I really like the look and feel of animal skin rugs but can't reconcile that it would be a dead animal skin on the floor. 

do any of you have them and how do you find them with your animals?  Any fabric rugs I have the dogs make a beeline for but I don't know how they would react to dead animal skin on the floor.  I have seen some lovely cowskin and reindeer skin rugs but think I might end up caught up in having Bambi on the living room floor.

Any views or experiences?

I have always loved sheepskin rugs - but have never owned one! Mainly because the best are not cheap, but also because I had cats for a long time, which I simply couldn't trust not to wee on the rug.

But I saw some recently in the local market which were just too fluffy and soft to ignore, so I may decide to have one. I doubt it will go on the floor, though. [One was dyed rich deep scarlet with long black tips to the hairs like shading - really gorgeous].

Cow skins and deer skins - probably not... a bit too close to its origins for my liking.

I have hides and love them and so does my dog..it all depends what you want to do with them.

Reindeer (My dogs favourite) i wouldn't put on the floor as they moult an unbelievable amount and never stop regardless if they have been treated..mine is on the floor at the moment but thats because i have no where else for it at the moment as have just moved house.

I love springbok too which looks lovely thrown over the back of a chair or similar.

Cow hide is really good if you want to put on the floor..easy to clean too and doesn't moult.

Sheepskin is lovely but never stays that fluffy for very long, easy to clean but i just don't like it when it becomes clumped.

Hope this helps.

I have a sheepskin, I hover it with the dyson so it doesnt get clumped.

We had a goatskin for our longhaired dachshund Monty. He wouldn't even park his backside on it, let alone sleep on it--he felt he was entitled to a bed and needless to say no one argued with him :)

I eventually had the goatskin in my own house for many years in memory of him. Other dogs never bothered with it.

Mine would react by trying to chew holes in them, definitely plucking the hair out in preparation for consumption LOL.

Mind you the two I have our reindeer and they are Elkhounds.

Also they shed worse than the dogs so they are now stashed away to be affixed to the walls at some point as decoration instead.

> do any of you have them and how do you find them with your animals? 

I had 2 lovely sheep skin rugs for my last dog, they were in the top of his bed, he was happy to snuggle into them for a sleep.
Unfortunatley, when I brought Buster home as a pup, he took a different liking to them. I would always find them dragged out & chewed. I put them away for a while, hoping he would grow out of it, but at just under 1 year old he completely demolished them :(

> Sheepskin is lovely but never stays that fluffy for very long, easy to clean but i just don't like it when it becomes clumped.

LOL, that's why my 2 sheep skins ended up as dog bedding :)

I have lots of Reindeer rugs thrown all over the bed in winter, but having been born in  Northern Norway I spent my first few years wrapped in them! So no, I have no problem with animal hides or skins being used in the home, it was how my family decorated and warmed for years and years, it's a natural resource that would otherwise be discarded.
   My grandfather and uncles have them on the sleds and they are soo waterproof and snuggly. I'm not sure I would buy them from a source I didnt know, I'm lucky I get them for nothing from my Grandfathers farm :-)
    Storm and Red love to lie on them and don't try to maul them (amazingly!)

Do you find they shed though?  the ones my hubby has are great, but they shed in the bedroom so I stopped using them as I only like to Hoover the bedrooms once a week, having enough with elkie hair everywhere else, LOL

I do have oen in the smell sitting room where only visitors go, but it is by the window where it doesn't get disturbed/trodden on.

> Reindeer (My dogs favourite) i wouldn't put on the floor as they moult an unbelievable amount and never stop regardless if they have been treated..mine is on the floor at the moment but thats because i have no where else for it at the moment as have just moved house.
>
> I love springbok too which looks lovely thrown over the back of a chair or similar.
>
> Cow hide is really good if you want to put on the floor..easy to clean too and doesn't moult.
>
> Sheepskin is lovely but never stays that fluffy for very long, easy to clean but i just don't like it when it becomes clumped

Thanks for the feedback annee.  I haven't done any research and was just going on the 'ooooh, they look lovely' rather than a sensible thought about whether it would moult, go flat or become a ragger for the dogs.

By the sound of everyones feedback here, the dead animal thing doesn't seem to be an issue for anyone.  I love the look of springbok and reindeer but would need the practicality of cow I think.

Barbara, the shedding is a really good point.  With a red and white dog and a black and tan dog, the last thing I need is different coloured hair all over the place!

Ok, next question.  Any good stockists, preferably one with a sale on as the post xmas poverty has kicked in!

Liv, your post has struck a chord about stockists and ethical considerations but I don't have any relatives on farms so will need to do some ethical digging before I purchase.

OOh I think cow bde nice always was pretty popular in Poland where it was from free range Veal/young beef.

> Ok, next question.  Any good stockists, preferably one with a sale on as the post xmas poverty has kicked in!
>

Ditto and if Liv's family wish to sell some to us i'm sure he could make a few bob of 2? :-D

> the dead animal thing doesn't seem to be an issue for anyone

I think that depends of how you feel, for some people any fur product regardless where it comes from and how is a nono but for others its not a big deal. Iv'e reasontly started pratcing taxidermy and the way im looking at it is there are dead animals in the frezzer at work (old college animals) who all died of natural causes who will either be burryed of fed to a snake if possible, both make no use of the fur so why not do something with it.

I would love a nice rug, ive seen some very nice ones at the local game fair each year but they are very expensive so i have never brought one.

My sister had a cow hide printed to look like a zebra skin, personally I thought it was rank, thankfully she has now got rid of it as the dogs were peeing on it.

I have a lovely cow skin rug that I bought a month ago and I love it. My dog couldn't care less, my crawling baby didn't even notice it lol..... I guess I bought it just to please myself! It kind of reminds me of when I was a child and my parents used to have one in each room of our country house. Being a city child (we only used to spend weekends in the countryside) I used to enjoy going to neighbouring farms and observing the country life..... the rug in my livingroom takes me right back! :)

Ory, if you don't mind me asking where was it from and how much did you spend on it?