# Hardwood floors and poodles?



## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I am an interior designer , I think the key is to get floors that are made to look old, not shiny ect. I have them all over my home and love them. Plus you can keep the nails short. I don't do that, but you could.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I hope this comes through, but here is a photo of Carley on our floors.


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## Poodlemama99 (Feb 12, 2010)

I have toys not spoos but I have 4 of them and they chase each other and slide accross the hardwood. It is awesome stuff. Cant really hurt it. Also highly recommend leather furniture with pets.


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## CraftyGirl (Jan 29, 2012)

I agree with Carley's Mom about choosing a finish that is meant to look a little distressed. When we refinished the hardwood in our 60 year old house, we went with more of a satin finish rather than high gloss, and I'm SO glad we did! Our dog is not a spoo, but the finish is so much more forgiving of dog and human floor traffic as well as the occasional dropping of heavy objects, lol. My aunt, on the other hand, does have very high gloss floors as well as a boxer and a mastiff, and her floors definitely show wear from them. If she had chosen a satin or semi gloss finish I don't think it would be nearly as noticable. With all the options in the engineered hardwoods you should have no problem finding something you like that will also hold up to their paws!


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

I have hardwood floors--older house, no recent refinishing, not shiny and mostly covered with area rugs. I've never had a problem with any signs of wear. The only problem I had was with older dogs slipping on uncarpeted stairs. When my girl Sophie started having problems going up and down the uncarpted stairs, I got stair carpet treads and that completely solved the problem. But you should be more than a decade away from worrying about the problems of older dogs! I'd go for the hardwood floors, and Carley's thoughts about staying away from shiny sounds like good advice.


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

another designer here - go with a satin or matte finish and you should be fine. When you say "Engineered Hardwood" are you talking about laminate? our laminate shows wear from chairs moving on it, and has a people path - I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the dog... probably not much... 

Our hardwood is 40 years old and has a wax finish - that shows wear and is re waxed every few months, but again - not sure how much of that is dog. again, probably not much... I use the Johnson's no buff floor wax - available at hardware stores, in a bottle - stinks, but it works in one step...

sarah


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## robby69 (Apr 29, 2012)

We have 2 spoos. Just moved out of a house with hardwood floors. You will have scratches on prefinished, or finished in place.. Unless you are willing to glue on the nail tips covers on each toe and replace them every 6 weeks.

Spoos hate wood floors.. They tiptoe accross them, but when they get rambuncious they forget and go sliding accross trying to get traction and the scratching begins.

We kept putting off refinishing because of the huge mess it causes, but we did refinished the wood floors after we moved out before we but the house for sale and marveled at how nice they were now, and how terrible they looked before.

We moved into a new house, you guessed it hardwoods everywhere. We had area rugs custom cut and bound to cover the traffic areas and still let the hardwood beauty show thru. The builder initially told us how expensive the hardwood floor was, and how it had a 30-year warranty etc. There are some scratches where the spoos have walked/or started to run while standing off the carpet.

To make a long story short, dogs and hardwoods to not mix. The dogs hate them, and the homeowner hates the inevitable scratches after a few years. If you have to have hardwood, get plenty of area rugs.


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## RileysMommy (Jul 18, 2011)

We have hardwood in half the house. They are original and the house is old. They look pretty bad (in the high traffic areas) after only a year and a half of living here! Riley hates them and we're thinking of covering them with carpet...especially since he's getting older...I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself while he's slipping and sliding trying to play or chasing the cat!


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## Ms Stella (Aug 16, 2010)

I had hardwood in my previous home when I had a doberman. They were pretty scratched up..we did have a high gloss, shiny finish...so maybe as others have suggested a different finished might help. My dogs also slide on wood..We have some wood in the house I live in now, but altough it looks like wood it is not. Madonna has peed on it they have both puked on it and nothing seeps in. I also have travatine tile..which I like better. But its a very hard surface and if you also have children you may not like it. We have tons of rugs..that helps a lot and they are easy to clean.


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## all that jazz (Feb 6, 2011)

I have hardwood throughout my house and two minipoos who run around a lot. NO scratches from them. (that are visible anyway). Hardwood is very forgiving but it really depends on the finish you choose I have some with a wax finish and some with a no wax finish. I do have gloss in two of the rooms and no problem, the rest have more of a mat finish. My floors are not distressed. They are red oak. Kitchen floor has held up for 20 years and three boys before the dogs. Use endust on them.


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## stealthq (Aug 4, 2011)

I have 70yr old hardwood floors in my house. I had them refinished before I moved in with Bona Traffic as the sealant. Great stuff. I did use a matte finish. 

The only damage I have on my floors is where _I've_ dropped something heavy that left a ding. And, I can assure you that Kohl has no problem running through the house like a total nut. He has figured out that it is best to start his run on a rug and to pounce on a rug to stop. However, most of my house has no rugs and it doesn't stop him in the least. He just looks like a cartoon, with legs scrambling everywhere and little movement in the direction he wants to go 

That said, I am going to be buying a few more rugs so he has a few more start/stop pads.


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## momofthree (Apr 9, 2011)

Thanks for all the responses. We are looking at getting the hand scraped/ distressed looking wood, that is not solid colored, so maybe that will help with the wear and tear. And, we are not getting laminate. I would actually prefer it, as I think it is more durable, but the house builders we are looking at using don't have it as an option. I am not sure what manufactured hardwoods are exactly, except I would guess it is not solid wood, like old hardwood floors are. 

I can see we'll need a few area rugs in strategic places!! Bummer that the dogs don't seem to like them. I thought they would be easier on the dog's feet than the tile we have downstairs now.

I guess I can learn to dremel the nails and keep them shorter, as well.


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## EmilyK (Mar 26, 2011)

We have a spoo, a cat and 3 kids. Our old house had hardwoods that we installed, our new house has a mix but we will quickly replace the carpet with hardwood. I wouldn't go with anything else!


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

All About Engineered Wood Floors

engineered flooring has a wear layer of hardwood (thick veneer) over plywood. They claim that even the thin 4 mm wear layer can be sanded and refinished 4-5 times over the life of the floor... which is 60-80 years... 

I'm not sure I buy that, exactly, and I'd make sure I kept the warranty paperwork, but I know it's a builder's standard now, and a lot less expensive than solid hardwood. It probably also has the benefit of less warping and shrinkage due to humidity and temperature changes, and since it can be even glued down over concrete, fewer nails through the floor to deal with if you choose to finish out your basement ceiling...

sarah


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

I think it depends on the dog as to whether they care about the floor surface or not. Our pomeranian would NOT walk on any hardwood or tiled surface, only carpeting. Now Lily doesn't care what the floor surface it at all. She runs, jumps etc. and never slipped, slided or anything on the wood floors. My friend complains that his dog's nails tap, tap, tap as he walks down the hall in their old house. I told him his dog needs his nails clipped!


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## momofthree (Apr 9, 2011)

Sarah,


Thanks so much for the info on what these floors are! I don't buy that they could be refinished that many times, either. But, I would be happy to get half as many years out of them!




sarahmurphy said:


> All About Engineered Wood Floors
> 
> engineered flooring has a wear layer of hardwood (thick veneer) over plywood. They claim that even the thin 4 mm wear layer can be sanded and refinished 4-5 times over the life of the floor... which is 60-80 years...
> 
> ...


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## spookiesmom (Dec 31, 2011)

I have laminate all over. I love it. When my last dogs were old at 14 1/2 and 15 they had trouble getting traction to get up. That was my only complaint.

I also love my leather furniture . Holds up to dog nails and little boys.


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Our house is half laminate, half tile downstairs and all carpet up. It was a new house when we moved in, and 13 years down the road, the Wilsonart laminate looks like new; I wish had done it everywhere. (Shop carefully, as there are big differences between brands.) One thing's sure -- I never want grout anywhere in my house ever again. Oh, and forget about pets ruining your carpet. _Teenagers_ are what will ruin your carpet!

Beau's nails sometimes go clickity click on the laminate, but we've grown to love that sound. He makes a great rhythm! And if he's zooming around in the house and slides a bit, well, he gets what he deserves.


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## MyMiles (Apr 21, 2012)

I don't think engineered hardwood is as durable as the real stuff. We used it in a bedroom remodel and within months it had some dents in it, just from normal wear and tear. I think one is from our neighbor who dropped a high heal on it. 
Dogs walking on it might be fine, and maybe there's a higher quality stuff out there that would hold up better. Could you ask the builder if you can "test" some samples to see if it's up to your standards?


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

We built our house 2 years ago and have reclaimed lumber (heart pine) floors. Since they are about 200 years old, they have lots of nail holes, all kinds of quirky stuff on them. We have a non-shiny polyurethane on them and they are the easiest things in the world to keep. I use only vinegar and water solution to mop them. 

No scratches from the dog and my son loves to watch her slide when she tries to stop when chasing a toy! Fun for everyone! LOL


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## Anntig (Jun 9, 2010)

We have hardwood floors with a polyurethane coating and we love them, they do have a few dents and gouges in them where the dogs run a lot but if you can keep thier nails short it doesn't happen much. our dogs have no problem with traction and love sleeping on them in summer. we used to have carpet throughout and would never go back to that. we have small rugs in the high traffic area and lots of woollen blankets down for them to sleep on, that we can throw in the wash when they get dirty.


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