We are planning to purchase a engineered wood floor for our living room. We have 2 kids (6 & 9) as well as a 14 year old Beagle. Our dog is elderly with health problems. He is not running around very much anymore (generally preferring to cuddle up next to us while we watch TV) However he DOES have accidents from time to time. I have always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that if he had an accident on our new floor, providing I noticed it immediately, I could quickly clean it up and that would be the end of it. Regretfully, I have read a bunch of posts claiming that urine destroyed portions of the flooring (whether by warping or by staining) Does anyone out there have any experiences with dog urine NOT ruining their floors? Whenever we go to a local flooring establishment and they hear the words kids and dogs, they practically shove us into the laminate department. I have no probelm with laminate. I think many of it is quite attractive. But we just love wood so much more. I wish there was a way to block the dog from out living room but due to the layout, that is not possible. Any thoughts are sincerely appreciated.

Male dog urine isn't as bad a female, for some reason. And cat urine is much worse. I suppose if you cleaned up the accident right away, you would probably be ok. But if it were left to soak in, the smell or stain would be difficult to remove without replacing the effected boards.

I had a male dog with Cushing's disease---drank a lot and, well, you know the rest. Found a product called belly wraps specifically for incontinent male dogs. Buy a few so you can change them when they get wet---thrown them right in the wash. Saved my hardwood floors and oriental rugs!

Thank you for your response. I will look into 'belly wraps' today. Our dog Phantom has had Cushings Disease for many years now. I constantly fill his water bowl and try to walk him every 2 hours...some days, no accidents, other days, 1 or 2. He does not seem to be in pain except for some bouts of arthritis and it doesn't seem right to put him to sleep because his condition is an inconvenience...he has been with us for 14 years and we will ride it out until his quality of life deteriorates to the point that we have to intervene. But, hey...it doesn't mean we don't want to find a way to make our house look nice!!! Wood floors would be wonderful if we take good care of them. Thanx again for your input. Fleajosh