Laminate and dogs

The carpet has to go and I am considering laminate. The area is very busy, and gets lots of traffic from humans and our 80lb Monty.

He will run with his bear in his mouth (or any other stuffed animal he desires) and I question whether his claws will damage the floor.

I know there are different thicknesses, what should we get?

I'd rather talk to consumers about this first!

Thanks
Diane

Laminate Flooring and Animals

We have laminate flooring in our kitchen and have a 50 lb dog. We have not seen any wear and tear due to her nails. My girlfriend has it throughout her house and has 3 dogs and has not had this problem arise either.

I love laminate flooring. I'll NEVER have linoleum in my house again!

Friends of ours had a house built with laminate floors which their yellow lab has scratched badly in a matter of months. I don't know the brand but everything was top shelf when it was built. The dog runs around when she is excited (company, dinner) and does some pretty amazing sliding turns, fun to watch if you don't own the house.

We had some in our mud room in Maine. The dogs would go through there several times a day, sometimes in a hurry.

Although we only lived there a couple of years after putting it down, it seemed to be wearing great.

A word of caution. My husband helped his sister put in "no-name" brand laminate. Even though my husband is a first class cheapo, he said he would never, every consider anything but the good stuff. The no-name just wasn't the same kind of quality and there was a lot of waste while putting it in. Not so with the name brand.

sue

Only good things to say about the laminate floors -- except .. a bit more "slippery" than I'd like. Our dog slips all the time when running on the floor and I'd be more concerned about pets injuring themselves rather than the floor being scratched up.

I'm more inclined to believe that damage to laminate floors caused by pets are due more to those that actively scratch at the floor vs. just running/sliding around on the laminate floor.

Thanks everyone.

Yes TravelSFO, that is a grave concern for me also. We plan to have a large rug as well which will cushion Monty's slide but eventually I think he'll figure it out.

What thickness is considered good quality?

I saw 7 and 8 mm yesterday and they seemed solid enough but I'm far from an expert.


Diane

Slippery floors (either hardwood or laminate) can be harmful and can exacerbate hip dysplasia in dogs and hard floors (as opposed to carpet) can also result in heavy wear on their elbows which can be quite painful for them.

FWIW my Golden has damaged our floors more due to her wet coat on the floor than her nails. We resigned ourselves to not polishing the floors to keep them less slippery and provide her with several padded mats to lie down on.

Laminate Lover

We put laminate in the basement of our new house and I love it. If three kids and a farmer husband have caused no damage I wouldn't worry one bit about dogs and their nails. The kids push the loveseat and ottoman all over the family room and there are no scratches what so ever and it cleans up great.

One thing I have to stress if you install it your self is to make sure you leave 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch around the cabinets and walls to let it float. DH put it in a little to tight in the bar area and we have a small buckle by the fridge.