I can speak from experience here: I share my house with a DH, toddler and a 100lb dog with paws the size of a Yeti's. In our old house we tore out all of the carpet and vinyl from the first floor and installed red oak strip flooring (I believe it was Shaw brand). It looked great for about a month and then all I could do is notice the huge gouges my dog put into the floor. He doesn't even have sharp nails, but he's 100lbs and there's only so much you can do. In the current house, we tore out all of the 22yr old carpet and put in a much harder wood species, amendoim, and I have to admit it looks fantastic and it's held up a lot better than the oak ever did. The dog put some superficial scratches in the floor but since the wood only has a clear coat and no stain, you can only notice the scratches if you're glancing at the floor at the right angle, under the right light. We had laminate in the basement of our old house and it used to drive me bonkers whenever the dog would claw to get traction on the floor and I also hated the echo the floor created, even with good padding underneath. I vowed never to put laminate flooring anywhere again, even if the dog couldn't do anything to it. Also, no matter how good technology gets, laminate always looks fake to me and I'd rather not go there. It's just never going to look as good as real wood. In the new house I wanted to put ceramic tile in the kitchen this time around but DH wouldn't hear of it. He swears he doesn't hate tile, but he just can't fine a tile in the whole wide world that he likes :) I let him win that war but I got to pretty much make every other decision with the kitchen since then. I figure we can always refinish the floors once they get to be too bad. As a previous poster said, site finished floors don't have anywhere near the same durability as factory prefinished floors so that's something to keep in mind. My DH always says that people like wood floors and never notice the scratches anyway. I guess he was right because the condition of the floors was never brought up once when we were selling the house even though I lived in fear that that was the first and only thing people would notice as they came through the house. I apologize for the stream-of-consciousness reply but I can't say my brain has been firing on all cylinders today so I hope I helped even a little :)

I know low gloss is all the rage....but people have issues with oily paw prints showing up with matte polyurethane finishes. The Hardwax oil finishes have had issues with DOG DROOL turning gray/brown/staining. Personally I LOVE a light/natural coloured floor (like hickory or character grade white oak) that has lots of movement (no stain) in a satin or semi-gloss finish. A factory finish SOLID hardwood is a great option as the factory finishes are often made using aluminum Oxide or ceramic infused nanobeads = SUPER TOUGH finish (hard to scratch). The LIGHT/natural gold tones are VERY forgiving. The MODERATE gloss levels like satin and semi-gloss are VERY forgiving. The FACTORY FINISHES with either Aluminum Oxide or Ceramic infused polyurethane are VERY tough. So....simply ADD all those qualities together and you get this type of purchase: Solid prefinished (aka factory finished) natural hardwood (no stain) in a satin or semi-gloss (personal choice). That's what you are looking for. Have fun.

Tile or Vinyl would be the most resilient options if you're concerned about pets, both with respect to wear-and-tear and urine. If you want natural hardwood or bamboo then you're going to have to face the reality that scratching will occur if the pets are large enough. That said, here are a few things to consider: 1. Lighter floors do not show scratching as much as darker. 2. A little pet maintenance by trimming their nails routinely goes a long way to saving your floors. 3. Consider distressed options as they have wear-and-tear built in. 4. If you get a slightly stained floor, you can always semi-conceal scratches with a furniture pen. 5. If you ever completely destroy a board, there is a process for removing and replacing - it isn't easy but can be done.

Tile can look dated though in just a few years. With wood you can refinish to a completely different stain color as taste and style change. Tile can also chip or crack. When you refinish wood it looks new. Lots of people are learning vinyl isn't whats its cracked up to be. There are several threads on Houzz right now about scratches etc.