Hahahaha! I feel your pain. I have two little overweight rat terriers and they rule our home. When we did hardwood a few years ago I freaked out and put several rugs down, which help, but we still have scratches. My floor has an aluminium oxide finish so when my dogs scratch the floor it's only scratching the top finish, not the actual wood. So far, so good.

But tile should hold up better than hardwood when it comes to the dog. Tile is much harder/colder on the feet. Are you okay with that? You can do heated floors but if that isn't an option then keep in mind tile will be much cooler.

I don't think it's cheesy. One concern is the grout. Some people don't like grout and with tile floors you'll have a lot of grout.

I think there are some new vinyl or laminate floor options out there that will hold up good against the dog and not be as cold as tile (ex- Pergo). So that could be an option.

We're getting more and more of the plank flooring. I even had one last summer where the owner had two Newfinland hounds and didn't want to be refinishing their floors every other year, and so did travertine in a plank style flooring, and this is up in Maine. So although in the southern states, tile throughout is more traditional, it's getting alot more popular up here in the northeast, as well, due to the maintenence free aspect. This is a pic of the travertine we did:

A little closer look

Lovely product/install Creative Ceramic! Very handsome. With a lake front sitting just out side the door and a couple of Newfoundlanders running through the place the tile is about the only option.

Is there in-floor radiant under that?

Hydronic radiant heat. It would have cost them an incredible amount of money to use electric heat. Just over 2000 square feet of travertine, and then another 1000 feet of ceramic tile in that house.

Understood. The whole-home install in a northern climate used the hydronic (water/oil/gel) under-floor heating just to get the cold tile into the house. How much (percentage wise) did it add to the install? Did it add 50% more, 75% more or 100% (double) the price of the tile install?

I didn't do the radiant heat. That was the plumber. So it didn't add anything to my price. But I'm sure the plumber charged him a pretty penny. Definitely well into 5 figures, being it's not just a floor warming system, but also the primary heating system for the home.

The 3,5,7? pattern in walnut trav? That's a nice touch. I don't think I've seen that in a travertine before. Who was the tile manufacturer on that one?

Close. 4, 6, and 8" :-) It was something the homeowner had seen in a magazine, and decided she was in love with it. I have to say I wasn't real impressed when she first showed me the pic. But once it was done, it looked pretty sharp.

As for the manufacturer, that I couldn't tell you. I can ask her to come in here and tell you, though. She IS a member here. Too bad you can't tag people like you can on facebook!! LOL

The tile is Bucak Light Walnut Honed Travertine floor tile. Saw it many years ago at Tile Store in Framingham,MA in a floor display. Manufacturer is Rush River Stone Creations.

Could not be happier with it and it was installed by the BEST tiler in Maine! Bill Vincent.

Thanks everyone for your help. My dog is a west highland white terrier, so the scratches are not even just surface scratches. She has run over the same places so many times that there are large slivers of wood missing now. I should have specified that the tile I'm looking at is vinyl. It looks like wood and it even feels like wood. No grout as it snaps together. It's about $5 a sq ft for the one I've chosen (that's Cdn $$). I would definitely redo the hardwood if someone could guarantee a finish that wouldn't scratch, but it doesn't exist (at least not with my dog!). You know the cartoons where the dog runs and runs in one spot before taking off like a bullet? That's my Sophie. Eat my dust (and my wood splinters!). I don't mind the cold at all and I hear the vinyl isn't too bad. I just hope it doesn't scratch!!!

Plastic scratches much worse than wood.

I didn't want to say it. :-)