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Good way to cause injury, especially to a larger, young, hyper-type dog.
Injuries that can set them up for lifelong problems (ACL tears just to mention one). Not sure I'd want a large breed dog ricocheting off walls, tables loaded with stuff, or other furniture either.
I'm going to 3rd the joint injury issue. Torn CCLs (ACL on a human) are a huge problem these days. The surgery is $$$$ expensive, and brutal.
But otherwise, I'm going to go in a different direction. If your builder told you the floors were hardwood, I would seriously question that. If the flooring IS hardwood, you won't likely see any scratching, or what you do see won't be bad enough to worry about. If you've been told WOOD flooring - and it's fir or pine - they there is nothing you can do to save it other than keeping the dog out of the house. Fir and pine are inexpensive, and IMO shouldn't even be sold as flooring. They are WAY too soft.
Pine floors from a 100 years ago or older were much harder pine. It has to do with how the trees grew. And, for as long as I've been on this earth, pine and fir have been soft, too soft to make a good flooring material.
The only fix is to have the wood sanded down. Then put on a good polyurethane coat - about 3 coats, at least. If it is pine or fir, then area carpets on every surface that gets any wear. Even if it is good oak, or bamboo (processed bamboo is harder than oak), area carpets will help slow the wearing down of the urethane.
Bring the dog over, and let him be a dog. If this means a scratch, then so be it. The flooring the builder installed, is “builders grade” unless you spec’d better. Once the floor is all scratched up, then it’s water under the bridge.
You might be able to train the dog, to become something other than a dog, but then you might get REAL destructive behavior.
It’s only a floor. It’s not like the dog is scratching it on purpose….
Scratches that people (me!!) have made on my 18 month old wood floors bother me waaay more than ones made by the dogs chasing other around the house.
I'm going to 3rd the joint injury issue. Torn CCLs (ACL on a human) are a huge problem these days. The surgery is $$$$ expensive, and brutal.
But otherwise, I'm going to go in a different direction. If your builder told you the floors were hardwood, I would seriously question that. If the flooring IS hardwood, you won't likely see any scratching, or what you do see won't be bad enough to worry about. If you've been told WOOD flooring - and it's fir or pine - they there is nothing you can do to save it other than keeping the dog out of the house. Fir and pine are inexpensive, and IMO shouldn't even be sold as flooring. They are WAY too soft.
Pine floors from a 100 years ago or older were much harder pine. It has to do with how the trees grew. And, for as long as I've been on this earth, pine and fir have been soft, too soft to make a good flooring.
We had red oak random width floors back in WV. I bought it from a local mill, had them professionally finished. We had 3 dogs - 2 basenjis and a boxer.
They scratched the floor. After 7 years we had them refinished. Dogs are tough and floors. We’re having circle sawn fir floors put in our current house. Again a local mill. They have saw mark ‘texture’ and are more rustic than a polished finish. Scratches tend to just blend in. A lot of businesses- bars and restaurants have them wall to wall and even they look ‘natural’ when beaten.
We had red oak random width floors back in WV. I bought it from a local mill, had them professionally finished. We had 3 dogs - 2 basenjis and a boxer.
They scratched the floor. After 7 years we had them refinished. Dogs are tough and floors. We’re having circle sawn fir floors put in our current house. Again a local mill. They have saw mark ‘texture’ and are more rustic than a polished finish. Scratches tend to just blend in. A lot of businesses- bars and restaurants have them wall to wall and even they look ‘natural’ when beaten.
You know I've got a lot of respect for you, but on this I have to disagree. You're casting doubt on what I've said about hardwood flooring, but I think what I've said is accurate, and applicable to the OP's description. I'll get in to more of WHY it's applicable towards the end of this post.
I can't argue with your experience - because that really happened. Yeah, I could believe some minor scratching. But over the past 40 years I've lived in several houses. The couple I've owned had oak flooring, as did some of the rentals. One had new fir. Had dogs in each. The oak has never scratched significantly. Yeah, I get wear spots - as much from human traffic as dogs. OTOH, I generally discourage roughhousing in the house, so maybe it's partly that I'm not allowing rambunctious behavior from the dogs. The OP has described dog behavior indoors that I probably would discourage.
That fir flooring house I mentioned? It was wood flooring, and pretty, and I didn't pay much attention to what kind of wood when I moved in. But, all of a sudden I couldn't move a chair without scratching the floor. My roll-around desk chair was making real marks in the wood. Somebody dropped a part of the bedframe when it was being put together - and it gouged the floor. It was pitiful.
Now, the whole reason I went into this vein to begin with, about the hardness of wood, and suitability of various woods as flooring, was because the OP NOTICED floor damage. And, noticed it in less than TWO years, from a VISITING dog. I doubt, very much, that they would have NOTICEABLE damage, as described, if the flooring was HARDwood. My implied message, and perhaps I should have spelled it out, but I'm spelling it out now, is that OP should get expert verification that the flooring is hardwood. I suspect it is NOT, and that if they were told it was, there is a matter of ethics, and possible legal action, involved. If the builder said it was hardwood, but it's fir, that's a serious matter, AFAIC. I would be looking to have the builder replace that fir with hardwood.
There is another possibility in the OP's description. OP had nice, smooth, shiny, PRISTINE and GLOSSY floors on move-in. And, maybe LIKED the pristine shininess - as in REALLY liked that look. And, when that glossy surface started getting dulled by the abrasion of the dog's nails, it is THAT small wear the OP is noticing. Not really damage to the flooring at all - just to the surface coating, which these days is probably a urethane, getting scratched. THAT kind of damage is highly likely. Restoring a pristine, glossy sheen is a maintenance matter. Personally, I don't need a ballroom sheen on my floors, but that's me.
As for the rustic and rough circle-sawn fir you're putting down? That will be a lot lower maintenance than a glossy sheen fir, for sure. Still, I'll have Siri put up a reminder for 10 years from now, to see if you've replaced it yet! Oh, and no fair covering it all with carpets and then reporting no wear!
You know I've got a lot of respect for you, but on this I have to disagree. You're casting doubt on what I've said about hardwood flooring, but I think what I've said is accurate, and applicable to the OP's description. I'll get in to more of WHY it's applicable towards the end of this post.
I can't argue with your experience - because that really happened. Yeah, I could believe some minor scratching. But over the past 40 years I've lived in several houses. The couple I've owned had oak flooring, as did some of the rentals. One had new fir. Had dogs in each. The oak has never scratched significantly. Yeah, I get wear spots - as much from human traffic as dogs. OTOH, I generally discourage roughhousing in the house, so maybe it's partly that I'm not allowing rambunctious behavior from the dogs. The OP has described dog behavior indoors that I probably would discourage.
That fir flooring house I mentioned? It was wood flooring, and pretty, and I didn't pay much attention to what kind of wood when I moved in. But, all of a sudden I couldn't move a chair without scratching the floor. My roll-around desk chair was making real marks in the wood. Somebody dropped a part of the bedframe when it was being put together - and it gouged the floor. It was pitiful.
Now, the whole reason I went into this vein to begin with, about the hardness of wood, and suitability of various woods as flooring, was because the OP NOTICED floor damage. And, noticed it in less than TWO years, from a VISITING dog. I doubt, very much, that they would have NOTICEABLE damage, as described, if the flooring was HARDwood. My implied message, and perhaps I should have spelled it out, but I'm spelling it out now, is that OP should get expert verification that the flooring is hardwood. I suspect it is NOT, and that if they were told it was, there is a matter of ethics, and possible legal action, involved. If the builder said it was hardwood, but it's fir, that's a serious matter, AFAIC. I would be looking to have the builder replace that fir with hardwood.
There is another possibility in the OP's description. OP had nice, smooth, shiny, PRISTINE and GLOSSY floors on move-in. And, maybe LIKED the pristine shininess - as in REALLY liked that look. And, when that glossy surface started getting dulled by the abrasion of the dog's nails, it is THAT small wear the OP is noticing. Not really damage to the flooring at all - just to the surface coating, which these days is probably a urethane, getting scratched. THAT kind of damage is highly likely. Restoring a pristine, glossy sheen is a maintenance matter. Personally, I don't need a ballroom sheen on my floors, but that's me.
As for the rustic and rough circle-sawn fir you're putting down? That will be a lot lower maintenance than a glossy sheen fir, for sure. Still, I'll have Siri put up a reminder for 10 years from now, to see if you've replaced it yet! Oh, and no fair covering it all with carpets and then reporting no wear!
There are circle sawn fir floors in Helena Montana that have been down for decades. The restaurant down the road- the Grubstake, has had them for decades. I know it’s softer than oak, that I am not refuting, however because they are already ‘rough’ no one cares.
This is circle sawn fir -
This is the old floor in the Grubstake restaurant. They added on about 7 years ago and also put in circle sawn fir for the bar and dance room. I think this was during the big addition.
This is the old red oak floor in our house back in West Virginia. We ripped out tile in the kitchen and added wood floor there. I don't have pics of the old floor with the scratches (and gouges in a few areas) but I can assure you a large dog with powerful rear hinds and nails- will indeed do damage, lol.
If I was the OP and he minds the damage, I'd make sure the dog has close trimmed nails. CLOSE.
There are circle sawn fir floors in Helena Montana that have been down for decades. The restaurant down the road- the Grubstake, has had them for decades. I know it’s softer than oak, that I am not refuting, however because they are already ‘rough’ no one cares.
. . .
Beautiful photos.
Fir is about half the hardness of red oak, which is a bit softer than white oak.
That commercial flooring may also be sealed with a couple of methods that are FAR more durable than what you'll get in your house (acid-cured, or moisture-cured urethane). I know something about how much wear commercial floors get, so I would think this is likely. They aren't used in housing because they release a lot of VOCs, and take a couple of weeks to cure. But they make a huge difference in hardness. These finishes are like what is used in bowling alleys.
I'll still bet you'll be replacing at least some of that new floor within 10 years. Time will tell. It is beautiful, though!
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Oh, and no fair covering it all with carpets and then reporting no wear!
