This question is asked all the time. Search this forum for "Dogs" and you'll see a ton of threads on the subject.

The ultimate answer is tile.

Wow! I guess you need to give more info; are you on a wood subfloor, concrete? Are you in the south like Florida? If you are in the south in humid weather, tile is good. If you are in the west hardwood will hold up the longest as compared to wood laminate. There are going to be scratches that is a given but you can refinish a hardwood floor many times where you can't with engineered( only once or twice, I think). Laminate is good economy wise but it is not a very "sturdy, long lasting" product, IMHO. Tile is probably the best for upkeep with dogs; personally, I wouldn't want tile throughout my house but if I were in a hot, humid climate I might :) HTH

The better laminates are warranted for 20 years. The only way to scratch it is to put a screwdriver to it. Laminate or tile is the best options for dogs. With 5 I would recommend tile. I say that because with multiple dogs there will be "accidents" of some kind and not even the best laminate can hold up to too much moisture setting on it.

Our vinyl kitchen floor is the ONLY thing that has held up to the dogs. My parents' policy was make that area the only area they were allowed in in the house and put a couple of rugs down on it for laying on. Since our carpet has been ruined by them, I'm rethinking trying to teach our "old dogs" new tricks and bar them from the area we are going to recarpet! Short of putting down vinyl in the rest of the house, I don't know what to tell anyone! :)

Good luck!

I have vinyl in the entry ways, hardwood in the living-room and hall, and laminate in the basement family room. If the dogs have wet feet, they get hustled into a room that has vinyl. Once they are dry, they are welcome on the hardwood or the laminate. I have 4 Shelties.

For what it's worth, my neice has two big active dogs who romp and skid around on her Pergo laminate all the time, no problem. The only problem she has encountered is their sloppy water drinking, and I think she moved the bowl into the shower.

Adding a couple chihuahuas to the mix doesn't seem like it would be too hard on the laminate, except as Brutuses says, if there are accidents.

go to builddirect.com - their Toyklo 12 & 14mm laminate flooring is very inexpensive and top of the line with wear and water. 30-Lifetime warranty We have dogs and will be doing laminate. Buy 2 extra boxes and one one board gets damaged a couple years down the road just pop in a new board. The price is so amazing on this product and the quality can't be beat.

I had two high speed dogs and three cats. The stick down vinyl tile was awesome in the kitchen - no slipping dogs, soft under foot, and not loud. We put laminate in the basement. It was an older version of some of the stuff today and it was awful. Not in terms of scratching, but the super smooth finish was a pain in the neck (showed all mop marks), super slippery for the dogs and incredibly loud when they walked around (we would hear tick, tick, tick! of their nails). The rest of the house was a very old maple hardwood floor (50 years old). We had finished it in a low luster, and kept it natural in colour. The dogs beat the heck out of it, but it didn't show as much as I thought it would.

Friends had a maple floor in a semi gloss and the scratches from their two shelties were very obvious.

You may want to look at luxury vinyl tile or plank. The Karndean and Nafco products are tanks for heavy traffic and should work well for you.

You want bulletproof? Forget the hardwoods and laminates. They'll get scratched to hell in no time. Vinyls will wear out relatively fast as well. The ONLY flooring I'd recommend for families with multiple pets is porcelain with epoxy grout. Completely nonabsorbent, and for the most part, stain free, and so it's completely cleanable when "mistakes" happen, and there's no way in HELL that their claws will do anything to either the porcelain OR the epoxy grout. When I say bulletproof, I'm not exaggerating.

Bill is right since I am finding that the Porcelain Tile just installed with the Epoxy grout in my two foyer areas was the best thing I could have done. Now when one of my 4 little dogs miss the puppy pads (has been so cold outside with snow so two of my furkidz will not go outside), the pee cleans right up with no staining. If I did not live in such a cold climate, I would do tile everywhere.

i'm struggling with new flooring but have heard that laminate is extremely hard for dogs to walk on and have even heard of people having their large dogs blow out a knee on laminate....you might need to put down some throw rugs for the dogs to get around on especially if any of them are seniors.

Stained Concrete! I just put it in my hallway and bedrooms. It is gorgeous - looks like a solid slab of slate - not cold, and I put rugs in the bedrooms that I can clean when I need to.

Well, I don't think it is one definite answer for this one. As all flooring products have different grades of quality. As far as laminate goes it is what I currently have. I only have 1 dog, but he is in & out alot & gets very dirty; I have 2 grandsons, ditto on the rest; a construction worker husband & son, ditto; & I am an avid gardener, ditto. None of us have learned to wipe our feet or take off our boots, yet. My laminate in the bathroom which has a rustic deep grained look & light to medium colored, is holding up beautifully, no scratches or water damage; on the other hand my laminate elsewhere is lighter grained or smooth & more shiny & darker colored...HATE IT! It's not showing scratches from the dog but we have put a few on it via dropping something or a rock stuck on the sole of a boot; you have dust mop everyday too. So, I think it is probably a matter of quality & color/texture. My bath has a better quality thicker laminate. I would not go under a 10mm thickness! We are replacing the other asap & since my personal preference is to have my whole house uniform with it's open floorplan, we will probably replace the bath flooring as well. Not sure on vinyl or tile, but leaning toward tile which was our first instinct, live & learn!

Do you think tiling the house is bad for resale if you live in a traditionally styled house in same type of area? That would be my guess and makes me reluctant. I would love to tile over the lower level but it is, in fact, a very hard surface that some find cold. It seems more appropriate for a Florida home or other coastal areas. Or maybe for a modern home.

I wish I had used epoxy grout in the bathroom. I chose Tec XT for some reason. I think the epoxy might have been tricky to use and I wasn't sure I could find someone to install it correctly. The guy who did the XT poohed that it was any different and used tons of water. Just like the instructions said not to. I had a cleanup on my hands. Still think it's kind of white with salts.

Laminate or tile, but ONLY a good quality laminate. I've got a wood laminate kitchen, entry and half bath that's been in for 10 years, and it still looks new. That's saying something considering that over those 10 years it's survived 2 elderly cats, a 70lb Chow, 2 puppies (a BMC and a Chow - not small dogs/puppies, and BMC's don't have an off switch!), water drips from running orchid trays back forth for watering, canning water drips, the muddy shoes that you sometimes forget you're wearing (forgetful gardener), freezer defrosting onto the floor following a hurricane, a couple of messy remodels, etc, etc, etc. I love it and am planning on ripping up all of the remaining carpeting and replacing it with wood laminate (new carpet hasn't survived the puppies or elderly cats nearly as well as the laminate).

Tile is also great for pets, but my tile laundry room needs a tile replaced after accidentally dropping a heavy Yankee candle from about 3.5' - first was just a small crack, but it's grown enough I need to get around to digging out my spare tiles and replace it, so while tile is very durable, even good tile is not indestructible and it's 'instant death' to a dropped breakable. Both of them hold up well to pets.

So what brand and grade laminate did you get, Orchid?

sealed concrete, sealed stone, or ceramic tile - with epoxy grout, like Bill stated. Anything less you will have issues with in the future as no flooring will warrenty against pet abuse (urine and claw marks).

@Samantha - I've got Wilsonart in a Walnut finish - it was put in 10 years ago, so I don't remember if it had a 'model name', just that it's Wilsonart and the finish is Walnut. I do remember that it was more expensive than a similar Pergo, but not significantly so. It was installed floating, but with each board edge glued to the next board, so water really doesn't get in between the boards, at least not in the past 10 years. That may be why it's held up so well, or it might be due to the manufacture. It also sounds just like the oak HW I had in another house when walked/run on.

Unfortunately, Wilsonart quit making laminate flooring this year; I'm giving serious consideration to trying to find a flooring company locally that has enough in stock to do the rest of my house.

Thanks Orchid. Yes, I saw that Wilsonart's flooring is discontinued now. I wish I could just tile the whole house and forget my worries! lol

I just went through this with my dog after taking out my carpets I put wood floors in and she was slipping all over the place I was shopping at Home Depot and to my surprise cork flooring is not only beautiful has a long warranty but is really good for dogs to walk on

humminbird50 raises a good point. Elderly dogs will have problems walking on wood because of slipping.

For me, bamboo is an excellent choice for homes with pets, for many different reasons. It’s harder than the hardest hardwoods, meaning it will stand up to more traffic. It won’t wear out, and it’s completely renewable, so it makes a good choice for those who are trying to be green. It is stain resistant, so people don’t have to worry about accidents or spills.

Coretec (LVT) by US Floors now warranties their coretec plus product against pet stains, and I think scratches as well...for life. Not sure how they can claim this, or if their is some fine print....but it is worth checking into

Hardwoof is a unique idea, created by the same folks that own Nydree Flooring who manufacture acrylic impregnated hardwood. They apparently tested it out in a "pet lodge" in Alpharetta, GA

Hardwoof

lvt is most practical choice