If you have pets at home, especially dogs, you must take into consideration the type of flooring of your domicile. Why? Because no matter how cute and intelligent your pets are, they are still animals that you cannot completely control. Damages and scratches are what you must anticipate when you bring home playful dogs. Remember that no matter what kind of flooring you utilize, scratches are inevitable. Today, I’ll discuss with you what type of flooring is best for dogs, under specific conditions.
Condition #1
When dogs are in their training months, four or five months old, the most important training you must instill to them is peeing and pooping in proper places, especially if you’re fond of letting your dogs stay with you inside the house. If your dogs stay with you indoors most of the time, a carpet is the worst choice of flooring. Expect them to discharge anywhere and anytime during these months so save yourself from regularly washing a heavy carpet and from a smelly living room by using easy-to-mop tile flooring.
When choosing tile flooring, I suggest ceramic tiles because those are stain-resistant, moisture-resistant and scratch-resistant. However, the downsides are, tiles are hard and cold, which may not be comfortable for your dogs to lie on, and are slippery when wet, which is unsafe for both you and your dogs. Other types of tiles such as porcelain, epoxy grout, and stone tile are heavy duty pieces but cost more expensive than the ceramic.
When using tiles, make sure to provide washable cloth which your dogs can use to lay down with or train them to hop in their crates or cribs when it’s naptime.
Condition #2
Certain breeds of dogs such as the Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, Maltese, Papillion, Yorkshire Terrier, and the likes are innately small, lightweight, and slow moving by nature. They are known as toy dogs. If you pet a toy dog, vinyl, bamboo, or cork floorings may be sufficient flooring choices. Those are inexpensive pieces, easy to clean and maintain, comfortable surface for dogs to walk on, and renewable.
Condition #3
Meanwhile, for those who opt to pet large dogs breed such as Bloodhound, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman Pinscher, and the likes, the best choice of flooring is hardwood with quality urethane finish. No matter how much running or galloping happens, a hardwood flooring is guaranteed durable and sturdy. Pet owners do not have to worry from accidental spilling of food or drinks because it is easy to wipe on this kind of surface. Some pet owners prefer laminate hardwood finish, which is harder than an ordinary hardwood however the former tends to be too slippery when moistened.