Wood floors, wood stairs, dog nails...

[twowhat?]

Our new house has all wood floors downstairs, and the staircase is all wood. For those of you with dogs - how do you go about protecting the wood? Their nails are definitely going to scratch them up but I want to see if there are any easy solutions to minimize the damage.

Also - stair runner on wood stairs: yay or nay? I know there's the safety aspect, and the protect-the-wood aspect, but I also hate to have to drill stair rods or do anything permanent to mar the wood because it's so pretty.

[Pinky]

The best thing you can do is keep their nails cut short but even then like you said they are going to get scratched up. We just decided not to worry about it and consider the scratches as character. :)

About the wood stairs... I'm not sure how those runners work but keep in mind they will definitely be slick. We know to be cautious but our old dog has a lot of trouble with them and has fallen numerous times. We have to remind him constantly to go slow on the stairs. Our DD isn't old enough yet, but I anticipate we'll have the same issue with her.

[bubbaray]

:yeahthat:

No way could our dog negotiate wood stairs. Sometimes he slides/falls with carpet.

Our 12yo hardwood floors are completely trashed mainly due to the dog. Good thing he is cute.

[Trigglet]

Friends of mine use these on their cat's nails to stop him scratching (he has allergies) - but I think they work on dogs too, and they basically would soften both the annoying scratchy clatter and the damage, I think...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1408&cmpid=sc

[weech]

Friends of mine use these on their cat's nails to stop him scratching (he has allergies) - but I think they work on dogs too, and they basically would soften both the annoying scratchy clatter and the damage, I think...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1408&cmpid=sc

A friend uses these for her cats, but mainly because they were scratching furniture. Personally, I'm pretty sure my dogs would flip out if I put nail covers on them. Like a pp said, the scratches add character :ROTFLMAO:

[BabyDahl]

Our poor pup can't get good footing on the wood so she slides, leading to lots of pretty swirly scratches. Yay. But we gave up worrying about it, as PP said, it adds character to our floor.

[Pinky]

A friend uses these for her cats, but mainly because they were scratching furniture. Personally, I'm pretty sure my dogs would flip out if I put nail covers on them. Like a pp said, the scratches add character :ROTFLMAO:

LOL. My dog would nibble them off quickly. But if you had a dog that would leave them on they'd definitely help.

[doberbrat]

I use a dremmel tool (rotary sander) to grind the dogs nails down every Sunday. In the beginning if they're really long, (like the new guy) I'll do them 2x a week so the quick receeds and I can get them short.

Basically, if I can hear click click click, its time to grind them down. Using the dremmel also helps in that youcant cut the nails too short, and you can round the edges so you dont get those sharp hooks in your legs the few days after they're cut.

Not that our stairs are perfect, but there really arent many scratches from nails.

[logan's mom]

I have a friend who uses the plastic nail covers on her dog. He's a pretty old bulldog...he lives them on. She glues them on every couple of weeks.....and she is smart enough to let the groomer remove them when it's time : )

[twowhat?]

I use a dremmel tool (rotary sander) to grind the dogs nails down every Sunday. In the beginning if they're really long, (like the new guy) I'll do them 2x a week so the quick receeds and I can get them short.

Basically, if I can hear click click click, its time to grind them down. Using the dremmel also helps in that youcant cut the nails too short, and you can round the edges so you dont get those sharp hooks in your legs the few days after they're cut.

Not that our stairs are perfect, but there really arent many scratches from nails.

I've thought about getting a dremmel for YEARS. Our male would easily tolerate it...but I don't know that I could get our very fearful female to tolerate it without some extensive counter-conditioning. But since you mention it - can you tell me what brand to buy??

[AngelaS]

We file our dog's nails down so they don't click on the hardwood. There's no way she could do wood floors-- she slides all over the main floor. We taught her not to go upstairs-- is that an option?

[doberbrat]

I've thought about getting a dremmel for YEARS. Our male would easily tolerate it...but I don't know that I could get our very fearful female to tolerate it without some extensive counter-conditioning. But since you mention it - can you tell me what brand to buy??

it does tickle and feel a bit 'strange' so having someone to shove yummy treats in while you do it works well. and start off slow not a high speed.

as far as brands, I just grabbed whatever my dh has/had. Back when I started, there were no 'pet' dremmels. I just bought a grinding stone and use that. Its not cordless which can be annoying but we deal.

[bubbaray]

Our very compliant, mellow lab did NOT tolerate the Dremel when we tried when he was 2. YMMV.

[twowhat?]

For nail trims we have to put our female up on an ironing board. I read this tip somewhere...the dog is so afraid of moving and tipping over/falling off that they stand very still (and scared) and you can clip away. I still have DH hold her while I trim, but it makes it so much easier, esp since our ironing board is crappy and wobbles (hahaha). So - it might work to put her on the ironing board to dremmel too. It also helps to tire her out catching frisbees before a nail trim.

We'll see about our male. He's very mellow - a little too mellow since when I vacuum I have to shove the vacuum cleaner right into him to make him move, and when he does move, he does it slowly, and moves only a couple feet and then lays back down. giving me that "look". But I could see how a dremmel might push him over his mellow edge...I am definitely curious to try it!

[drako]

We dremmel as well. Our entire house is mostly hardwood floors. We show our dogs, so dremmeling is a must. All of the dogs tolerate it except for the youngest. I need DH to hold her while doing it. We put them on the grooming table and dremmel away. As a PP said, you can dremmel all around the nail in order to keep them really short. When I am trying to get the quick to receed, I try to do it every other day. Dremmel just to when you get to the quick and then stop. It may bleed a little but they will be back in no time. Also, if you use a tap, tap motion on the nail, the dremmel doesn't get as hot and I find the dogs tolerate it better than just grinding away.

[Pinky]

We dremmel as well. Our entire house is mostly hardwood floors. We show our dogs, so dremmeling is a must. All of the dogs tolerate it except for the youngest. I need DH to hold her while doing it. We put them on the grooming table and dremmel away. As a PP said, you can dremmel all around the nail in order to keep them really short. When I am trying to get the quick to receed, I try to do it every other day. Dremmel just to when you get to the quick and then stop. It may bleed a little but they will be back in no time. Also, if you use a tap, tap motion on the nail, the dremmel doesn't get as hot and I find the dogs tolerate it better than just grinding away.

If it bleeds does it bleed as much as if you cut it with clippers? I'm scared to even cut my black dogs nails too short because he bleeds forever if I get the quick.