I need help from some dog lovers. We just bought a house and decided to put carpet in the family room which is 14 x 26. The rest of the house has hardwood floors, which we just had refinished, except the kitchen. I have always wanted to have a dog, but never lived where I could. A couple people have told me that I should not put carpet down if I'm planning to get a dog. Can you help me with the pros and cons of carpet + dog? I only have about 24 hrs to change my mind. (I'm thinking small lap dog.) Thanks for the help!

The current floor would make for easier clean up with accidents or I'm mad at you pee/poo.

I'm not sure why. Train the dog, shouldn't be a problem. Had a couple of dogs with carpet, never had an issue.

Carpet is only a problem if you get a dog that you have to house break. Consider adopting an adult dog that is already housebroken. My dog, Skye, shown in my avatar was a rescue and he has only had an accident in the house three times since I got him three years ago. Each time it was because of something that he had eaten and none of those times did he "go" on carpet. He was neutered at 6 months and so he does not hike his leg, he squats to pee and so he doesn't mark his territory. My flowers and I are both thankful, lol.

It is MUCH harder to maintain the hardwoods in our current home with such a large dog and his toenails than it was to maintain the carpet in our previous home. His toenails do mark up my hardwoods, but I will just get them refinished years from now when our dog is no longer with us.

I tore up all of my carpet and have never regreted it! I have always had dogs.

Oh, I neglected to mention the pee twice, poo once on the hardwoods within one hour the first day we moved into our new home. Once the movers bought his crate in he was back to his happy self. And that my friends was after we all spent 4 days driving from Minnesota to Virginia in the blizzard of January 2009. He was a nervous wreck, poor guy. My dog is awesome!

What a lovely room. From personal experience I would avoid wall to wall carpet if you intend keeping any furred pets or have children (we have 4 of the former and 5 of the latter!). Hard floors are much easier to keep clean, much better for people with allergies and in my opinion look a lot more elegant than fitted carpets. We have very little fitted carpet in our home, only in a dressing room and two of the bedrooms (one of which is now our studio space, so the carpet will be going from there in the near future).

We have polished wooden floorboards with pure wool rugs of various sizes. The rugs can be taken out for a beating/airing and when they get worn are much cheaper to replace than re-carpeting. It also makes re-decorating an easy thing....you can inject a splash of a new colour, just by choosing a new rug.

Hope you enjoy your new home and have many happy years there.

Love your pup. He/she is adorable. Such big, droopy eyes.

The current floor has to go because it's old and damaged and the room is very dark so it needs something to make it lighter. I'm even thinking of painting the paneling somewhere down the road.

Just thought I would put a pic of my Puggle here. she loves to go riding with me on the job. not in the winter tho. We had her brother also but they went for a run one day and only Daisy was found. We think someone saw them on the hiway and picked him up because he would get into a car with anyone who might have a treat.

We have berber-and three big (sometimes muddy-pawed) dogs. You can take straight bleach to the berber, if necessary!!
It wears like iron! There are also a lot of good oxy-carpet cleaners for spot cleaning. I'm still happy with it after 12 years. . .

If you really want to you can train the dog to stay off the carpet...my mom did that years ago when I brought our very first dog home and she didn't want it...it was a poodle...and of course everyone fell in love with it..but while we trained the dog she didn't go on the carpet..my mom would show her the slipper and she would get off and sit on the floor....she never had accidents in our house..we had a male poodle after that and he was another story..just needed to pee for no reason now and again...just depends on the dog...my dog now, avatar, never has accidents in the house...I have both hardwood and area rugs...my problem is the hair..much easier to vacuum on floor than on rugs...

if you plan on locking the dog up in this area, then it would be a bad idea. Locked in a room with carpet, a dog will tear it up and do their business on it. Otherwise, it is not an issue. Accidents will happen if it is a puppy, but it is easily cleaned up.
In all my years of training and keeping dogs I have only had one that could not be kept in a house with carpet. This dogs loves carpet and does her business on it. She is completely house broken, but if there is carpet she just HAS to go on it!
I say if you want carpet go for it! The dog wouldn't matter.

Cons would be: Wet dog, if it is raining pup will come in and rub all over it to get dry. Wet dog smell.
If it is a large dog, the carpet will smell like dog. If it is a small dog, this is less likely.

Hi Larelea,

I would have the best of both worlds. I would have hardwood floors put in the family room. Then you can add a large area rug for the seating area. This helps to warm up the room and to add color and style along with your furniture.

From one who has had dogs with carpeting I want to go back to hardwood or wood look tile in the busy rooms of the house including the kitchen.

You can add large rugs in the kitchen as well. At the sink area, stove and refrigerator. These are nice when standing to cook and clean. With these rugs you can switch them out. It's also better to have vinyl in the kitchen. I lived with carpet in the kitchen and it's terrible if there is a spill. Small rugs can be
changed with the seasons and your whim along with matching towels.

Pam M

Dogs and carpet will do fine. Training is the key and lots of loving for that fur baby. Either flooring will work. Enjoy your new pet and send us pics (smile).

Same here!!

Hi again, I once had a family room that was paneled and yes, it was dark and gloomy. We painted it an off white, creamy and it made a HUGE difference!!! Really brightened up the whole room.

We don’t have any carpeting because of our pets. Even when your dog is housebroken they do get upset tummies sometimes. They'll ask to go out when they don't feel good but if you aren't home then what?

When we had our little Danny (died at 15 years) we had mostly carpet. No problem. He loved to play ball and he had a hard time on the kitchen floor that was not carpeted because he slid on the flooting. Danny was a small dog. Lapso.

I moved in with my brother who has carpet through the whole house. Andy is fine. No accidents and I even have a girl foster dog she hasn't gone in the house either. So for me I have no problem with carpet and dogs. Now if it were a puppy I might be a little more careful. But the enzyme cleaner will clean up pretty much anything.
And if they aren't quite trained there are always belly bands for boys and panties for girls so they can be with you and still be ok for short periods of time .

Thanks for all the responses - this has been extremely helpful and I feel like I can make a better decision now.

Two dogs and at least 1500 feet of carpet, most of white and no problems. There have been a few accidents because they were adult strays, but enzyme cleaners took care of it. Now Lily and Moira can go 14 hours or so in an emergency. Lily has gone longer in stormy weather by her choice. The smaller dog is Border Collie/Lab, so she sheds long silky hair like a Lab. I do have to vacuum often, but it isn't any harder than sweeping. As far as mud goes, they know how to wipe their feet. If anything does get on the carpet, I let it dry and vacuum it up. I do like the white for ease in cleaning without worrying about fading. There is no dog odor on my carpet - a little on their beds, but I wash the beds weekly to keep ahead of it.

Will your sewing machine be in this room? I'd rather have no carpet in my sewing room, but what is, is.

Even if you never have a dog you will be shocked when how much dust you find under the carpet and padding. I was shocked, because I had a very good vacum and used it almost every day of the week; this was before I discovered quilting. :lol: :lol: :lol:

if housebroken dogs and cats do fine on carpet I have a german shepard and 3 large cats and lots of carpet and no problems with it :)

I have 3 dogs. My chihuahua is male and constantly pees on the carpet. He will go into the bathroom to poo. He first asks to go outside, but if we are not quick, then, well, it is too late. He is 11.

My poodle is male and completely housebroken, will not ever go in the house, carpet or not. He is 2.

My lab is female and has never gone in the house. She was housebroken on her first day! she is 3.

I have heard male chihuahuas are the worst about housebreaking. The two I have had were awful.

I have had a female chihuahua that never went inside.

We had carpeting all over, except for kitchen and bathrooms. We also took in rescue Dobermans, who wound up almost living in the house with us and the kids. With regular vacuuming, it worked quite well, the kids and dogs could lie around on the floor to watch TV, eat bushels of pop corn and trays of snacks.

Just be sure to get a very good carpet, this will be a long term way of life.

Do some online research, don't just rely on what the salesman tells you.

NEVER rely just on what any salesman tells you!!

carpet shouldn't be a problem if the dog is housetrained properly - just bear in mind some dogs find hardwood floors difficult as they can't get a purchase properly!!

Agree! Even if they're housebroken accidents happen. Plus some dogs just never catch on to the housebreaking thing. I have a 10 year old Min Pin who just refused to learn. The first 5 years we would spend hours a day out with him and every time he would hold it until he was back inside! The only dog we ever had a problem with, now he lives outside in the fence.

When they run in and out they track in mud dirt ect, when bad weather...but I hate carpet any way...less alergies! I love tile better, and now they make a tile that looks like a wooden floor and can't wait to put it down...but its a little expensive!

Our male Yorkie wouldnt exactly pee, but he would wittle just a bit marking his home...I couldnt break him no matter how hard I tried...I have another male dog that goes outside all the time no accidents...

Training is your best bet.The smaller the dog the harder they are to train.....Neauter/spay as soon as you can.Puppies are a lot of work.......

No carpet here. I just find it easier to keep clean, less work and fleas can also hide out in carpet.

I heard the same. Chihuahua's are one of the hardest to housebreak but I had 3 fosters and they all were housebroken when they went home. And all adults when I got them. Just treated them like puppies for about a week or so and always sent them out with the big dogs . It worked.
Of course at 11 some leeway is acceptable. :-)

I have two well trained four-legged babies and they never soil my carpet.

It just isn't the potty part. I have a cattle dog that has medium long hair. he is a prolific shedder. I like my carpet as it is warmer but I find just as much hair on the hardwood floors as I do the carpet. If you get a smaller dog the hair part shouldn't be a big deal.

I say get the dog with or without carpet. They make life so much more fun!

First of all I love dogs. But it depends on the type of dog you plan to get.I had a britney,golden and rottie. They all shed but the golden was the worse. Some dogs shed every minute of the day.My neighbor has a dog and when he shakes and you can see the hair fly off.I found that bare floors are much easier to clean with the hair,urine,stool,dog drool. One more thing the dogs nails are hard on bare floors also.Think small. :thumbup:

We have had several dogs and the absolutely best thing we did in several houses we have lived in was to install a doggy door. They go out when they need to and you don't have to worry.

We have a little dog and almost the whole house is carpeted. I am considering going to something else, but it is not because of my little girl dog. It is because of my husband. We have been married for 27 years, and I still don't have him house trained. Only took a couple of months for Josie and we used potty pads. We had one in every room. Now we only have one in her room in case we are gone when she decides she has to go.

I'm sorry! Is anybody else having this problem. When I click on the Send button nothing happens. I click on it again and nothing happens. If I click on it 3 times then I get 3 of the same posted. I click and wait now, and sometimes nothing happens, so I click again, and now there are 2 of the same posted. This has been going on for a week or so and I don't remember it happening before.
Maybe there is a way to delete the 2nd and 3rd posting of the same message, but I haven't found it yet.
Thanks