> (I heard one foreigner working in Slovenia once say "it takes forever for a Slovenian person to invite you to his home, it's like >they don't want to share the intimacy with everyone .... funny considering that it is a nation where nearly 50% of people visit >nudist beaches at least once in their life).

You made me smile :) Our Slovenian friends are the most hospitable people that we have ever met :) As for nudist beaches ................ yes - they took us there, although in Croatia - oh so many happy memories :) :) :) And yes - we do remove our shoes ................ :) :) :)

Daisy

In England it is often seen as a class thing.

Those wealthy enough not to care about the value of an expensive thing like a carpet of oriental rug didnt mind..... but those, to whom a carpet constituted a large capital outlay, would try to make it last.

Interesting what you say about class Toolz.  My experience is different.
I have friends born into money who ooze class.  They have the best (well worn, even thread bare in places and a little grubby) rugs and wear darned Burberry sweaters. :)  They could buy out my whole town but treat their's and others' possessions with great respect.  They repair things and do their best to make them last and think very carefully about buying new.
I have other friends who have made money.  They tend to be very 'easy come, easy go', really not caring if anything is damaged and just go out and buy another if anything is damaged or broken.
And then of course there are the 'salt of the earth' friends with very little.  If their home is soiled or damaged they also don't worry.  They just go back to Asda Smart Price and replace it! :)

I value each one of them and accept their differences. :)

Oh don't get me wrong, we are nice people ;), a bit reserved at times but once you get to know us, we're friends for life.

> I have friends born into money who ooze class.  They have the best (well worn, even thread bare in places and a little grubby) rugs and wear darned Burberry sweaters.

Yeah but do they take their shoes off or more to the point, do they insist that others do?

god no couldnt be bothered asking people to put slippers on at the door...in fact in Liverpool it would amusing to most...take me as you find me..having dogs I am of the opinion that my wooden floors are cleaner than those who dont... as they are cleaned so much.
If I was asked to remove my shoes when visiting someones home I would oblige as it is thier home after all.

The only time I have ever asked people to remove thier shoes  is entering the whelping room when I have a litter .

this is really interesting,i love hearing about others ways and customs,iwas amazed to find in america that they frown on people letting pet cats outside,and keep them in all the time.

I keep my ragdoll cats in at all times, they wouldng survive 5 minutes outside it is part of their nature.

In my home it's shoes on but I draw the line with muddy wellies which are hung at the back door, I respect the wishes of others when I go to their homes and will take my que from them.  Although I have to say that I'm not 100% comfortable with removing my shoes and walking around - I'd never thought of taking a pair of slippers with me, maybe start doing that from now on.

I'm with Cheekychow on this. Most of my waking day is spent wearing wellies this time of year, but I have tiled floors with non slip mats & the odd towel at the door to half dry
muddy paws. I don't mind what visitors have on their feet but they're advised not to go barefoot due to heavy dogs, has anyone experienced a dog hair implanting in their foot - very painful!
I do take my shoes off if visiting non doggy carpeted homes though.

Anyway I'm of the opinion that you need a bit of dirt to build up your immune system. 

>> Think I'll pop round your house with Oldilocks then!  :-)  :-)  :-)

Any time, I'll get the kettle on and you can even sit on the sofa with wet muddy clothes if you wish :-)  Everything downstairs is wipe clean or machine washable and pretty much dog proof.

I had a 'no shoes' room for a while but that pretty much ended when the first dog came.

My partner however had a 'no shoes' house which required taking boots off on the doorstep on quite a busy road--literally a metre away from passing cars. Given the state of the interior I can only assume it was to minimise any cleaning required (I never saw evidence of any).

Perhaps I should be more precise and say "ex-partner" :) since to him even worse than the shoes were dogs...

this is really interesting,i love hearing about others ways and customs,iwas amazed to find in america that they frown on people letting pet cats outside,and keep them in all the time.

Our shelters in Slovenia will only let u have a cat if you sign the contract about it being only inside cat ..... it's because soooo many cats get killed on the road that it's scary!

yes,that makes sense,the lady i was reading the post from,on an american site,was quite scathing about"irresponsible cat owners"-a bit like me sounding off about irresponsible dog owners!-and everyone was agreeing,and i could feel myself cringing,as all mine go out without a second thought!I suppose it does depend where you live, though,if i lived on a busy road,id probably keep mine in.

> I can't be bothered cleaning after every person that enters my personal space.

Well you must have very dirty friends !  Me, OH , the kids and their friends take off our shoes but I wouldn't be so rude to ask visitors to remove their shoes, although they always make use of the outdoor and indoor door mats.
I think people can be embarrassed about their feet , from the fact that they may have holes in their socks to people like my MIL who , at 85, has quite arthritic feet with corn plasters and other such dressings on her toes and would be mortified if you asked her to remove her shoes.
Each to their own !

IMO, there is a huge difference between walking onto someone's home with muddy shoes on and walking in from outside with 'clean' shoes on.  I wouldn't dream of walking into someone's home with muddy shoes on whereas I would be a bit 'put out' if I were asked to take off my shoes if they were 'clean', that seems rather unwelcoming to me. :) 

Shoes always taken off here- have no idea what the person may have walked in- def do not want that on my floors
I always remove my shoe's unless everyone else is wearing them :-)

I think people can be embarrassed about their feet , from the fact that they may have holes in their socks to people like my MIL who , at 85, has quite arthritic feet with corn plasters and other such dressings on her toes and would be mortified if you asked her to remove her shoes.
Each to their own !
LOL I wouldn't ask people to take their socks off! :) Besides I don't exactly look at people's feet, that's the last thing I look at ...... I just think it's kind of the same as taking their coats and jackets off when walking into someone's house. You take your jacket off even though you don't have the nicest looking arms, don't you?
Also, I always provide visitor's sleepers, so even if your socks are dirty and you don't want to show them, nobody's going to see it!

If people took their socks off in my house, my dog would mug them and provide his version of canine reflexology, whether they wanted it or not....

> LOL I wouldn't ask people to take their socks off!

No, but you can see her feet and dressings through her tights.

> In Europe it's pretty normal for guests (and house owners) to strictly take their shoes off and put their slippers on as soon as they enter the house

I thought that , unfortunately , we were in Europe !  Let me out !!!! 

Haha good point St Domingo, I do have a handbell ringing group at someone's house who is a 'shoes off' person, and as I'm not too bothered about wearing socks with a hole or two in if they are my favourite pair, I do have to remember to wear a decent pair on a Friday - I don't care about having a hole in my toe if I'm wearing shoes or slippers, but would feel a bit embarrassed if the hole was on display for everyone! :-p

Some of my dogs have a foot fetish and bare feet would be considered prime fodder. My first dog learnt to very gently take a sock off then lick every crevice. I wonder what behaviourists make of that.

My family are strictly shoes off & slippers on in my house (except dh who will insist on walking up the stairs in his shoes first).  Not such a problem in our house as we have wooden floors throughout, but when we had carpet in our previous house I could swing for him :-(
Visitors are allowed to keep shoes on, but it's more a case of me trying to be less anal.  We do have underfloor heating after all! 
Your friends & guests will get used to your ways, those that don't like it, know what they can do eh? ;-)  I have to say, you'll get more comments from providing slippers than you will asking them to remove their shoes.  We looked around a house with special flooring & we were asked to wear silk slippers.
We live in a rural area of heavy clay, so the majority of my visitors are in muddy boots, fortunately they have the courtesy to take them off!  But I've learned over the years that a mop & bucket of parvovirucide after they've all gone doesn't go astray hee hee!

Living on a farm mean the sensible thing would be to take off muddy boots/shoes etc at the back door? Nope.. :-D
I hate carpet and tend to wear my shoes all around the house and often forgotten about the mud and realised i've left a trail behind me - OOOooops!!! Oh well tiles and wooden floors next - i'm hoping.. But with 3 large dogs and 2 humans and guests galavanting through, who cares :-D

However I do try and take my shoes off at others homes if they do. I remembered last night too at a friends..

Haha good point St Domingo, I do have a handbell ringing group at someone's house who is a 'shoes off' person, and as I'm not too bothered about wearing socks with a hole or two in if they are my favourite pair, I do have to remember to wear a decent pair on a Friday - I don't care about having a hole in my toe if I'm wearing shoes or slippers, but would feel a bit embarrassed if the hole was on display for everyone! :-p
LOL all these years and I've never thought about looking at people's socks/feet/tights :). Probably because straight after taking their shoes off, my guests put their slippers off (which provides cover for those who do not like the look of their toes) ;).