put the wood throughout the whole downstairs.

[April Cliber]

We JUST (as in a few weeks ago) kicked our carpet to the curb and got new flooring. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It is seriously life changing! :o)

A couple of years ago my friend got hard wood in her whole house. She loves it and says the dogs don't scratch it. Hers has held up well. When we were ready to get ours we went to several places to compare prices and product. EVERY place told us not to get hard wood. They said laminate is MUCH stronger and durable. (It's also quite a bit less expensive.) We took their advice and also got a 5 year warranty. :o) It looks just like wood and is sooo easy to clean. The dogs did slip a lot at first. It was kind of funny to watch. (No one got hurt.) It only took a couple of days for them to adjust.

Here is a video I took right after we got it. I know the doodle puppy is darling but I'm showing it to you for the floors. :o) Per my husbands request we got a small portion of carpet, but fenced it off so the dogs can't go on it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

[Melissa & Porter]

Your puppy is so cute! She looks like she lives to please you :-) Made me think of Porter's puppy days....

[April Cliber]

Thanks :o) She is a sweety. She lives with my sister in a guardian home, but was with us on Thanksgiving day. She is ALWAYS happy. :o)

[Phoebe's Mom]

When we moved into our home 17 months ago, we had gorgeous maple inlaid flooring with hickory inlays and medallions. Now, we still have the hardwood but with dings--and lots of them. I have Phoebe's nails trimmed monthly but I still find that the wood gets scratched but my biggest issue is when she drops her bones on the floor and it dents--it does not crack the polyurethane sealant but you can see the depressions made in the wood. While my personal preference would still be the hardwood or tile, I think the manufactured woods are far more durable than the 'real wood.' Good luck with your decision!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have laminate "tiles" in my kitchen and hallway and old hardwood in the living room. The dogs never slide or fall. Both the laminate and wood have held up well in terms of the dogs. My only problem with the laminate, which has nothing to do with the dogs but is just cautionary, is that any liquid allowed to stand on the floor for a length of time, causes swelling of the seams which is visible in those areas where it has occurred. Needless to say I am very cautious about this now. Although, I really like the laminate I don't think I would use it in the kitchen again.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I would also caution you to research colors as well as your choice of product. There were wood laminate floors in the house that we purchased 2 years also. We also removed carpeting in 2 other rooms as choose a wood laminate product for those 2 rooms as well. The reason being, one room as for the puppies and we were also told the laminate was more durable and less subject to damage by the puppies. The other room was for exercise equipment and weights, and figured the laminate again would be better for durability sake. (Although I'm sure no project other than carpet is going to survive dropping a set of weights on it as I learned). The thing I've noticed most, is although I love the darker oak color that was already in the house when we moved in (it matches everything we own perfectly), it always looks like it needs swept .. Dust and Doodle hair shows up). The lighter colors we put in the other 2 rooms never looks dirty (including the puppies room). However, I find I clean all wood laminate floors daily. The one carpeted area we have left I sweep maybe twice a week. Love the look of hardwood though! I think tile might be easier to keep clean.

[Frannie & Callie]

I have laminate throughout the downstairs in my house (the previous owners had it installed) and it wears like IRON. My first dog was a bassett hound mix...heavy and squat and incontinent as she aged and the floors still look new. Callie (current dog and adorable doodle) doesn't have a problem slipping unless she's going at breakneck speed. She's never been hurt doing so and she seems to LOVE the coolness of the floor under her belly (much more so than she does the carpet upstairs). The color of my laminate isn't what I would have chosen, but I don't know that I would have anything else, as long as dogs are part of my life (so, forever!)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll be watching this discussion with interest, as I really need to replace the carpets here with something that is more allergy friendly...for Jack's sake. But I too am worried about slipping. We play fetch indoors in winter, and Jack gets way up there for the ball...I'm concerned about the impact upon landing as well as him losing his footing; he already skids on the tile floors when he's chasing the ball.
I've been told that since I have a slab (no basement or crawlspace) it would be easier to do laminate than hardwood. I wonder about the manufactured wood. Also, the tile is very cold, especially when it's on a slab. And to me, floors must be washed with water and cleaner, not just dusted; ...so I wonder about that with hardwoods, too.
For those who have laminate, I've heard that there is more noise when walking on it than with hardwoods...is this true?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I haven't noticed more noise but then again the high heels are looong gone. The dogs nails click a little.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Yes, there is more noise if you are wearing the right type of shoe! It is louder than with real floors imo.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I dry mop my wood floor every day, but every two weeks I give it good washing with wood floring detergent. It has not harmed the wood or dulled the finish at all. So the wood floor is actually cleaner than my carpeted area which I only have professionally cleaned two or three times a year....in the interim I clean any soiled area with the "green machine".