I know that this topic has been mentioned before but I want anyone's honest opinion.

I am looking at buying a dark brown 3 and 2 seeter settee frm John Peters but unsure as I don't know how it will cope with my 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. The lady in the shop said that you cannot stop dogs scratching it and that no matter how tough the sofas are they can still get damaged by dogs claws. My 2 spaniels love to curl up on the sofa with me on an evening and I don't want to stop this because I love nothing more than curling up on the sofa with them after a hard day at work.

Do dog's claws badly damage leather ?? Do people use a throw ?? (was going to put a throw over the seats but one of my CKCS loves to sit on the back of the sofa with his head resting on my shoulder). The sofas come with 5 year guarentee but you can only claim once for pet damage

Help ????????????

We have leather sofas and the 4 goldens leap and snuggle on them all the time , we try to keep there nails short. A couple of small scratches over the years but nothing to cry over :)

IMHO the design of the sofa and the type of leather used will contribute to the amount of damage.  We have a 2 seater and a 3 seater, both dogs have almost unlimited access to both (although Bonnie is inclined to 'make her bed' this is discouraged) The design is of large deep underfilled cushions and the leather is quite coarse grained.  I suspect 'overfilled' cushions made from a fine grained leather may not fair so well......

I too have a brown leather sofa.  I only have a yorkie (big one tho) and Its great when he comes in from his walk all muddy and has a mad minute trying to dry himself on the sofa I just get a cloth and wipe it off. Bravo good as new.  Cos he is a terrier he also like to dig in the corner of the sofa and no matter how hard he tries he cant damage it.

My mum has leather sofas and a cocker spaniel - absolutely no damage, although he doesn't get up on the sofas that often to be honest but she just puts a rug there when the dog does get up.

I have cloth sofas and since I got Copper they are completely ruined with him rubbing himself along the edge of the seats.  Impossible to clean.  So I would say go with leather.

CG