Best flooring for living room when two dogs live here?

lostinrates

krlyr wrote: »

Definately no carpet here, with heavy shedding breeds in contrasting colours, I'd be hoovering 3 times a day and still it'd be covered in visible hair!!)

My dogs are bad enough, but I have Siamese cats too, so, dark or light clothes, either their white bodies or dark points will get your clothes when you are on the way out somewhere smart.

meritaten

my carpet is a sort of orangey/oatmeal fleck colour - and luckily Barnes is a 'ginger' cat and blends into it perfectly! despite being fairly light it doesn't show all the 'bits' and a stain has to be quite dark to show up! the downside to carpet with Barney, is that his claws curve quite a bit and he ends up being 'velcroed' onto it!

Carer

We have porcelain floor tiles downstairs. They are non-slip, easy to scrub and still look great after 15yrs.
Had laminate and hated it.
Would never have carpet with dogs. No matter how much you wash the carpets it just always smells.

zaksmum

Do you not get visible claw marks on the wood floors though?

chris_n_tj

Not so you would notice zac's. I am guessing you have their nails clipped? Find a good supplier and ask for a few pieces, that's what we did. In fact we had quite a few "pieces strewn around the floor until we found one we liked the best. ours isn't a smooth floor if that makes sense, and dogs are dogs whatever the size. Two dogs and a granddaughter dragging toys about does make me squirm a bit but once cleaned always looks good. Also a quick sweep clears up fluff bunnies and crumbs.x

lostinrates

zaksmum wrote: »

Do you not get visible claw marks on the wood floors though?

Actually, I'd say we do, but then, our dogs are big, and one weighs as much as a fully grown and not too skinny person. bUT, we live in an old house, and some type of wear improves somethings whilst makes other things less good, it makes laminate look less great ( though I'd still do that over carpet) but it makes old wooden boards better IMO, with care.

krlyr

I imagine if you trimmed the nails as per the DoberDawn guide, you would minimise the damage any nails could do
http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html

chris_n_tj

krlyr wrote: »

I imagine if you trimmed the nails as per the DoberDawn guide, you would minimise the damage any nails could do
http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html

I can clean bums:D, cut close to the eyes. But I cant do nails, daft or what:o x

elsien

My mum has the Karndean type flooring, (posh lino!) one of the wood effect ones. It actually looks ok, especially with a rug and is standing up well to the wear and tear of having my dog most days while I'm at work. She didn't want laminate and couldn't afford a decent wood floor so that was the next best thing. She can use the steam cleaner on it, and says she wouldn't go back to carpet again.


I'm another one who's torn between preferring carpet but it not being very practical as my front door opens into the front room. My carpet is well past its prime and is definitely pongy, but it's staying till gitdog stops rampaging round the place and having the occasional chew.

PudseyDB

After 12 years of having carpet in the lounge...we changed it to laminate and wish we had done it years ago! The laminate we chose is oak effect and not slippery (the kids walk round in socks so didnt want to risk them slipping).

Its so much easier to hoover and doesnt harbour that "dog" smell! The only downside is the noise our older dog's claws make as she walks around.