# Possible to protect wood floors from dog claws?



## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

Maybe this is a dumb question, but is there any way (lacquer, etc.) to protect my pine floors from being scratched to death by my dogs' claws?

I have 100 year old pine floors that are in pretty great shape. Some of the boards are a little unstable and pulling away from each other, but they were refinished pretty recently I think, and the grain is wonderful, and they are smooth and don't have a lot of stains or anything. I also have 3 big dogs (2 are about 85 lbs, one is about 60lbs). Even if I keep their nails trimmed, they've always scratched the wood floors we've lived on before. We just moved to this house recently, and I want to keep it from meeting the same fate. I'd also like to see that lovely wood, so I don't want to cover it all up with carpet.

Any ideas?

Thanks!


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## 65284 (Sep 17, 2003)

Easy, keep them off of the floors. Even if it means they have to stay in a utility room, the garage, or even, horror of horrors, outside.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Make them booties to wear indoors?


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

I'm still a city dweller unfortunately, so they can't live outside. The wood floors are throughout the house, except the kitchen, and I'm not keeping 230 lbs of dogs confined in my kitchen all the time. They'd be miserable, the kitchen would smell bad, and I wouldn't have any place to cook! Besides, they're my pets, and my protectors, so I want them with me. 

So, anyone know of any magical floor treatments? 

We've put down a lot of rugs for the time being, but I hope that's not a permanent solution.


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

booties could be cute :haha:


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I know there are rubber/plastic tips to put on cats' claws to keep them from clawing furniture (my daughter uses them on her cat). Maybe you could check at a pet store and see if they make something similar for dogs.


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## melinda (Feb 12, 2004)

I'm guessing throw rugs in the most traveled areas is your best option. The weight of the dog pushing the claw into the pine is what is doing the most damage, so claw covers and maybe even booties won't help 100%. Surface scratches can be polished off.

Consider it character...


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

Hm. Good point, Melinda. Ah well.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Cute booties...cute doggies too!

Would a thick coat of polyurathane (forgive my spelling) help?


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## Little Quacker in NC (May 9, 2002)

Let me seee..A Dobie, A siberian husky and and Bernese Mt. Dog? LOL Very pretty dogs!

Just a suggestion and I don't know if you can stick with it enough to make it work or whether it's even worth it too you as its a whole lot of work. I know every dog and every person is different.

When a handler for a show dog does the nails they keep them SHORT! You can barely see them on a Dobie with their short coats and with a dog like your Bernese Mt Dog you wouldn't be able to see them at all. Then the nails would never reach the floor.

So, the way the professionals do this is they use a drimmel tool to gently wear back the nails and then they lightly finish with a metal file. The shape is important here and that is best learned by a professional groomer THAT GROOMS DOGS FOR THE SHOW RING. Not just any old groomer.

I hope you get this solved. It is surely a tough thing. Would you consider just giving up and putting carpets over your wood floors? That is what I would do and what I DID do in the house in Las Vegas when I lived there. It just wasn't worth it to worry about those wood floors, Rottweilers and trying to keep those nails short. So, we called Sears! LOL Didn't get wall to wall, but just rugs that came to within about 8" of the walls.

good luck with everything....LQ


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

"Let me seee..A Dobie, A siberian husky and and Bernese Mt. Dog? LOL Very pretty dogs!"

"Cute booties...cute doggies too!"

Thanks!! They're my babies, I have to admit. That's not even a good pic of them, but it's hard to get the three of them to sit still and look at the camera all at once  That's right on the breeds (though the dobie may be a mix). I said they were my protectors, but I lied--only the dobie and the berner are--the husky's just around for comic relief!

"Would a thick coat of polyurathane (forgive my spelling) help?"

I was hoping someone on this site might know. We once lived in an apartment with the dogs, and they had _something_ on the floor that protected it pretty well--but I don't know what it was.

"When a handler for a show dog does the nails they keep them SHORT! You can barely see them on a Dobie with their short coats and with a dog like your Bernese Mt Dog you wouldn't be able to see them at all. Then the nails would never reach the floor."

I'll look into that--maybe get my vet to do it, if they have the tools. My dobie needed knee surgery a couple years ago, and I asked the vet to cut her nails waaaay down while she was asleep, but he didn't get it as short as you're saying--I was disappointed. They just grew back like weeds in no time.

Thanks for the input!


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## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

We had two smaller pups on wood floor and I never noticed scratching- maybe because the floor was already pretty old and beat up, maybe their weight?. But I think a good coating of something would protect. Try polyurethane, replace /redo it every few months in heavy wear areas if you can see scratches in it.


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## GW (Sep 14, 2003)

Google POR 15. They specialize in auto restoration paints, ect but I think I remember seeing a clear coat for wood on their site. It's expensive but suposedly dries hard like ceramic but remains flexible enuff to resist cracking, chipping, ect.


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## DrippingSprings (Sep 22, 2004)

I have a toy pomeranian "Hercules" and I had rubber tips put on his at the local groomer. They have been on for a couple months now and they work excellently. Cost me thirty bucks.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

try looking into the stuff they put on school gym floors. I dont know what its called, but its thicker than honey


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## mamalisa (Feb 1, 2004)

Buy a cordless Dremel with sanding drums. buy lots of sanding drums. 

Teach your dogs that the dremel means food, and take your time to get them used to it. Do you clicker? Clicker train for tolerance.

Take the nails short....the beauty of the dremel is that if you just barely quick them, it won't bleed, so you can go pretty short. Then take the gloss off of the sides of the nail. For some reason, this helps the quick recede. Dremel every blessed week.....soon you will have beautiful short nails and your floors will be happy.

I've done this with rescues who have TALONS....it takes time.


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## melinda (Feb 12, 2004)

DrippingSprings said:


> I have a toy pomeranian "Hercules" and I had rubber tips put on his at the local groomer. They have been on for a couple months now and they work excellently. Cost me thirty bucks.


hahhaha - what does that Pom weigh? Her dogs are a little bigger!! I'm sure that does work for dogs under 20 pounds! (and cats too) but not for 75+ pound dogs!


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

All good suggestions! Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy the Dremel. I was at a dog show this weekend and watched people using it, but I didn't know what the brand name was before. I thought those things were really expensive, but I just saw some on line that will be a hundred times be less trouble and money than repeated coatings of polyurethane, probably. 

Good point about the gym floors, too. That's kind of the stuff I was thinking about. I think the old apartment where we lived either had that, or it just recoated the floors every year with the regular stuff, but the fact that there must've been 50 coats protected it.

I'll look into POR 15, too. 

Thanks!


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## Gypsy (Apr 25, 2004)

*Mamalisa* &#8211; that's funny, my brother is a Podiatrist and he uses a Dremel on his (human) patients.

*Hisenthlay* &#8211; dw and I drove out to the Home Depot last weekend and were talking with the floor person there. We were told that hardwood floors may be treated with a finish that contains aluminum oxide and it makes the floor up to 3x harder. 

Sounds good, but I seem to remember some stuff about aluminum oxide in deodorant being linked to Alzheimer's.


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## Little Quacker in NC (May 9, 2002)

mamalisa said:


> Buy a cordless Dremel with sanding drums. buy lots of sanding drums.
> 
> Teach your dogs that the dremel means food, and take your time to get them used to it. Do you clicker? Clicker train for tolerance.
> 
> ...


 **********************

Exactly! However, remember if you go too short too fast, while the nail won't bleed..IT WILL HURT! and the dog won't forget that!

I would still take the path of least resistance, make your life easier, and carpet the floors.

LQ


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## GoldenMom (Jan 2, 2005)

Little Quacker in OR said:


> **********************
> 
> I would still take the path of least resistance, make your life easier, and carpet the floors.
> 
> LQ


It's the path of least resistance until you get a "vomiter" or are housebreaking a new pup.:no: I'm still trying to get some spots out of my carpet from when my older dog a little bit of a weak stomach! BTW Oxy Kic (the stuff with the two canisters) is the best I've found at getting set in stains out. Pricey, but worth it IMHO.

Sarah-who can hardly wait until the day all the carpet is ripped up!


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## hisenthlay (Feb 23, 2005)

Well, I ordered the Dremel online yesterday. I can't wait to try it. I'll be sure to go slow, too.

I'm still going to look into all the floor treatment options you guys brought up, though--maybe that will be more of a long range goal, now. I heard the Alzheimer's thing about aluminum oxide, too, but I also heard that that study wasn't repeatable so it's probably nothing to worry about. You never know, though...

You're right, GoldenMom, about dogs doing a number on carpets. My Berner developed a sudden wheat allergy last year, and he went through 4(!) rugs (cheap ones from Home Depot, but still) before we got his problem correctly diagnosed. I'd hate to think if that had been nice, plush wall to wall carpet....

Thanks everyone!


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## Croenan (Aug 14, 2003)

I have wood floors and I used to have a 125 pound rottie. (Had to put her down last year for :waa: ) Her claws made marks on my floors and the only thing I have found that helped a little was this stuff called Orange Glo Wood Floor Cleaner and Polish. It's kind of hard to find, it comes in an orange, squeeze bottle and runs about 5.00 at walmart. The reason I recommend it is that is actually creates a barrier on the wood. It gets hard. It also dries glossy. If you use it, do a test spot first, as will all floor stuff on wood! I swear by this stuff, but you do have to be careful of build up in some areas, but that isn't too hard.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

And...to find out JUST how to dremel those dog nails, go to doberdawn at 

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/index.html

and on the left side click on "How to dremel dog nails". Save that page, you'll refer back to it often for a while! Tells you how to get your dog used to the dremel and how to go about grinding the nails down.

Mon


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