We are planning on getting a new carpet for our living room, but I am worried that it will be destroyed by our giant breed dog with her muddy/wet paws.  It has patio doors at one end which she goes in and out of 10 times a day.  I do wipe her paws but even so...

Can anybody recommend a good carpet when you've got dogs?  I was thinking of getting that short, thick cabled stuff that they sometimes have in offices, in a dark colour?  I don't want to spend a fortune as we are planning to stay here for less than five years.

I must admit I will never, ever have carpets again -it isn't worth the hassle and makes life so difficult. I only had two toy dogs going in and out through a patio door and that was bad enough -it wasn't until the carpet came up we realised just HOW bad it was. We now have thick lino all over the house, the type that looks like real wood (people even mistake it for wood), and I steam clean it once a week so it's always more or less spotless. When the dogs come in you just mop up, any spilt water or any other accidents are quickly and easily cleaned up, and there's no smell at all -and no hairs stuck in it either. :)

THats a Brill Idea!! 
We are also wanting to change our living room carpet before christmas, and have been racking our brains as to what colour would be best to not show up the muddy paw prints as much!! :D :D
We are going to put tile flooring down in our kitchen at some stage, but feel the carpet in the living room is in need of a re-vamp!
I will suggest to my OH tonight about the Vinyl, I did want wood flooring or laminate but my dogs slip and slide on this stuff!!

Second the vinyl!  I have it in my kitchen and it's a god send for the dogs.  Non-slip too, and quite warm compared to laminate/tiles and the like (both of which I've had).

The office stuff - at least in the office where I work - is carpet tiles, I've toyed with the idea myself I must admit but I don't see that much difference between the carpet tiles and the vinyl in terms of heat, and going by the look of the carpet at work (we are half office and half distribution factory, so dirty boots in and out - something similar to a big muddy dog :D) it'd be a LOT easier to keep clean.

When I can afford to, my carpets are going and in will come the vinyl!  Just found a shop selling rolls of it up the town too, and it's a fair bit cheaper than carpets or laminate.

I'll 3rd that. I've now got lino in my downstairs hall, bathroom and kitchen and will probably do my lounge in it soon too. It looks great, easy to clean and the dogs don't slide on it :)

You can always have a large rug or scatter rugs on top which can be washed/hosed.

I now have tile and laminate downstairs and sure cuts down on any doggy smell and is much more hygienic.

The hair does tend to float into corners, so you do have to get the crevice tool under the furniture etc.  But that just means your more inclined to clean the flooor properly :D

I've got karndean and tiles downstairs and as the karndean is matt rather than shiney like most laminates the dog does not slip on it.  it is easy to clean and looks more like wood than laminate does.  It is warm underfoot and not at all noisy.  would recommend it to anyone.  I got carpets upstairs at the same time and have had to buy a steamer to keep them clean as they are already manky.

Hi Cheekychow

I also have Karndean and think it's great.  Do you use your steam mop on the Karndean?  I have been thinking about getting a steam mop but wasn't sure if I could use it onthe Karndean?

Jax :)

Hi Jax, I've got a bit of a housework allergy so haven't used the steamer on it but and only hoover it on occassion and once in a while it gets a mop.  I might use the steamer on it for a xmas treat but it is not a steam mop I have but a vax multi purpose steamer. 

I got rid of my carpets too, not just because of my girl but because I have mum's dogs most days for an hour or so too, and got fed up of carpet cleaning, and laminate and wooden flooring is very fashionable, I actually had a light green carpet, sorry can't recall the make or name and it, but it did actually clean up really well, usually just with a hoover and once a month with my vac washer.

I fell into the laminate trap it is great for wiping up doggy feet any messes, but to be honest, I'm going to go back to carpet, Why, you all ask? Well, I've had it, I can't stand the floating dust anymore, the hairs, everything floats, it is on the chandiliers, the lampshades the bookcases units, since I've had laminate dust just floats,:rolleyes: I've always been houseproud, but I am cleaning and dusting constantly, the dust floats upstairs it just has nowhere to settle with having no downstairs carpets, wiping up any dog feet mess or accidents was very little compared to the excess cleaning I have to do now.) I also miss the feel and warmth of carpet.

Luckily, I have a conservatory where all dogs have a tiled floor to dry off in before entering any other parts of the house, so laminate is not so important to me.

If I were you, I would get some tiling down for approx 5-10ft by your patio doors and erect a long gate or erection of some sort, to seperate her from your room whilst your wet or muddy dog is left to dry, then remove the gate and let her in the rest of your home once dry.  Clean up the tiles and you have a clean home and dog and no mess to your carpet. ;-)

I'm in the same boat as you, and cant wait to get carpet back down!! We're waiting for building work to get done next year and then its time for carpet shopping!!  I've got some black rubber style fatigue matting down  at the moment to stop the dogs slipping, but one of them loves to chew it!! 

I have soild oak in 90% of the house, tiles in the bathrooms.  

I too have cushion floor in the kitchen and tiles in the conservatory  But I have Oak throughout the hall and dining room, much warmer than laminate and not so treacherous for slippy dog feet. But I have my lovely plush carpet in the lounge and am quite happy to get the Vax carpet cleaner out every so often to spruce it up a bit.
Have you no way of letting the dogs in via another door in winter and saving your carpet?
I have seagrass down on my stairs and landing and find this does not show the dirt so much...but it is not easy to clean!!...hoovers up well but (Strangely for SEA grass) does not like getting wet !

if your really wanting carpet what about a really herd wersing fabric like jute? (lol, you can tell i'm in dundee :D)