Having nice furniture and a dog, is it possible?

[Pink_Converse]

My dog rules the school. She lays all over the furniture and a lot of the decor choices are for her, things she can't tear up, rugs to help her get traction on our laminate floor, etc. Right now I have raggedy furniture so I don't really care that she's on it, other than the dog hair situation. For those of you with dogs that shed alot, what type of fabric is on your couch? Is it easy to get the hair off? I'm wondering for future purchases what is the best fabric for this. I should probably just train her to stay off but she's been on it for 3 years so in case I can't, I'd like to have something that is going to hold up to her 68 pound hairy butt. TIA.

[Smiley124]

We have pugs so when we bought new couches we got khaki colored ones that match the color of their fur. I was paranoid about them ruining them though, so we ended up getting slipcovers that we leave on all the time except when people come over. I hate not being able to see my new couches, but we decided to go the safe route. Keeping the dogs off the couch is not an option at our house. Can you say spoiled?! :D
Oh, and the dyson works wonders for getting the hair off (we don't even have the animal - just the basic version).

[Chile]

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[Jane&Andy]

microfiber is great for pets - its stain resistant and the fur comes right off (it doesn't get woven in like it does with linen fabrics).

[jnshanna]

Yep, I have microfiber and it's pretty good. Our furniture is a tan color though and Sophie is black so I end up using a lint brush pretty often to get her hair off. We also had a problem early on with static but that has subsided. She has also decided that she really likes to lick (!) the couches so I've been putting throw blankets on them most of the time unless we have company over. I still catch her moving the blankets and trying to lick under them. Sheesh! :rolleyes: The good thing, like Jane mentioned, is even if Sophie licks the couch, I can use a sponge and clean the area and it comes right off and looks like new. :)

[mimieliza]

Chile, you mentioned leather. I was thinking about getting a leather set, but I was worried about dog and cat claws scratching it. Does your dog get up on the couch? Do the claws scratch it?

Anyone else have good luck with leather furniture and pets?

[ManteoChik]

We have leather furniture and a black lab who is 11 months so she is right in the middle of shedding her puppy fur for big girl hair. She is a total priss and *loves* to sleep on the couch. Leather has been the best thing that we EVER did. She also has a dog door so she can go in and out into the back yard when we aren't home so there is usually sand and other things on the couch when we get home because it comes in on her. We simply get the vaccum out and clean it off. I also buy leather wipes at Wal-Mart (they come in the same type of can as those Chlorox wipes) and I use them to wipe the couches clean once a week.

They are soo easy to clean and I was worried about scratches and things like that but we got them before we got the dog and she's been sleeping on them since she was 7 weeks old without any incedent.

We bought ours from Rooms To Go. We wanted to get a nice set that didn't look cheesy but we also knew that we would buy new sets when we moved into our 'forever' house. We found that RTG had really good selections for a great price (another reason I wasn't too worried about the dog).

Here is a picture of our leather couches:
http://images.snapfish.com/344%3C386723232%7Ffp47%3Dot%3E233%3C%3D%3A88%3D%3C 97%3DXROQDF%3E23239%3C9%3C93955ot1lsi

[Chile]

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[ee_chick]

I'm glad to hear such good things about leather sofas and big dogs. :D I've been lusting after one for the living room, but didn't know how well it would hold up to scratches and slobber.

I have a cloth sofa right now (twill, maybe?). I just keep blankets tucked around it unless we have guests over. It's not particularly pretty, but it's worth it to have the lovebugs snuggling with us.

[Kristen78]

I have cotton twill couches. They do manage to collect quie a bit of hair, but I have a Dyson Animal vacuum that does a good job getting the hair off. Also, I don't allow my dogs up on the couches. So the hair really only collects on the front bottom part of the couch when the dogs lay up against it.

Could you just stop letting your dog up on the couch?

[mimieliza]

My dogs don't get on the couch while we're home, but they just curl up there all day while we're out. I put all sorts of barriers up, they just knock them down. I looked at something called a Scat Mat at Petsmart, that is a pad that emits a noise and a static shock when they get up on the couch, but it was $80. Not really worth it to me - I'd rather just look for tough furniture that can withstand the pets up there.

And the cat is always up there, with her fur and claws everywhere. At least she doesn't scratch it on purpose.

[Jennifer76]

We bought new microfiber couches a few months ago and implemented the new rule "no dogs on the furniture".

They (the 2 dogs) do pretty good when we are home, but they can't be trusted if we leave the house so I usually end up "barricading" the sofa with my ironing board and laying pillows along the loveseat. It's a total PITA but I want to keep my furniture nice! :D

[aussie]

Our dog is blond and sheds like crazy. I never thought that a short-haired dog would shed so much. She's like a dying Chrismas tree loses its needles if you blow on it. Our couch is twill and is a dark brown and we also have a tan leather chair and ottoman. We would cover them with a sheet whenever we would leave the house because she never attempted to get up there when we were home. But,we finally broke our dog of getting on the furniture by placing strips of aluminum foil across the couch and chair cushions. It worked like a charm. Another thing that helped was getting her a doggie bed. She learned that was the acceptable place to lay when we went to bed (we put it in our bedroom).

Now we don't have to use the foil - she stays off all on her own.

[Rose]

We have washable slipcovers from PB. Washing and our Dyson attachments help a lot.