Hi all. Well we are going to put laminate flooring in the lounge but my OH is now faffing. He's convinced the girls will scrath it up when they have mad running sessions. I sais they are more likely to slid around at first but they'll get use to it. Please can I have your opinions before we go and spend a small fortune. Thanks :)

Marie

Wood flooring they definitely will scratch, but laminate is fine, the inital getting used to walking on it is the only thing you will find. It is the best invention ever when you have dogs no more stained carpet or lingering doggie odour, one quick wipe of the cloth or kitchen roll to get any accidents up both human and dog.  Only downside it really shows every hair and bit of dirt so you clean a little more often but I guess that is a plus side hygene wise anyway. Also you know exactly where your dog is as you hear the clickerty clack of their feet on the flooring.

Def won't scratch though and opens up your room with nice clean lines.

I have wood in my living room, sanded down floorboards varnished with yaght varnish over 10 years ago if there are any scratches they don't show against the grain and certainly no damage through to the wood.  I am not too keen on laminates because of the sliding aspect also, thinking of long term value, isn't it a bit passe ;)

If you can hear your dogs claws going clickety clack, they made need trimming as they are too long.....

Personally I find laminate too clinical, I don't mind hovering - I just hover the 'bit in the middle' - but I just 'know' those dust bunnies will be under and behind all the furniture instead of a nice little pile in the middle of the carpet.....  My two tend to loose their feet on the ceramic tiled kitchen floor. so heaven only knows what laminate would do to them :(

Digger I have my dogs nails clipped very regularly, I def agree with the dust bunnies though, after 3 days under my sofa looks like I haven't cleaned for a year, there are downsides to laminate, but I find more upsides.  My dog got used to laminate really quickly it is so easy to wipe up messes. I do miss the warmth of a carpet in the winter though.

Ok now I worried about the dust bunnies!!!!! I may just have to remove the sofas and replace with bean bags :)!!! Well at least little accidents (and thats just OH) will be easily sorted :)

i had laminate fitted , looked great :) 5 dogs running around , sliding into tables , rug moving accross floor, the noise of 20 paws laminate removed after 18 months & new carpet fitted :):) peace !! ....... cost .. IMO !

Hi Mollymoto,

My Mum has recently had laminate flooring in her lounge and kitchen.  It looks great!  She has 2 elderly Yorkies and 1 Australian Silky and ALL you hear is them tippy tappying about!  It drives me insane LOL.  I was thinking about having it too but after hearing them I don't think I could cope with the constant clacking of paws on floor plus mine are bigger and do tend to have the "funny five minutes" when they tear round the lounge!!  I can't imagine my furniture would stand up to four dogs slamming into it every time they couldn't stop - let alone my poor legs!! LOL. 

Debs

Make sure you have a good quality underlay, this will cut down the noise of the claws.

We have laminate in the lounge, but mine are not allowed to run around in there, I think it could be dangerous if your dogs are used to tearing around.

It is great to keep clean, quick sweep daily and a mop over twice a week.

i have laminate throughout, bar the stairs and landing (and tiled bathrooms), and there are a few scuffs, but not anything significantly noticable, and my two romp like idiots for hours. The worst bit about dogs and laminate is all the hairs! I must sweep a good 6 times a day, and run the hoover over too, but no matter how much i do either, theres always hairs appearing from somewhere.

I have laminate flooring in my living room, bedrooms and its the best thing we did. With 2 very active CKCS and pups its great for cleaning up pups accidents and muddy paw marks and it never scratches or marks from the cavvies running about.

Go for it, you won't regret it

Have laminate in dining room and living room plus couple of bedrooms.  All fine except had living room one replaced after flood.  OH wanted wood laminate rather than usual laminate (don't know what that is) wood laminate does scratch up and had lots of marks.

We have cats and one cavalier and have Pergo laminate floors throughout the house apart from the stairs, shower room and bathroom and I love it.  Agree aout the amount of hair but a quick hoover and it is all gone.

I would love laminate floors but I am frightened of my dogs crippling themselves on it ,I think perhaps it may be okay for small dogs or cats but with large heavy breeds it must be similar to ice skating.
Recently we have had a young labrador at training class who at first wouldn,t come into the hall where we train his owner said he has been strange about floor surfaces since they had laminate flooring installed in their lounge.
I don,t want to put my dogs at any added risk of hurting themselves as they are more than capable of doing that themselves so I guess I,ll just battle on with the carpets and the dyson.
This is only my personal opinion on my sitiuation and not designed to upset or offend anyone
Sharon

>This is only my personal opinion on my sitiuation and not designed to upset or offend anyone

Nice disclaimer, Sharon
I might adopt that as my signature line ;) once HuskyGal has seen the rediculous one I have been carrying around like an albatross awaiting her return to the board :rolleyes: :p

Hi Isabel
Canit wait to see what youre going to write I kill myself laughing at some of the exchanges you have with each other
Sharon

It's there in my signature line already, you have to make sure you have "see signatures" checked in you options to see these things, then you have to look at one of HuskyGals post and see her's to know what I am on about :)

:D :D

I have been waiting to see HG's reaction when she sees it as well ! :D

It's a good point about dogs sliding around on laminates.  My dog doesn't slide around unless 15 yr old son mucks about with her and I sometimes hear the 'wheelspins' as she goes to chase after him.  I go berserk when that happens and thankfully it's not often.  Other than that she is perfectly ok and she is a larger breed.  Also we have a rug in the middle of living room floor which she stands on when we're playing tuggy.

When my mother had her new house built she went for laminate flooring throughout - we call the place the "Spanish Holiday Villa" because it's a classic one-storey Irish house! Subsequently she chose to fit carpets in the sitting room because she was driven demented by the constant tippy tapping of doggy feet in every room. Admittedly her dogs are big, older and don't tear around like complete eejits but she's never had any problems with them sliding on the laminate floors.

We're having our house totally renovated this Spring and I did think about laminate myself but have decided on quarry tiles downstairs because I don't think I could tolerate a JRT doing endless loony skidding circuits!

It may be anecdotal, but since laminate became so popular I have been told that hip results ahve worsened.  As we know Hip Dysplasia is part heredity, diet and environment.

Do you know Brainless I actually do agree with that.  When I first got laminate which I personally love, I remember thinking the extra effort my dog had to make to say jump on the sofa etc.  I don't notice it now and my dog doesn't seem to make an extra effort, but I did think at the beginning that for a large dog particularly it would not be good for their hips as until they are used to it they do slip backwards.  So I think you are onto something there.

Mine are a cobby breed and generally are good on their feet, but I would worry about the oldies, as certainly Elka became a bit less steady on her feet in her last months..

Well I'm glad yopu posted cathh5 as I was able to prove to OH that as usual I am right. 

Well on counting the results of my extremely scientific and accurate survey I can confidently convey to my hubby that I'm right. Thanks guys it'll be laminate flooring in the lounge at easter. I love it when a plan comes together :) :)

I have found that some laminates are not as shiny as others and the more matt effect ones cause my dog to slip less, even when she is tearing around.  I found that my dog adapted very well to laminate and the tippy tap of tiny footsteps can help you to suss out when the dog is up to no good!

We found a nice one that has a texture to the surface and didn't feel that slippery. Infact I'm more likely to slip it than them. :)

I think it's a good idea if you have dogs, mines always lapping around the house & unlike a carpet if you get one bit that gets ruined then it's easy to replace rather than a carpet. My last dog destroyed one patch of carpet so the whole thing had to go £800 worth. The only down side is the cleaning but I only notice it now as the dogs black appose to grey. 

I love my laminate. I used paw wax on the dogs pads until they got used to it. They don't slip, but I manage to fall in magnificent form when my newf leaves a patch of slobber on the floor. :D

I have laminate in the kitchen and back porch and also the downstairs bathroom.  The dogs do tend to slide around when doing the mad half hour and they have been known to slide right accross the kitchen and slam into the opposite door when galloping for dinner :rolleyes: but the best is when they want desperately to go out, they look like cartoon dogs as they run like mad - standing still to get out the back door :D although they haven't been hurt by it.

Its brilliant for accidents tho and looks as good as it did when put down 3 years ago, but I've gone off the idea of having it in the living room, too much chance of the dogs getting hurt there ;)

whatever you do, dont paint your original floorboards black as I did, shows everything, STUPID STUPID STUPID!!! :rolleyes:now it is covered with washable rugs. i can hear the dogs claws on the wood but the vet assures me they are ok, they get longer in winter whent the ground is soft, roll on summer.

When we were house hunting last summer all we saw was ACRES of brown plastic laminate EVERYWHERE - I hate the stuff - we have textured slate floors and stripped varnished floorboards MUCH better ( and quieter) IMO ;)

We moved last year and had a large extension built leading to the garden, so decided on laminate for cleanliness. Must admit it's very easy to maintain but constant clicking of the dogs nails drive me mad! and their nails are not that long (have installed V. large rug!). :)

Hi Mollymoto,
I have Laminate flooring in my living room and dining room.
Was the best thing i ever done! As a puppy, my dog had ruined the living room carpet with her accidents. So rather than spend out on another carpet to be ruined, we went for Laminate.
The dog has not scratched it at all, is very hard wearing.
I can not imagine what a new carpet would look like with all the mud that's been trodden through of late. With the best will in the world i can't keep the living room door shut 24/7 cos kid's keep leaving it open. But hey, not a prob just wipe over!
Although, i have to admit that for the living room, i do love a nice cosy carpet, don't think you can beat them. But practicality wise when you have a muddy springer... Don't even think of a new carpet!!
And, as for mad 5 mins, she dosen't even attempt them anymore cos she knows she can't get the traction needed.

Personally, never again will I put down laminate flooring....apart from being very passe....it is NOT good for puppies joints.....or even older dogs....I cringed everytime pups had their playtimes and I had to stop them...I balked when the older dogs crashed into each other at breakneck speed....I was on complete tenterhooks until I had Ellie and Summers hip scores done, and even although they were good, I still felt they could have been better if NOT brought up living with laminate.....the rest of my house was solid wooden floors and had the livingroom done in laminate...Stupid stupid idea.....as for cleaning the hairs....hair sticks to carpet and hoovers up....hair does not stick to laminate and floats everywhere....it never gets clean...oh yes...rugs on laminates....more dangerous than the laminate itself....I nearly landed in the open coal fire when I slid along with the rug....

New house has crappy old carpet which came with house, and will stay down till pups are a little older, I dont care what it looks like to visitors, I know my pups and dogs (and myself) are safer.......