From: abb@unislc.uucp (Anne Beck)
Subject: Re: Hardwood Floors and Dogs
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:49:12 GMT

From article <1992Dec17.222315.8779@inel.gov>, by kte@INEL.GOV (Kathryn L Cook):
> We're remodeling our older house and would like to remove the carpet and
> refinish the hardwood floors.  My only concern is how this might affect 
> my dogs.  They love to run and chase each other all over the house and
> I'm worried that the new floors will be to slick and they may hurt themselves.
> I also once heard that slick floors can agravate/cause? hip dysplasia.
> I've also heard that the dogs may scratch the floors although I keep their
> nails trimmed back. Does anyone have experience with dogs on hardwoods is
> this a bad idea?
> 
> 
> Thanks for any insights,

Hi Kayti!
Well, we have hardwood floors, and there are definitely pros and cons.
The pros are that accidents and mud and snow and general dog glop
clean up much better than on carpet.  However, after many years of
dogs on the floors, they look awful!  Dog nails do scratch, and
the wood gets stained from too much water.  Yes, after I wax them,
they're slippery.  I use lots of heavy wool rugs, and that stops
the dogs from sliding into the walls, but we always have big rug
wads!  

The best dog floors I've ever seen are tile.  You know, the really
expensive, beautiful, slightly rough quarry tiles?  My breeder
did her whole house in tile and wood, and it's absolutely elegant
and absolutely dog proof!  The house always looks immaculate, 
but it also looks as if you could clean it with a hose.  A friend
of mine with dogs is redoing her whole house with tile this
winter.  I'm in the process.  We tore out all downstairs carpets
last summer and replaced them with tile.  It's colder in the
winter, but rugs help (even rug wads).

As for dysplasia being CAUSED by slippery floors, no.  However,
any joint problem can be AGGRAVATED by slipping on a floor if
the legs splay, particularly with puppies.  When Deeka (my Newf)
was a pup, I made sure she had rugs to walk on, although sometimes
she went into skids anyway.  Actually, my smaller dogs don't
seem to skid as much, so your little guys should be ok.

Just one person's opinion out here in the dog world.

> 
> Kayti and the Border Terriers
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-- 
   Anne Beck			| The difference between difficult
   abb@unislc  sun!unislc!abb   | dogs & vicious human beings is
   Unisys  SLC UT               | that difficult dogs don't rise to 
			        | prominent positions in the community.