Will he wreck the floor? Nope, I don't think so. Will he scratch it? Yes, probably, but so will you eventually. You'll probably see the scratches a bit more on the darker floor, but as long as you keep his nails trimmed nicely (I use a Dremel tool on mine to keep them short and smooth) I think it will be the least of the things that may potentially damage your floor.

I have bleached oak floors throughout the house (not the kitchen) that are the original floors in the house. We had them redone about 4 years ago with a ceramic finish (I rarely hear about this, but I asked the floor company to put whatever they put on commercial floors on my floor). We have two dogs. Two HUGE dogs (Newfoundlands) weighing in at a total of about 265 pounds so trust me ... they are tougher on a floor than your Bichon. There are a lot of indent-type scratches on the floor (not through the finish) that I can only see when I am on my hands and knees cleaning the floor. I think the light color helps keep them looking good, but since none of these are deep scratches I'm not sure you'd see them if the floor were dark.

Agree with wisailorgirl. Be less concerned about your specific flooring selection and instead focus on trimming nails short and often. If your bichon is not cooperative about that, it's time to win his participation. Our now passed on pugs were spoiled and conned us into never trimming their nails by becoming ridiculously difficult about it. They won and their nails did a number on our floors. Our big retriever is 73 lbs and completely cooperative. That combined with our floors which are to be finished in a honey colored stain...we should be fine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our bungalow remodel blog

I have white oak with 2 coats of varnish and 2 med/large dogs. they run around my house playing or attacking the door all the time and i don't have any scratches from them. I have plenty from furniture and people who walk through my house with dirty shoes (my 2 boys). The dog wouldn't worry me. Go for it!

I'm a kitchen dude, can I answer, too? =)

We have a chubby cocker spaniel whose nails we rarely touch; he's ornery. He hasn't made a mark on our floors. We have Brazilian Cherry so it's very hard. Not sure what type of wood you are looking at but not all 'hard' wood is all that hard.

Good luck...

I have four dogs- a German Shorthair Pointer and 3 labs (how this happened is a long story) and have not noticed scratching on the dark red oak floors I have- but they do show dirt and dust easily. I am having the floors redone in a driftwood gray stain with a Bona Naturelle finish. And yes, I keep the dogs' nails trimmed too.

We have a border collie who stays inside 90% of the time and have raised 3 boys. The boys were much harder on our floor than the dog LOL! Its red oak stained with "Provincial" color stain so its kind of dark. Do we have scratches? yes Can anyone see them that don't know where to look? no. We went with a satin finish because scratches/drips/water spots/crumbs do not show up like it would with a glossy finish. Most of the scratches on the floor are under the bar stools because boys like to lean back the stools (UUGH!!) A little bit of Old English scratch remover takes care of that tho. Your 18lb dog do not destroy your floor.

I have quartersawn red oak floors with 3 coats of finish, one 48 lb older portuguese water dog, and scratches to prove it. I finally realized that I wasn't keeping her nails clipped short enough. I also needed to trim the fur under the paw as she was slipping down the now hardwood stairs. Do the scratches stand out? No. I think you'll be fine. Enjoy your new floors.

i have a 50 pound basset hound and haven't noticed any damage from her on my mahogany floors. I have to vacuum daily, though, because of her white fur.

We got handscraped floors so any dings that show up will look right in place.

SoftPaws/SoftClaws are an awesome floor and furniture saver. We HAVE to keep them on our cat or she claws straight thru the couch fabric to the frame!!! They also make them for dogs but we just keep after the pugs nails with a dremel every couple of weeks and that seems to do the trick.

Here is a link that might be useful: SoftClaws

We have an 80 lbs active boxer who runs and up and down stairs to our oak hardwoods floors and I don't see any scratches. we make sure her nails are always trim and smooth, so we're not concerned at all. We are renovating our kitchen/sunroom and are considering a dark cherry pergo flooring in the sunroom, because the are laminate floors I'm a bit more concerned until I saw this video. http://na.pergo.com/

I'd say go for it!

Here is a link that might be useful: pergo floors

Scratched floors after one year.

The second photo shows the nail imprints of our two Golden Retrievers. The floor refinisher told me that, what people usually refer to as scratches, are actually imprints where the wood is compressed by the dogs's weight.

I do just a so-so job of keeping their nails trimmed with the Dremmel tool. I have to do it outside because of the mess and the weather doesn't always cooperate with the timetable of when their nails need to be done.

The floor is a Bruce aluminum oxide pre-finished solid white oak hardwood. That finish showed the same kind of compressed nail marks. The finish did begin to flake off eventually in the highest traffic area where I took this picture.

The nail marks are not visible unless the viewing angle and light are just so. Would I do hardwood floors again, knowing I will always have big dogs? Nope! I adore my floors and the richness, warmth of hardwood, but dogs will damage the floors, no way around it.

For the refinish, I had the floors sanded down to remove the bevels on the edges of the strips. They applied Bona Cherry stain to damp wood, then 2 coats of semi-gloss Bona Traffic.

My friends who have wood and two large dogs (huskey and golden lab), nails aren't the problem. 'Accidents' are the problem. If the dog(s) tinkle on the wood, it stains black. The stains do not come out. They have replaced sections of the floor because of this.

Two Standard Poodles

Brazilian Cherry Engineered Wood in DR

Scratched up in less than a year...not so bad we need to refinish, but bad enough that anytime the sun hits it you see the scratches...and we have a 6'x6' window with a western exposure in the DR w/lots of sun!

We're hoping to someday replace it w/Brazilian Teak wood (not engineered) and we're hoping it will wear better.

We do have friends w/wood floors throughout the first floor that have one standard poodle and their floors look worse than ours...I don't know offhand the wood type, but it's darker than ours so I think it's the wood color.

From what I've seen and read here & elsewhere, the lighter the floor the better if you don't want scratches to show...regardless of type (pet, child, etc.)

60lb labrador, numerous foster puppies that come through. Oak floors, refinished 1.5 years ago. Tons of scratches from the lab from when she gets excited, none from the foster puppies (too small I think - at most they've been 15-20lbs).

The scratches hurt me emotionally when I think about the cost for refinishing, but hey, that's what a lived in house feels like to me. I'd still rather have the hardwood.

The more character and color variation in your floor, the less scratches will show. I get more damage from the dining chairs that slide perpendicular to the floor boards than I do from my yellow lab. I have wide rustic antique oak so I don't mind a little abuse.

It would be very helpful if you would all specify if your wood floor is Engineered or Solid. We are leaning toward the exotics and Engineered.

It may be that Engineered dents easier than solid  even the harder woods such as Brazilian Cherry since the wear layer is so thin.

For me, making this decision is as hard as deciding on a white kitchen with marble  IÂve never seen one in person! Where can I go to see a whole room in Brazilian Teak or Tigerwood? How do I know I will *love* it without seeing it in person? grumble grumble

I love wood floors and I also love my dogs.
I have two 70 lb. boxers at the moment but have had many
boxers and I can say that I have not had issues with
urine. Any accidents which are extremely rare are cleaned
up immediately so Perhaps this is why we have never had staines of any sort.
The wood is a mix of red and white oak stained dark, dark
mahogany, English Chestnut and Ebony. Not wide plank pine.
Pine is soft and can show dents easily.

I have my floors refinished every year. Not a full blown
out sand, stain and seal but a simple cleaning and sealant.
Which keeps them looking their best. Really no different
than having your carpets cleaned.

I have one dog who detests having nails trimmed but we have
a fun trick. One of us holds a peanut butter lolipop.
This can be done with a scoop of peanut butter on a spoon.
While the dog is busy licking the peanut butter I trim
nails. By the time the dog is done with the PB, the nails
are perfect. I think I could even paint them a fire
engine red and she would not notice.

~boxer

A recent pic

I have cumaru floors. My two dogs are about sixty lbs each. The only scratches are from me - moving furniture or from the vacumn cleaner wheels when little rocks get under them. (I do believe the dogs bring in the little rocks.)

I know I already responded regarding my own oak floors which are solid and not engineered or prefinished but I just remebered that I stayed in a house for 3 months this past summer that had Brazilian cherry prefinished floors. The owners had 2 small dogs that piddled everywhere (disgusting) and I had my 2 60# dogs that ran around the house all the time. I don't trim their nails at all because we run on pavement all the time and there were no scratches or pee stains that I could see. I think the pee stains come when the floors are not sealed. I potty trained 3 puppies in my last house and didn't have any stains from their accidents.

Hi.

We have a large, goofy yellow lab (about 90 pounds), so we opted for a rustic, wide pine floor with no stain, just tung oil. His hair doesn't show & it is meant to look worn/rustic over time.

Katie

I have Black River Hickory wood floors and 4 dogs. They play like crazy and NOT a single scratch or impression. I think with a dog the size of yours, there's not much too worry about. It might depend on the finish and hardness though. I have a friend with large dogs and her floors were a mess with a week. I don't know the type of wood or mfgr of hers. Mine are Chelsea Plank

70 pond lab that dieed last summer at almost 14 years old.

No scratches since her nails were clipped and then filed about once month.

If you hear the nails clicking on the floor they need to be trimmed and filed.

Filing after trimming removes the sharp edges left by the cutter.

We put in hickory hardwood floors - didn't want the exotic hardwoods because of concerns about harvesting Amazon forests and this was the hardest of the north american woods. It's holding up really well so far, we've had it for a little over a year, our dogs are 75 lbs (mellow) and 35 lbs (very active, always skittering around corners).

We are going with Brazilian Teak hardwood and hope they will be durable with an 80 lb boxer.