The exact same thing happened at my house! Only, it wasn't a guard dog, it was my dog Flora who was put into the big room that has my favorite door, beautiful old green varnish on the outside, wonderful warm wood on the inside. Unexpected company came, so I hurried the dog into the room, shut the door. Imagine trying to be polite to company in one room and hearing scratching and clawing in another! Flora had NEVER done that before. My heart sank, I knew where every claw mark was going on that door. I shouted for her to stop and she eventually did; but the damage was done. So, I know exactly how you feel; try not to beat yourself up too bad, it was an accident afterall.

From where I sit I see three doors with scraching damage and a run of baseboad that shows signs of chewing and scratching. My dogs didn't do all that work; the previous owner had two that helped. But it will be a spring project. Taking out the doors, sanding, stripping, and refinishing won't be too bad; the baseboard I don't look foward to. I've been playing with scrap wood (not the same as the old wood, of course) on matching the finish.

Webwoman

Heres a little trick I came up with. Look inside your closets. Most times the inside door woodwork and the baseboard will match the rest of the woodwork in your house. This woodwork is usually in excellent shape. Unless youre in the habit of locking Fido in the closet.

You can strip the insides of your closets of this spiffy woodwork and use it to replace or to patch the damaged stuff out in the open. Then put the damaged stuff inside the closet. I dont know about you but my closets are so packed that its dangerous to open them. So there little chance of anyone getting a good look at any baseboards in there anyway.

Don't feel bad -- YOU didn't do it. (The animals should be ashamed of themselves! ha!) Since I moved into my house with the original 1940 doors, I've also taken in three kitties and made them strictly-indoor cats. The intake required them to be neutered, which meant that they each had to be sequestered in a room by themselves for a week, so as to limit their activity. All three of the little brats chewed and scratched the back of one of these beautiful old doors ... I mean, they actually took CHUNKS out of the back side of the door. Luckily it IS the back side of the door, but still. Ugh!

Stanlie, Thanks, but if only...closets??? What are they? There are none original to the house. I've lived in a bunch of old houses, and they always had at least some tiny ones. Some time back someone added a reach in (or walk-in if you turn sideways and breathe in) to one of the bedrooms, and a box built of of scrap 2 xs and fake wood paneling in another (since torn down). But no such luck here on baseboards.

But putting the dogs in the closet...hmmm.

I'm afraid that if I come pretty close and it looks good, it will make the rest of the dings that came about over the house's 150 or so years suddenly jump out.

That's a good tip, Stanlie.

Well, maybe I am a minority, but I think all owners, including those in the present, are part of the history of a house. Things happen. It is a shame when something gets scratched up, but you will do what all the owners of your house since it was built have done when something like that happened - live with, repair it or hide it until the next owner finds it.

Schoolhouse
Thanks. I came up with it out of desperation. As you know its not easy matching the old stuff. Even if we could afford to duplicate it, we cant match the patina.

Webwoman
Sorry to hear youre closetless. I feel your pain. There arent many in this place either. One of my previous city houses actually had closets. Boy do I miss them. This is a country house. I guess they didnt have many clothes.

I have a Rottenweiler and several felines who shall remain nameless who have managed to leave their marks for posterity. If I were to stuff one in a closet they would be squooze in so tight there wouldnt be room to scratch. LOL.

Ive seen wardrobes made from old doors that looked pretty good. If your interested Ill try to find a link.

Stanlie,

Funny you should mention that. The wardrobe in the entry (former porch, closed in at some point) is made of old doors. There was a pile of them in the basement (this house is full of doorways). Alas, they were piled on the floor, with too much rot to be salvaged.

The folks that built this place believed in flexibilty -- all the doorways seen to have been designed with either two families or one in mind, maybe borders -- but flexibility with few clothes.

YOU did???? It is not like you remuddled or intentionally defaced your place. Now, if it had been YOU chewing on your door to get more fiber in your diet, that would be something else. Don't beat yourself up!

OK, here's something to make you feel better when doing the repair: Where ever you can, underneath the paint, behind the baseboard dutchman, etc. Write your name, the date and a little story about the doggie who dun it. Maybe a little cartoon. Someday, someone will turn up your message and it will be one of those things that makes the house live for them.

I hope no one takes this amiss, but on Sept. 11th I was rehanging a built-in cupboard in the pantry in my Virginia house. After I couldn't watch TV anymore, I made myself take up something constructive. But before I screwed those pieces back to the wall, I wrote on the back, what day it was and what I felt and what I was worried about and why and signed my name. It helped me a bit, but also left something for someone else to know, firsthand, how it was on that awful day.

Well...we thought about distressing the hardwood floors when we had them refinished but decided against it because I said, "they survived this long (80+ yrs) in good condition and then we come along and beat the crap out of them!" I couldnt' do it. Now I wish I HAD because the workmen have done it for me and it is much more painful to take now than if I'd have done it up front and on purpose!!

PHEW. I thought you were going to say you threw away the windows and put in vinyl! Thank goodness! Its not too bad, in 100 yrs someone will think the dog chew marks are part of the charm.

I do have some regrets too, like when I moved in here I sold off a few things I thought I didnt need, like an old glass shade from overhead light fixture thinking I'll never find a fixture that fits it. Now I find that I couldve gotten something for not a huge amt of money from this local antique repair guy& I have reason to think it was original to the house :-(

it's our scars that speak our history for us- and that goes for houses as well as people.

there's a certain amount of wear and tear that keeps an old house from looking like a museum...

so there's no need to be ashamed.

what you CAN do is spray the area with bitters/ Keep Off! spray (and get the cats something funner to tear up) and thentry just sanding the area gentle (not trying to get it flat, just trying to remove the splinters) and apply some olive oil...should at least 'fade' the scars.

At this point all the doors are down, so I can't count how many have dog damage. But 3 dogs lived inside this house, many doors have obvious reminders. :(

At least we can get rid of the smell.