We installed dark hickory engineered floors about 12 years ago when our kids were infants/toddlers. We've also had a big Lab that whole time. I've had occasional scratches or gouges that go through the stained layer down to the plywood or whatever is beneath it. It's easily covered with wood markers. I can also see marks from the dog's claws, but our expectations were that it would patina like wood. We went with engineered because it's supposed to be better on a slab.
If I could do it again, I would triple check that there's a really thick wear layer so you could refinish once or twice. We were told we could get one refinish job out of ours, but when we did our recent remodel, it was determined that our wood layer is too thin. I think I'd also go with walnut because it's a more medium tone. When I was shopping, I had several 12x12 samples in my trunk, and when I got home, I noticed that some had been scratched from bumping around in the car. The hickory one didn't have scratches so I went with that one because I was concerned about the dog claws.
In this first picture, you can see where there's wear along the edge of a board, and you can see indentations from dog claws. This is the most traveled path in our house, and you can see it still looks good overall.
We installed dark hickory engineered floors about 12 years ago when our kids were infants/toddlers. We've also had a big Lab that whole time. I've had occasional scratches or gouges that go through the stained layer down to the plywood or whatever is beneath it. It's easily covered with wood markers. I can also see marks from the dog's claws, but our expectations were that it would patina like wood. We went with engineered because it's supposed to be better on a slab.
If I could do it again, I would triple check that there's a really thick wear layer so you could refinish once or twice. We were told we could get one refinish job out of ours, but when we did our recent remodel, it was determined that our wood layer is too thin. I think I'd also go with walnut because it's a more medium tone. When I was shopping, I had several 12x12 samples in my trunk, and when I got home, I noticed that some had been scratched from bumping around in the car. The hickory one didn't have scratches so I went with that one because I was concerned about the dog claws.
In this first picture, you can see where there's wear along the edge of a board, and you can see indentations from dog claws. This is the most traveled path in our house, and you can see it still looks good overall.