# Dark Floors and Tiny Paw Prints (LOTS of them)



## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Good morning. We recently had our white linoleum and sand colored carpet torn out of our kitchen/great room and had it replaced with dark luxury vinyl planks (simulated hardwood floor). All I am able to focus on are the hundreds of paw prints everywhere. 

Is there anyone else on this forum who has dark floors with paw prints everywhere? I'm wondering, if you do, how you keep your floors clean without being on your hands and knees cleaning several times a day.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

Diann said:


> Good morning. We recently had our white linoleum and sand colored carpet torn out of our kitchen/great room and had it replaced with dark luxury vinyl planks (simulated hardwood floor). All I am able to focus on are the hundreds of paw prints everywhere.
> 
> Is there anyone else on this forum who has dark floors with paw prints everywhere? I'm wondering, if you do, how you keep your floors clean without being on your hands and knees cleaning several times a day.


perhaps a bit of shaping to do a doormat dance to remove some of the dirt before coming back into the house? I'm not kidding - I knew someone at a puppy class once who did just that, really successfully!!


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## MillyMolly (Feb 3, 2013)

I have 3 foot long 1 foot wide mat on the porch , where I 've taught Molly to take a stop and then I ask her to sit , stand and lie down, for a little while, before we go inside. That takes a lot of the dirt.

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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

I have dark hardwood floors throughout my place so I've trained Emmie to do a sit/stay on a microfiber towel in a corner of the entry way whenever we come in from outside. Then I use baby wipes to wipe the bottom of her feet and if I notice the wipes are really dirty, I go to the kitchen and get a wet paper towel to wipe her feet down more. But if they're still dirty (like this morning), I wash her feet in the kitchen sink. It's a bit of work but now it takes no time at all and the paw prints on the floor have been greatly reduced. I like that with her in a sit/stay, it also gives me a chance to remove my coat and put it away, as well as whatever else I've brought inside (e.g. shopping bags, purse, packages, etc.). Good luck! 

-Jeanne-


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Wow you guys are WAY better then me, I just try not to have the paw prints bother me too much! :laugh: Leaves are a whole different matter so I'm constantly sweeping. I was way better about cleaning off feet when I only had Tim but now that Mae's here it makes it almost impossible. Lucy and Charlie are a bit older so they will be able to "sit and wait" I'm sure when the other one's getting done. I do however wipe their paws off after a snow or ice storm when they've salted and the roads are still wet when we walk.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jabojenny said:


> Wow you guys are WAY better then me, I just try not to have the paw prints bother me too much! :laugh: Leaves are a whole different matter so I'm constantly sweeping. I was way better about cleaning off feet when I only had Tim but now that Mae's here it makes it almost impossible. Lucy and Charlie are a bit older so they will be able to "sit and wait" I'm sure when the other one's getting done. I do however wipe their paws off after a snow or ice storm when they've salted and the roads are still wet when we walk.


I'm with you, Jen! I'm reading this thinking "Thank heavens our hardwoods are honey colored oak, and and our rugs are all orientals&#8230; Both very forgiving! 

I DO wash Kodi's feet THOROUGHLY if he's been out walking on the street or sidewalk, where he would certainly going through salt and maybe worse deicers. But we ONLY use sand on our driveway, walks and steps. It may be messy, but it's safe!


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Diann said:


> Good morning. We recently had our white linoleum and sand colored carpet torn out of our kitchen/great room and had it replaced with dark luxury vinyl planks (simulated hardwood floor). All I am able to focus on are the hundreds of paw prints everywhere.
> 
> Is there anyone else on this forum who has dark floors with paw prints everywhere? I'm wondering, if you do, how you keep your floors clean without being on your hands and knees cleaning several times a day.


I think you're noticing everything now because of the drastic change of going from your light colors to the darker one, although I would think it would be the other way around. I have pine floors stained with special walnut throughout the house with the exception of the bathrooms and really haven't noticed pawprints. My problem is heavy scratches, especially in the kitchen, from the nails. I used to obsess about these things before we moved but since moving to Cape Cod, a beach community, I don't think about it anymore. I call it my beach house and whatever goes is okay. We don't even take off our shoes when returning from the beach, sand and all. I think you'll learn to live with it. BTW, I'm not saying that my floors are not clean, I just don't obsess and get down on my hands and knees. A quick dry mop takes care of it.


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

You get used to it. :bolt:
All I can say.


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## RoutineAvocado (Feb 6, 2013)

I have dark walnut floors. I just clean them every two weeks and try to ignore it the rest of the time. It's not as bad in drier seasons. We do a quick foot rinse in the sink if there are any salt or chemicals on the ground, but we don't dry thoroughly so that still makes a mess in the house. But at least the pup is cleaner and safer. We usually wear shoes in the house so the mess isn't all her fault anyway.

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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Thanks for the responses. I do wipe their feet but realized they were so hairy that they were to hard to get clean. Both had baths today and foot grooming. No more hairy foot pads.


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## Suzysue (Aug 12, 2013)

About 15 years ago we pulled up the carpet and painted the cement---we painted it beige and used a rag roller to paint brown over the beige ..... I matched the brown with the dirt in the back yard and even painted a few paw prints by the back door. It was great could not see the dirt.....:evil: We had three dogs and no grass in the back yard. This worked until we could tile.


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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Suzysue said:


> About 15 years ago we pulled up the carpet and painted the cement---we painted it beige and used a rag roller to paint brown over the beige ..... I matched the brown with the dirt in the back yard and even painted a few paw prints by the back door. It was great could not see the dirt.....:evil: We had three dogs and no grass in the back yard. This worked until we could tile.


So did you go back to a lighter color when you tiled. I should have remembered how white cars and black cars show dirt. It's the opposite of what you think. White cars don't show dirt as quickly.


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## Suzysue (Aug 12, 2013)

Diann said:


> So did you go back to a lighter color when you tiled. I should have remembered how white cars and black cars show dirt. It's the opposite of what you think. White cars don't show dirt as quickly.


I went with a light tile with multi colors to help hide the paw prints. The mistake I made was light grout -- they get dirty fast but found oxiclean is wonderful on dirty grout.

I still need to tile our bedroom and was thinking of dark tile but now I am rethinking that.


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