apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hi,

I think that the Flor carpet tile would work very well.

Pretty dog!

Kathleen

I also think Flor carpet tile would work well. Where did you get those side-by-side chairs in your living room? Those are beautiful!

You have a beautiful dog and it's nice that you're adapting your home for him! My sister had the same issue with her dog, an 11-year old Collie with arthritis. She put down a path of runners all over the house.

Flor carpeting sounds good to me too, by the way.

Awww...

Congrats on your greyhound! I have whippets and hardwood floors. It can take them a while to figure out that they need to slow down on hardwood but they can learn. Barring injury or damage to your floors, I'd give it a while and see if she figures it out. Also, I found that providing a carpeted area for them to play and in the area where they greet you when you come home is a good idea. Other than that the rest of my floors are exposed.

*Please* don't take this the wrong way, but have you thought about teaching your pup not to go crazy upon your arrival home? I know she's a new addition, and there's nothing more heart-warming than an energetic welcome home, but it's possible! You'd be discouraging her bad habits (i.e. going nuts when people enter your home) and avoiding the carpet dilemma altogether!

Just a thought from a fellow mid-century-loving dog owner ; )

Hi Chris and Rachel:

Congratulations, gorgeous dog and gorgeous home! I got Flor tiles for the same reason - well, my dog isn't a greyhound, but he is a slipping, sliding goofball. The tiles have worked out well for me even though I initially hated the idea of covering my wood floors.

Maybe we'll see you in Walter Peirce dog park sometime.

I have an energetic Sheltie puppy who wants to have the crazies on our hardwood floors--a hilarious sight with her, wild-eyed and tongue hanging out, gingerly running around so as not to skid into the furniture. So they can learn. Luckily she comes to work with me and gets to have the crazies on the carpet there. One other thing I tried with a small degree of success is a product called Shaw's Paw Wax. It's a little tin of wax that you rub on their paws and it gives them a little more traction. They use it for show dogs on those slippery floors. Also protects from snow and salt. Not a total solution, but it helps. Doesn't seem to leave residue on the floor, either.

As a person who doesn't own dogs, but was traumatized as a kid by big dogs jumping up on me (and in one case, biting me), I really have to agree with sandra on the idea of training him to stop doing that, because he's just going to do that to your guests.

Other than that, I do like the idea of Flor tiles, because they have some great striped ones in their "shirt stripe" series, that you could use on that floor in a similar criss-cross manner that your parquet does.

I like Lounge Stripe, Button Down or Seasoned Stripe, depending on whether you want to incorporate that wonderful red color that you already have going in your apartment.

Your place is really lovely, by the way, as is your dog.

I also have a retired racer and hardwoods. He learned to settle down quickly, lest he skid all over the place. Your new girl will need a padded place to hang out, though - my dog likes to relax in the one carpeted room of the house. Flor's a good suggestion - our local DWR guy said most people he sells to now make area rugs from the Flor rather than tack it to the hardwood directly.

Oh, she is so beautiful! Congratulations on the new addition to your family. You also have a very lovely home.
I would love to adopt a retired greyhound one day if we have more space. Now we have a miniature (Italian) greyhound and sealed concrete floors. We have FLOR tiles in a couple of areas in our loft and when the dog runs onto the tiles they don't slide (the dog or the tiles).
Eventually your new dog will become accustomed to her new home, the wood floors, etc. But if you do decide to pick up some FLOR tiles I have had a good experience with those and my dog.

I have a greyhound/boxer mix (legs for days!) and when we moved and redid the floors he did this also! But, he actually learned to stop on his own. Now he jumps in the air instead, but at least he doesn't perform gymnastics and nearly hurt himself. He picked it up totally on his own after falling the first few times.

Assuming she's just running around and running up to people, and not leaping ONTO people, I don't see why should be trained out of that.

I just wish I could train my dog to bark at the door when someone comes over, instead of rolling over and going back to sleep.

Chris and Rachel, how heartwarming that you adopted her. Congratulations I'm sure you will have many, many happy years with her. Your home is beautiful and I agree with the other poster.. a few FLor tiles at the door should help. Just a envy question, where did you get that rug? It is beautiful, I'd love to get something like that.
Good luck with your new addition

Trim her toenails so she can get some traction.

Thanks for all the good suggestions, both for the floors and for the dog! She actually doesn't get excited about anyone else coming home besides the two of us, and we're trimming nails and waxing paws as often as possible. Perhaps we'll wait to invest in the FLOR until we see whether she can learn not to go crazy on the parquet.

Steve, the chairs are a model called "Spider" from Kosmos, a store in Alexandria, VA (http://tinyurl.com/2yo652).

Coco, the rug is handmade at a women's cooperative in central Kyrgyzstan that I discovered while traveling there a few years ago.

Thanks again!

This might seem like a rediculous idea, but, in Alaska they put booties on the huskies that race in the Iditarod to keep their paws from being destroyed by ice while they are running. You could try modifying those non slip kids socks, the kind with the rubber to fit you pups feet, it would save you from having to buy a carpet, however, since she is not that kind of racing dog she might just chew them off, because she hasn't been trained to wear them. Bitter apple spray maybe?

One thing to consider is that wooden floors are hard on dogs joints and are contributers to arthritis in dogs(and once they get athritis, they wont walk on wooden floors). So go with the flor carpet idea. Traction is key to their joint health(my own dogs knee poped out of place with tile floor which is how I know all this, we went with floor runners after his surgery to put it back in place).
Having just a runner down the middle helps, they dont need the carpeting everywhere. They also have those clear bathtub sticky things that we placed on the floor to give him traction without adding a carpet in the kitchen. You totally dont notice them!
Congrads on your new dog and hope to see him walking around DC(as a fellow DCist).

I have a 9-year old siberian husky, and solid oak hardwood floors (it's a converted warehouse) with a varnish finish. My dog doesn't seem to have a problem with this situation. But I took him to a friend's shiny new high-rise condo last week and he was slipping all over my friend's laminate floors. Even from personally walking on both surfaces, I can attest that solid wood floors seem far less slippery and somehow just feel more solid.

THANK YOU FOR ADOPTING!
Now for the slipping issue. First, she WILL learn. Paticularly greyhounds have a lot of catching up to do in learning to live inside a house. Yes, toenails must be kept clipped. If you need additional help, there are PAWZ paw protectors that look like balloons. Bright colors, sold in a bag of a dozen or so. You roll them on the the foot like you do a... umm, rubber. And there is nooo slip.
http://www.thenewyorkdogshop.com/pawzdogboots.html

Congratulations and bravo for adopting your beautiful greyhound! I recently moved from a large house with original 1840s wide floor boards into a smaller place which I love despite the (are you sitting down?) Pergo floors. As we moved in, my confused Kairn terrier, Wolsey, would stand looking up at me as his feet slowly splayed out to the four points of the compass. At night when he wants to jump up on the bed, he runs in place for 30 seconds, getting traction for the leap. When I throw a toy for him to fetch, he stops running three feet in front of it and skids in for the kill. I agree with the others who have said that your dog will adapt to your flooring--heavens, rescued greyhounds don't know what to do with stairs, either, having never seen them! I'd give your dog some time to adapt. The Pawz boots Pauline sent the link for are great for winter walks on de-icing chemicals etc, but if you use them to solve the slippery-floor problem, you're pretty much stuck with using them forever.

(And a Pergo PS: I loved the wide floorboards in my old house, but I did not love cleaning the ocassional widdle, poo, and barf from the cracks. With the Pergo, no problema! Plus the're neutral and inconspicuous, and I can move the upright piano with one hand. . . . but I drift from the subject. . . .)

Completely unrelated but i adore the red and white rug you have, would you mind sharing details?

Old home and new greyhound? Been there, done that.
What saved us was Paw Wax - it stops the paws from slipping so badly on the smooth floors.

Eventually the greyhound will learn about how to walk on different flooring materials - this is all new to an ex-racer, remember.

And, as someone else mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to do a little training so the welcome-home greeting isn't quite so enthusiastic, too. (Nice to have someone so happy to see you, though, isn't it?)