Not sure about the quality of the wood floors today. DD has wood floors but with a rug. But her wood is from very good quality and her husband who put them in, put several coats of a good varnish. She has had no problems. My wood floors need to be redone because they have dried and shrunk leaving some spaces. I think it depends how dry the wood in, and the type of varnish. Son in law used commercial grade of varnish. Not sure what your answer is, but you could put down a vinyl floor that looks like wood. There are some really good ones avaiable.If you did, go with the one piece, not the squares.

We have an after-midnight vomiting Westie. (It's too long between his eating 'carp' in the yard and the barfing for him to learn. LOL)

We have 11 year old oak floors with polyeurethane(sp?)sealer. I can't count the number of times Eliot has 'heaved' on the wood floor in our bedroom. It's invisible.

My kitchen has the same flooring. No problems.

The worst enemy of wood floors is grit, not spills.

Just don't go with laminate flooring if the dog wet on it and it sat there for a while it will delaminate especially at the joints between boards. I am sure if any wet substance sits on a wood floor long enough it would leave a water mark much like a glass ring on a table.
One thing to consider when choosing tile or wood or any slick floor, old dogs have problems getting around on them. They are fine on carpets but going to a hard surface from that is hard on them. We had not thought of that but it was definitely an issue they can't get traction.

You should see all of the black marks on our wood floors. My cats, not the dogs were responsible for peeing. There was a previous cat in the house that we bought. We need to do something but I may as well wait until our last cat, who is now 16 is gone before replacing this mess.

DD has beautiful oak wood floors on the first floor of her house,
she has a Bichon, a Yorkie and a Chihuahua. They have
"accidents" but there's no problem with the wood floors.

Some times I think about getting wood floors, but then I remember one of the houses I lived in and Mom's house, they had carpet over nice oak floors. I asked my self why, the answer is less work and carpets are warmer. I will stick with carpets, though I would like wood under my desk chair. My wheels get stuck in one place. Ughhhh

I have brazilian teak wood floors which are at the top of the hardness chart. They are also coated with several coats of varnish. They have withstood dog barf and other accidents quite well. The only problem is scratches from nails, even though I try to keep them clipped. My dog is a large lab and likes to run laps with his toys, he then skids on the floors which leaves marks.

I've seen pet stains on hardwood floors only because there was wall to wall carpeting on top and the mess soaked through, even though the mess on the carpet was cleaned up immediately.

Not all wood floors are equal. We had engineered hardwood at the last house. I think we would have had staining and smells if we had had pets then. In this house, we have hand distressed hardwood with several coats of varnish. The pets have not been a problem.

I don't have pets, but bought this old house with wood floors. They were awesome looking, when I was house hunting.

Then, the house flipper put a stove in, as promised, and made some nice long scratches.

I am glad. Now, I don't have to worry about scratches. :)

It's like my grandma's hand embroidered table cloth... I use it. It has stains. But I get to see it, when I use it.

They are just floors. We walk on them. With, and without shoes on. I draw the line with cycling shoes. They have metal cleats, and are not allowed.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Moni

This is what I keep wondering about, the wood floors that my BIL put in his house are just...um I think you call it tongue and groove? They just lock into eachother and you put them in one row at a time and they lock. Well I would think that the pee would just flow down the sides and be in there forever more. Whatever you do, don't get floors like that...or that Pergo stuff which is also butted up to eachother and gaps in between each sheet. You need something that is sealed solid.

Like people above have said, the key is several coats of varnish to keep the stains from sinking into the wood itself. I love wood floors, but they do let the cold in. The house where I live now has tile floors, and I hate them! I'm used to carpet, so I was shocked at how dirty my feet were after walking on these floors. I have to wear socklets around now to keep my feet from being absolutely black. Tile is freezing cold in the winter, too.

I thought wood floors would be nice, then the previous apt we had only had carpet in the livingroom. The bedrooms were parquet flooring. All the dustbunnies and fur fluffs from the cats settled in along the walls and under the bed in the bedrooms. It was always looking messy.

Contrary to popular belief, carpets are better for asthma sufferers as they trap the dander, dust etc. With bare floors things float in the air, instead of settling in the carpet.

I too, always wonder what cat yak does to a wood floor. 2 of the 3 cats like gifting me fur-balls.

Our house has solid oak floors in every room but the bathrooms. I love them but they are harder to take care of then carpet. Have two dogs one is over 100 lbs & the other is 50 lbs. No matter what you do they will scratch the floors just because they are that big & active. I dust mop every day to get the grit off the floors. If left there that will scratch more then the dogs do. You also have to watch when you move furniture. Remember wood floors don't like to be washed like tile or laminate. If I ever had to replace them the one room I would not put wood in is the kitchen. The dogs love to help with the cleanup when I cook & the drool is awful to clean up.

sis had older wood floors and had cats over the years...don't recall any smell..although my bil's walker made scratches..i showed her how to rub them out (rip both, now, sigh)
ron hazelton did a show where he removes a stain..you might try and see if it's on his site...

Had wood floors in my last place and my dog scratched the heck out of them with his nails. Current house has "fake wood" floors, I believe it's pergo. Love it! Looks like wood but much easier to care for and clean, and his nails don't do anything to them, and even if they did, it's much cheaper than real wood so I wouldn't be so concerned about it.

I just had the carpeting taken up in the master bedroom and replaced with wood floors. Red oak. I have had dark stained , medium stained and no stained with three coats of finish . The no-stained (natural) is by far the easiest to care for. The darker floors show the dust and need to be dusted daily. I have a large dog and I don't see scratches all over the floor. The bedroom looks so much nicer with the wood floors. I have oriental carpeting in all the rooms. If it was practical, I would redo all the bedrooms upstairs with the wood, too.

Now, about your dog. We had an Irish Setter that became incontinent at night at the age of 8. She had always been kept in the laundry room at night (it was a large room) Every day I had to scrub that floor and sometimes move the washing machine and dryer. I was very young back then...LOL. After awhile, what I most feared started to happen. The urine permeated under the tiles. I took some of them up, scrubbed them, replaced them and made a bed in the garage for the dog the same day. My husband built an insulated house for her and every night there she went. The bed and make-shift house was against the house wall. Every morning when she came in, her body felt warm. We lived in Pittsburgh and the winters there were very cold at the time. She lived another 6 years.

I have Mannington sheet vinyl throughout my house and could not be happier! It looks very good and realistic. Even has little dents in areas. It is not a real shiny floor at all. I spent about a year studying floors trying to decide what to get. I originally wanted Wilson Art laminate, but the quality was not what it used to be. It is now no longer manufactured. I brought home samples of every brand made and left water or snow on it. Overnight, they all had a little buckling or curling. I have a lunatic cairn terrier and I knew that laminate was going to be a waste of my money! I also looked at Tarkett and Armstrong wood look vinyl, but the Mannington just looked so good and real! I have had it over a year now and would pick it again and again over all of the others. So easy to clean and if an accident happens over night.....so what! I have not noticed any scratches or markings on it from my dog either. It is a beautiful no fuss floor that we can enjoy and not have to worry about!

This is why I picked the sheet vinyl!

killinsnakes, I have to admit, your floor looks like real wood! Your cute boy looks like he might give it a workout too.

Guess I'm going to have to sort all of this out. Talk about coming from all directions. Dark, light, hard, soft, real, fake. By process of elemination I have come to a few conclusions. Living on a farm makes it pretty evident that I need something really hard, like bamboo or the brazillian wood, used on decks. We have have so much stuff on our shoes from all we do here, it's tough to keep up. Even the vinyl floor looks great, it could be an option. Using lots of area rugs and using wood that can be refinished in spots is appealing to me. The Cali Bamboo is super hard but can it be refinished like regular wood? So many questions but in the end I want to get the best I can afford because I have a feeling it won't be replaced.
I used the carpet cleaner on my hall yesterday and guess what my darling did to it early this morning. yea.....

Just remember that any floor you choose needs to be solid with no cracks between pieces. Any crack would be a place for the urine to leak down through to decking and then be under there stinking forever! UGH!

Hi Toni NE,

Remember the old horses' harnesses of years ago?

Build a band of rather stiff material that'll go around the canine, with a couple of velcroed spots front and back, on each side, of the back, and make straps to go over the back with velcro on the ends, to hold the go-round-the-body band in place.

Locate some velcro around the rear end, strategically located, and glue some velcro to a plastic bag ... well, to several of them.

Locate the velcro'ed bag on the velcro on the round-the-body band, a short distance under the tail.

One-site location works for females ...

... but for males, some amendments to the bag-location(s) routine are in order.

Hope this helps.

ole joyfuelled

In our last house, with laminate/tile I've dogsitted a Rottie mix and Pit Bull mix (35 & 65 lb. dogs.) And there was a lot of roughhousing going on on the laminate. With claws. And the Rottie mix peed when she got excited (often.) LOVED the laminate!

I foster for a local rescue. I have hardwood floors that were installed by my boyfriend and his company. I have had them for four years now and I consistantly have 10 dogs ata time who have free roam. My floors are great. I clean up the messes as they are made and have had no problems with anything at all. I recently had some water damage and a potion had to be replaced. So, because they had to resand the entire area so it would all match I had him use the commercial grade poly this time because it is more durable and used in high traffic situations. It costs a little more but so worth it because I don't use any area rugs at all.
And for those of you who are in shock, my house is VERY clean and I would put it up against anyone's house on here any day!

I would be worried about them getting hurt. Well, not YOUR dogs, I guess, as they are small. But my Labs wouldn't go in to the kitchen because the were always sliding around, one time Jeston came around the corner and I thought we were going to have to take him to the vet. His legs went flying out from under him, he slammed into the corner of a cabinet. He was one sore puppy, he was NOT overweight, and he weighed in at 100 lbs. He was a TALL guy! lol Our 70lb yellow, she came out there once, and that was all it took.

I have vinyl that looks like wood too. Love it!!! I have four dogs and have had no problems at all when they have accidents. I dust mop every day and it is so easy to take care of.