Hi

We have the whole of our kitchen and dining room floor in lamanite flooring and a couple of times when our puppy has been sitting with her feet either side of her bottom has stood up she has done the splits and for a couple of seconds has been unable to get up.(It is a large floor area)

Obviously this worrys me greatly, we had this problem when our other dog was old and had arthritus, we had lino then and had strips of carpet everywhere so he couldn`t slip.

I am ever so worried that she will do some damage to her hips, I have been out and bought some carpet runners so she is at the moment sitting mainly on the carpet bits.

Am I worring too much? She is 11 weeks old

Thanks Hilary

My mother-in-laws cavalier has had two major operations on her knee ligaments, back legs, because of slipping on laminate flooring. Over the past 18 months the cavalier has taken a few nasty slips which tore the ligaments in her knees, each operation cost £600. She is only 5 years old, but the vet did advise they take the flooring up because next time it could be worse. We were thinking of laminate flooring until we bought our pup 3 months ago, but since changed our minds and gone for kitchen floor covering!

Lots safer and no slipping!

im sure pup will be fine. dogs/pups get used to laminated floors really easy some take longer then others thou.
ive had 3 pups and the laminated floors have been fine they only slip when there running 100 miles a ahour and if you had carpet you might be scared they get friction burn then:D you cant win either way haha.
alternativly i suggest some clear pvc mats/runners you can buy them in rolls .non slip and easy to wip clean!
ermm oo i duno where you can get them from.ahh i know if you go into your local flooring retailer and they dont have any then ask them to order you some , i know that jaymart sells them. so just mention that to them.:D ermm if you need anyhelp about flooring then i can help im a flooring retailer
Lady xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Hilary, Petsat Home sells paw wax to stop them slipping and I find vaseline seems to do the same job.

i posted in this thread...but it ent turned up....anyway...I will say again....my 7 year old dobe sliped a disc in her neck because of a lino kitchen floor.....she had to be put to sleep in the end...as she was in alot of pain...and lost control of her bowels......all because she came to great me..after being out...not a big slip either...very sad.

Charley

I have 2 Cavalier pups aged 4 and 6 mths, with laminate flooring in my kitchen, living room and hallway. They both seem fine on the flooring. They chase eachother around the living room alot and sometimes do skid but neither of them have been hurt. I have put a huge rug on my living room though to prevent them from skidding about too much.

I have to say that i will not and would not sell a puppy to any one that has laminate floors,

i suposed you would include wooden and viynl flooring too not to mention ceramic /glass and stone floors all can be equaly slippery , and ceramic and stone can be worse then laminate when dry never mind when wet.
its so easy for accidents happen.
You might as well include no stairs and no pond too they could possibly be worse.oh and they need a fire gate too.
Good idea but the thing is how are you going to make sure the laminates arent installed a short while after getting the pups or notice if they have them at all? do you do home visits?
i think its a bit hard to rid everyone of all possible accident areas for pups. i mean they only have to bite threw the tv cable and thats it.
I specialise in design flooring and at the mo the most populare flooring for dog owners is viynl tiles they have recently made ones with alot of texture,come in all kinds of mix and match designs. rubber flooring and safty flooring.
Charley thats a really sad story , well at least shes not in pain now.have you any dogs now?if so what kind?

This wasnt a resent death..it happened 3 years ago..but shock waves are still felt, as you will know as a dog owner yourself...added to my own breakdown too...I know have 3 dogs, a greyhound and 2 dobes.

Charley

I have laminate flooring on the ground floor of my house and my dog has never had a problem either, i have two huge chinese rugs down in some area's but my dog copes fine with the wood, people fuss too much. As for not selling pups to pple who have laminate flooring sounds a bit daft, what about tiles or lino? or do they have to just have carpets? do you take their word for it corso girl or do you go inspect the floors to see if its ok? what about furniture does that have to be made of anything specific as well? :D

More and more people are having laminate flooring these days. Helps for people with asthma etc. I have to say and knowing my luck something will happen now, but I've had no problems with my floors, all downstairs is laminate flooring and tiling.

As someone else has said, we can't make this an entirely safe world and unfortunately accidents do and will happen. When you think of how many small breeds of dog and I'm sure big ones to, have been injured for jumping on and off furniture.

Jacki, yes i do check homes before i sell a pup, and i say this as one bulldog pup that i sold is now a cripple because of this sort of floor so dont tell me i fuss to much my dogs are very important to me, this home has no rugs any where just slippery floor.and i have tiles in my dog room but they are not slippery, dogs can get a grip on these.and i am not daft. lets hope none of your dogs slip.

I think we need to get this into perspective. A lot of people have hard floors nowdays for a variety of reasons. I have laminate, limestone and slate. The dogs live on the limestone area.

A lot will depend on the type of dog you have, be it scatty or calm, but most of all commonsense needs to prevail. A turtle mat or like helps them on these sort of area's and certainly I wouldn't allow charging around on the laminate. The laminate is far more slippery than the stone floors.

As to the original post, IMO I would keep mats or runners down for a young puppy until they have more control of their legs and you are sure they are not going to charge around. There is nothing wrong with teaching a puppy 'this is not an area where I am going to allow you to play, you are in here by invitation and you are expected to behave'. My dogs know the lounge is not a play room, they go into their area for that.

Sandra

Sandra,

It's not only puppies that charge around and all it takes is a one misplaced movement for a dog to misstep. A little jump of excitement. Getting up too quickly because someone is at the door, etc.

I know my puppy has managed to skid on my kitchen floor, which is rough textured slate. She has also done so on carpet. However, the traction is good enough for her to recover on these surfaces. I had a Yorkie who did her knees in twice on grass. So, I do agree there is no such thing as a completely skid-free surface.

I don't think this is a matter of perspective, the fact is that laminate floors are very slippery and there is less chance of split second recovery. They can be lethal and IMO opinion are not suitable for puppies, elderly dogs with arthritis .. or anytime inbetween. Otherwise, I would have them for sure.

Stacey

i never said you was daft i said it sounds daft, the reason being is the pple you sell the pups to could change the flooring once they have the pup and you would be none the wiser, there are lots of hazards around the home which are dangerous, what if the owners had carpets but loose wires to be chewed instead? i just think it seems a daft idea to not sell a pup because of flooring, this is my opinion :)

A long list would have to be made out. for safty inspection before going into the home.
Also there is now textured laminated flooring so if anyones going to ask if the person had laminates on there floors before allowing the puppy to go , ask if its textured alot have the pitch pinewood effect and saw marks.and is rougher then most flooring. just thought id mention that.
Lady xxxxxxxx

A question and this is not meant to be funny !:)

So what do dog owners in the Scandinavian countries do as the majority have wooden floors as the do not in the most have carpets etc?

Lucy

Hi everyone

We have recently put a laminate floor (much against my better judgement) in our dining room and conservatory. I have three dogs, one of which is a 10 month old GSD pup. I now have virtually every area covered with mis-matched rugs, to minimise slipping. Not only that, we chose Richard Burbidge laminate tiles (designed to look like a stone floor) and I really don't like the way they look either. We have agreed that as soon as we have the funds, the floor has to go. So that was a waste of £500.00! However I am at a loss as to what to put down instead. I would definitely want some kind of hard floor, carpet is out of the question, as the conservatory leads straight out into the garden, and 3 dogs coming and going just wrecks carpet.

So I've noticed a couple of types of flooring mentioned here. Could everyone expand on the flooring mentioned. Is the grained laminate still slippery, is there a real wood floor available with a rough grain that would give some purchase to flying paws?, and if so where can it be bought?

Paw wax and vaseline??? Please explain!

Thanks

Kat

All ideas (silly and otherwise) gratefully received!

If you want a practical floor for both you and the dogs going in and out out the garden, you can't beat riven slate, especially the darker colours they hide a multitude of sins and the dogs won't slip on them.

Sandra

katrina just . make sure you keep your receipt ,for you laminated floor please .
But when the time comes to replace your flooring the best products on the market is viynl tiles heres a website for you too look at www.karndean.com
basicly you can design your own floor . take any design you see and put what ever colour tile/plank you like as long as its in the same range.
This flooring is nearly waterproof and can even be totaly waterproof with the right adhesive. its very hard wearing and at a reasonable price.at around £25-£45pqm depening on what range you choose knightiles the cheapest
this flooring has a textured surface.easy to clean , i have people in my shop telling me this is real wood and slates , infact a man started shouting at me saying i was wrong
anyone want a funky looking floor heres the page you should look at ... http://www.marleyfloors.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/floorcov/product.r?s0=Product%20Range&s3=139&group=139
cant get any different from that :D
if you have a idea post back and ask me . my flooring shop sells all kinds of flooring so i should be able to point you in the right direction
Ps when looking at Karndean take a look at the picture gallery you will find some great ideas
Hope ive helpted Lady xxxxxx

Ops just missed your other questions out .
Ok the textured laminate is not slippy its alot rougher then most floors .. bear in mind that not all laminates are slippery , you can buy really shiney ones and really rough ones . make sure the laminate floors have hdf and not mdf and the under surface should be as hard as the top of the floor ..

As for wood same .. theres shiney and then theres other ones that are antique texture. or even unfinished flooring you could get a mat finish seal , ask you flooring retailer they can help you.

If you want a nice wood flooring thats not slippery then try this site www.bruce.com and they do shiney ones and rough ones on this site. and bear in mind common woods like oak will be cheaper then say maple . the price for wood is from £35pqm to £120 psm so dont say i never warned you ;) but it will add alot of value to your home its seen as a investment as you can sand and seal several times

Hi Kat, so sorry about your floor not living up to your hopes, it must make you want to kick something. Pets at home sell Paw wax in a little tin, on the bit that does shampoo and grooming aids / I use vaseline to prevent the pads cracking, but a chum with laminate floor plus a rowdy young Cairn terrier and an elderly Llasa Apso uses the paw wax to stop em slipping on the floor and he swears by it.

Hi guys - I use Paw Wax for my Labrador when she's visiting the hospital (She's a PAT dog) and I think it really helps. Its made by a company called Shaws and costs about £3.00 (ish) a tin. You can also use it in the snow to stop your dogs from sliding.
Ali