Hardwood Flooring for Dogs: An Intro to Pet-Friendly Flooring
When selecting the right flooring, it’s important to take your family’s needs into consideration – especially your furry, four-legged pals. From the drool to the fur to the nails and everything in between, pups can complicate the floor finding process a bit.
But don’t panic just yet! As fellow dog lovers, we created this handy guide to answer your questions about hardwood flooring for dogs. So, with that, let’s begin.
Clicking, Clacking Claws
You know the sound – the click, click, clack of your dog’s paws against your current floor. But how do you prevent that same click, click, clack from scratching your new floor?
Well, there are a few options.
As with any pet, nails should remain trimmed. Not only does this keep your furry friend happy and healthy, but it also minimizes scratches to your hardwood.
To minimize the visibility of any scratches that do occur, selecting a floor with either a lighter color, a textured finish, or a combination of both is the way to go. Textured flooring conceals and blends slight damage into the surrounding grain, while lighter toned flooring creates a chameleon effect on scratches.
Another layer of protection is your floor’s finish. Most floors are coated with a layer of either Oil or Urethane and both have their benefits. Traditionally, Urethane is considered to be more of an outright protector; however, Oil finished floors are easier to remove scratches from. You can read more about the differences here.
Water, Wet Spots, & Hardwood Flooring for Dogs
Accidents are an inevitable part of dog ownership. We’ve all been there cleaning up a puddle of pee at 9AM (at least, we know we definitely have). However, as we also know – liquids and hardwood are not best friends.
To avoid damage to your floors, it’s important to clean up any wet spots as soon as you notice them. This includes previously mentioned accidents, droplets of drool, spilled water bowls, and any other liquids that may have originated from your furry friend. Immediate clean-up is key!
It’s also important to practice prevention in order to protect your hardwood floors. Let Buddy, Max, and Luna dry off outside after a great swim or sprinkler session. Other preventative measures can include placing a waterproof mat under the water bowl, placing puppy pads on spots your new pup might potty, and placing pads where your dog likes to sleep and drool.
Fur from your Fluffy Friends
Although fur won’t hurt your floor, large amounts are usually a bit unwanted. Personally, we don’t mind a bit of fur, but when it’s starting to look more like a black and brown carpet rather than hardwood, we whip out our trusty broom.
Quick Tip – Using a broom as opposed to a vacuum minimizes potential flooring scrapes and scratches that can occur from debris dragging along the wheels.
Conclusion: The Benefits of Hardwood Flooring for Dogs
Did you know that hardwood flooring helps to create a cleaner environment? While carpets trap contaminants such as mold, fur, and dirt, hardwood is just a simple wipe away from being fully disinfected. As an added bonus, hardwood is carbon-neutral according to the EPA. This means hardwood flooring removes carbon dioxide from the surrounding environment.
Hardwood flooring is also incredibly durable which is a plus for homes with dogs. And for any scratches or damage that does occur, buffing out the top layer, otherwise known as refinishing, is far simpler than ripping up and reinstalling an entirely new floor.
We hope this handy introduction to hardwood flooring for dogs was helpful. If you have any questions or need a personalized dog-friendly flooring recommendation, we are just an email or call away.