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Dogs and Hardwood Floors

BernerLver
July 28th, 2006, 09:14 AM
Our new house (like our old house) has hardwood floors. I am noticing that in this house due to less carpeting esp. on the stairs causes my guys to have very unstable footing.

Now I love my dogs but I also really like my hardwood. I am thinking of getting my guys a pair of 'HotDoggers' each from the company that makes Mutlucks. They are like slippers for dogs. I'm thinking these would give the guys more stability and traction on the hardwood and as a bonus prevent scratches.

Now before everyone thinks I'm a bad owner, I would like to say that I do get them groomed regularly and this includes their feet and nails. Also, we will be putting a carpet runner on the stairs when we replace the upstairs carpeting but right now that is just not in the budget.

I'm just looking for something that would make them feel like they are not always walking on a skating rink.

As an aside I mentioned my problem to someone I work with and they suggested I have my dogs de-clawed :eek: to prevent scratches. I was too horrified to respond. Needless to say that is NOT an option.

Thoughts, suggestions....no flames....I can be a loving dog owner and want my house to look nice, can't I?

mastifflover
July 28th, 2006, 09:26 AM
I have hardwood too but mine are old warehouse floors so they are not slippery. But if your kids will wear the slippers go for it. I had a dog that I tried to get the mukluks on after 45 min. I gave up she was having no part of them I got one on and she would not put her paw down. Tell us how it goes or maybe you could video tape it for us because I have a feeling it may be very funny

jessi76
July 28th, 2006, 09:44 AM
I have hardwood stairs too. and they are VERY STEEP, almost vertical. We put the grippy-strips on the stairs for traction (I was taking daily headers down them in my socks) one of my cats slipped, the dog slipped, we slipped... so grippy strips it was. looks fine and does the job.

if the slippers work... definately take pictures!

Prin
July 28th, 2006, 12:42 PM
I don't think declawing a dog is even possible... (I so hope not anyway)

As for scratches, I don't think you'll ever be able to avoid them on wood floors, but apparently you can get varnish that is super hard and resistant. :shrug:

BMDLuver
July 28th, 2006, 01:44 PM
One of our adopters has absolutely beautiful maple floors throughout their home. They bought mukluks for their Bouvier des Flandes and he's hysterical. He sits at the front door after his walk waiting for them to be put on. It won't hurt the dogs to wear them for the reverse purpose and it sure saves the floors!

Puppyluv
July 28th, 2006, 07:07 PM
I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea per se, unless they hate them.. then you might have trouble. Another idea would be soft paws :http://www.softpaws.net/default.asp

Smiley14
July 28th, 2006, 08:26 PM
Oh good question! I had new hardwood floors installed in my house last year, and they are already getting scratched. It's a little depressing to see my beautiful new floors getting all scratched like that, but I've decided that for now, it just adds character. :) But I can sympathize with you on how you're feeling. I have been told that it's pretty easy to have the floors resurfaced if I ever wanted to someday, but at this point, that wouldn't make much sense!
Please do let us know if the slippers make a difference. My floors are already scratched, but I do worry about the slipping and sliding! While it's hilarious to watch, Petey's also given me many near heart attacks, lol. My stairs are carpeted, as are the upstairs bedrooms, but he has this habit of taking a flying leap from the top of the stairs onto the hardwood floors below and it scares me everytime because his legs go spread-eagle when he lands. I swear that dog is going to make me go gray way before my time! LOL! He has such long skinny legs...ugh, I shudder to think of what could happen.
So great question! I hope you find a solution that works for you! (And some pics of those slippers would be hilarious!) :)

Smiley14
July 28th, 2006, 08:29 PM
I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea per se, unless they hate them.. then you might have trouble. Another idea would be soft paws :http://www.softpaws.net/default.asp

Wow, very interesting! I've never seen this before. How on earth does that work with growing nails though? Kind of a cool idea, though I think I'd miss the sound of that clicking on hardwood. Despite the scratches, I've grown rather fond of that sound. :)

meb999
July 28th, 2006, 10:41 PM
I don't think declawing a dog is even possible... (I so hope not anyway)

Unfortunetly, I've heard that some vets WILL do this procedure....disgusting, but true.....

I have a friend who tried softpaws without much success. then again, her Basset was an avid chewer and declared war on the little nail caps....

If anyone has any other advice, I'd love to hear it. We installed our hardwood floors ourselves (and I have the bad back to prove it), and they are getting pretty ruined. I dremel Buster's nails as low as they can go, but he had pretty long nails when he came to us, so his quick is pretty long...
My old vet (I don't see her anymore) said I should get them clipped under anesthesia, but I'd rather not put Buster through an anesthetic just for my floors (especially since Boxers are known to have bad reactions to certain anesthetics....)

Prin
July 29th, 2006, 09:19 AM
Hmm.. We just installed bamboo in the bedroom and refinished the pine we found in the living room and both are already scratched. We just stopped looking. Nobody we know sees the scratches when they come over, and the floors get so covered in dog fur anyway... :shrug: I guess I just always assumed I would have big dogs with big nails and never assumed I'd get nice floors in the deal.:o

meb999
July 29th, 2006, 09:35 AM
I thought bamboo was supposed to be scratch proof?! :o

mastifflover
July 29th, 2006, 09:45 AM
I don't think it is the bamboo itself it is the finish and they can be refinished. But scratches and dog fur add character, don't they?:shrug:

meb999
July 29th, 2006, 10:00 AM
. But scratches and dog fur add character, don't they?:shrug:
Ya...try convincing my bf of that! :rolleyes:

Prin
July 29th, 2006, 04:08 PM
Bamboo is supposed to scratch much less than maple or oak. I don't know about that though- we only have pine otherwise, and pine is so soft. The first day we moved back into the living room where the pine is, the floor already had some visible scratches. On the bamboo, you only see them if you're really looking.

DRN
July 29th, 2006, 06:15 PM
What about putting runners down in the areas where your dogs walk the most and on your stairs? It shouldn't cost too much since runners aren't as expensive as the larger carpets, and they can be pretty on hardwood floors. I particularly like oriental style runners on hardwood. In addition, it would help your dogs get traction.

OntarioGreys
July 30th, 2006, 08:04 AM
My hardwood floors are covered with runners and area rugs, my old girl did not have troubles initially with hardwood floors but after a fall outside and injuring one leg, a couple days later lost footing on the hardwood floors are tore her ACL, at the time was only using runners, I did use booties on her after that since she only had use of 3 legs

now the hardwqood floors are almost completely covered, a lot of nice big room size rugs can be purchased for the cost of one repair surgery I never want to have a repeat of the injury she had as a result of falling, Sunny does not like booties so that was not an option.

These ones I got on sale 10 X 12' 7" that have a dense thick pile for around $300 each, I can cover all 6 main floor rooms and buy matching runners for under $2000 where as the surgery is over $2500


Maya was shredding paper so a bit a mess
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/mleg2001/13dc8299cce6b9cab922aef4318205b7.jpg

TMac
August 1st, 2006, 05:10 PM
We had hardwood installed while we had our senior lab (8 years old) with us. The scratching was not a big deal then since he didn't race around very much.

The story got more interesting when we adopted our crazy golden at 10 months of age and 75 pounds!! Needless to say he scratched the floors pretty bad. We learned a few things:

1. Get a dark finish and grainy wood like oak. We had Oak upstairs and a light maple downstairs. You can guess which one showed the scratches more because of light reflection!

2. Get runners for all the high dog-traffic areas. I am not big on covering up hardwood very much (why would you get hardwood if you just cover them and can't see it!!) but the runners did help with our crazy dog. It also helped prevent dog sliding issues.

3. Make a new rule: no fetch in the house. We learned the hard way. Running = scratches. Putting on the brakes after running = horrible scratches everywhere!!

Our floors are scratched but it is really only the finishing on top that is scratched and not the actual wood. Our plan is to wait until our dog is a senior and then refinish.

We just stopped noticing and learned to accept the fate of our floors - as sad as that was! :crazy:

BernerLver
August 2nd, 2006, 02:11 PM
Thanks to all for their suggestions and personal stories! I have ordered the boys each a pair of the 'Hotdoggers' (I totally love that name :D ) in the hopes that they will grown accustom to them (perhaps with the help of treats ;) )

We need to have a small area of our hardwood refinished now as the previous owners glued vinyl flooring over the hardwood and we took the finished off trying to remove it. Why people used to do that is beyond me :frustrated: but, I digress...I don't really want to spend the money unless we can attempt to curb the scratching.

Luckily at the new house we have a large backyard the boys are enjoying. We also have a "breezeway" that is basically a screened in area that creates a new room between what was once a separate garage and the house. It's great in the morning and evening. Gives the boys the chance to enjoy outside while being protected form the elements and they can watch the people go by.

Thanks once again and I will be sure to take pictures and post an update.

H.P.
August 2nd, 2006, 05:36 PM
I have used the SoftPaws on my cat, they grow off with the nail, and you just clip behind it at the next nail clipping, if they have not come off when the nail sheds. Since dog nails don't shed, I would guess that you just clip behind them, and you do still get the clicking sound as they approach, it is just a little softer.

tenderfoot
August 3rd, 2006, 12:34 PM
Not only is it scary for them to feel unsafe on the floor, but it could injure a dog if they slide too much.

Are you up for area rugs? runners for the stairs?

I have slick wood floors downstairs and our dogs would slide across them as they entered the house. I felt terrible for them so I got come very attractive (not expensive) rugs to cover the floor from the door to the stairs.