[Dailydrool] flooring to prevent slippage

[Karen]

The Dog House Gangs input on floors.

When I started to remodel (now on hold) I wanted to try and do what would work for Empress Ruby Doo 
and me as well.  With 4 dogs, 3 cats (Ayla was hit by a car and a senior that I just recently was begged to save)
and the guinea pig plus my two granddogs who visit I knew carpet  was out of the question due to muddy paw prints 
and the digging to get the spot just right. My adult daughter is also not very good about taking her shoes off when she comes in.
Ruby Doo has had severe hip dysplasia since she was a year old and one hip surgery at 4yrs old.  The other one was delayed because 
of the lack of muscle in her hips and back legs.  With a diet change in March she has begun to gain muscle (Yippee)!  
But there is still weakness and she slips easily.

For the kitchen I went with uneven slate and (eventually when I get my back fixed) the laundry room.  
I have had it in about 2 years and love it!  I use a mat sealer vs the high gloss to help reduce slippage.  
She has great footing in the kitchen and can actually run on it. I happen to love the uneven natural slate tiles.  
The color is California Gold but it actually is more browns, golds and greens.  
  
The rest of the house I have Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors.  I love them!  The draw back is that I do need runners 
spread throughout as Ruby Doo can't get her footing on a long stretch of hardwood and hair shows up 10 minutes after I 
vacuum but I don't have to worry about steam cleaning carpet all the time. Of course because of the dirt/natural oils in
their feet I can get paw prints. My floor care is not really that hard.  I vacuum then use the floor cleaner and I am done.
The big trick is to keep the furkidz off the floor for at least 15-20 minutes after it dries. Thank goodness for pet gates.
I have an wool area rug (6x8) in the living room that is awesome and was a steal when I bought it.  Because it has different natural 
shades of green (lighter to dark)  it doesn't show the dirt/hair as much that is until I get the Dyson going on it. LOL

I love that I went this way.  I am sure Ruby Doo appreciates that I remodel with her in mind.  I also put up 52" wainscotting
for Tucker (ATB) who loved to chew the walls as a buppy.  Ahhhhh ...how we alter our lives to accomadate our furkidz.

Droolz,
Karen and The Dog House Gang
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20090604/00b61e16/attachment-0002.htm>