Dogs - carpets/tiles/laminate floors? Fabric/leather sofas? Washable paint on walls?

Welshwoofs

lol I hear you Lisawood! 75Kg of Neapolitan Mastiff here and he's a slobber machine. When he's just had a big drink and walks into the middle of the sitting room you know you're in trouble. I immediately duck behind the laptop screen and then hear the drops of slobber flying around me, plopping on the TV, the back of the computer and just about everywhere else.

We have hardwood floors throughout downstairs which I hoover daily, mop once a week. Leather sofas with giant fleece throws over them - I have spares of these so I switch round twice a week and wash them (they're great as they dry so quickly! Home & Bargain £12 each). We've given up with slobber on the walls, instead we have an enormous bucket of trade Magnolia under the stairs and just touch up the walls every couple of months.

He likes to sleep in the upstairs hallway outside our room, so we have £6 sleeping bags from Argos on the floor there which are also very easy to wash.

It's always a constant battle against the mud, slobber and fur but I wouldn't have it any other way!

peachespeaches

I used to have laminate but I honestly have found carpet to be a lot better. This may surprise you all but I was always mopping and sweeping the laminate. And I never really liked it. It was moderately priced but may not have been the best quality as with constant mopping I was able to tell where the joins were in certain places.

I now have a good quality carpet throughout which is one of those which resists dirt and stains and cleans easily but its still heavy domestic. (I cant remember the brand name but it was recommended by a fitter who had used it before with young children). I have four children and a pup. The pup arrived at the end of October. I covered the lounge dining room carpet in plastic sheeting thinking the pup would make it into a disaster area in no time. Fortunately when he has an indoor mistake, it is always in one of two particular places, so we have been able to cover these places with plastic only now. He have an offcut near the patio door for when he (and kids) come in from garden. He is only a Yorkie so doesnt make a huge mess. I hoover downstairs with a Miele Cat and Dog twice a week and upstairs once (or rather my cleaner does). I still cant understand why the carpet with 4 kids and 1 dog looks better than the laminate did when we had only 2 kids and 2 cats. It also feels so much nicer to be able to sit on the floor and play with the kids and dogs.

So dogs and carpets are not mutually exclusive.

cyberbob

peachespeaches wrote: »

I used to have laminate but I honestly have found carpet to be a lot better. This may surprise you all but I was always mopping and sweeping the laminate. And I never really liked it..

Totally agree in our previous house we had laminate and I hated it. Constantly sweeping. The constant fight against golden hair going across the floor like tumble weed. I find it much easier to run the hoover over the carpet once a day. Then occasionally having to wash the carpet. Our cats used to use the laminate like a skating rink it was a death trap because the dog used to try and join in.

In this new house i Have found carpet much easier. As long as its reasonable quality and not too light in colour very few problems. I just as peaches put offcuts in certain areas.

lisawood78

I would love laminate, but the way this pair charge about at times there would be broken windows/furniture/limbs quite rapidly!

We also have leather sofas, which one of them loves to sleep on so they get sprayed with leather clean and feed (£1 B & M bargains!) and rubbed down with kitchen roll once a week, smells good, makes the leather clean and gives it a great shine.
Sorted.

Fire_Fox

I like my laminate, I find it really easy to keep clean! I don't sweep as that just moves the fluff around I always vacuum (compact cylinder), then wash it on my hands and knees (bamboo cloth) whenever I feel it needs washing. I didn't find mopping was any quicker, didn't get the floor half as clean and always left it wet for ages. It's my rug that is filthy with ground in cat litter. :mad:

Cissi

peachespeaches wrote: »

I used to have laminate but I honestly have found carpet to be a lot better. This may surprise you all but I was always mopping and sweeping the laminate.

Sorry, but this made me laugh - it reminded me of the woman who sold our first house (she'd bought it from new): they'd had carpet put in the kitchen :eek: and she proudly announced that it was the best thing she'd ever done as she hated mopping floors - "this way I just have to hoover"! Yeah, sure, but what about all the dirt/grease/food stains... Yuck

Laminate or wood flooring all the way for us, at least in rooms where the dog is allowed. I don't care how often a carpet is hoovered, unless it's actually shampooed very regularly the dirt will just be hidden but still there, eeeugh!

cyberbob

Cissi wrote: »

I don't care how often a carpet is hoovered, unless it's actually shampooed very regularly the dirt will just be hidden but still there, eeeugh!

So shampoo it. Its very easy I have a vax that I shampoo the carpet on a regular basis. No problem

lisawood78

I agree with the shampooing.
Lounge and hallway (high traffic area) gets shampooed with a heated Vax unit, once a month. Just been done for Christmas, looks and smells beautiful :-)

Fire_Fox

How do you all get the carpets dry after shampooing without walking all over them, do you have a huge house?

If anyone can recommend an all in one compact cylinder vacuum cleaner that will also shampoo my rug and the edges of the bedroom carpet I would be pleased to hear. It's got to be all in one and got to be compact as I just don't have space in the flat for an upright or for two machines!

ixwood

Damage limitation is the order of the day. Confinement area, towels after walks, door mats etc. A not muddy garden is a big help too.

I can never understand why people let their dogs on the furniture? Especially relatively expensive things like leather sofas? Obviously they're just going to get wrecked.

I'm far from a OCD hygiene freak, but Dogs on beds is a bit grim IMHO. They do get fleas and worms (I remember a thread on here about a cat leaving worms on a bed), "leakages", dribble etc, as well as the hair, dirt, dust and of course the doggie smell.

No dogs allowed on furniture, or upstairs here. The not upstairs thing makes a big difference in controlling the mess.