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Will simply keeping a dog's nailed trimmed keep them from ruining a hard wood floor?? We are getting a pup and my husband is a little concerned that his nails might scratch up the floor.. any suggestions are welcome, thanks!!

I'm thinking even keeping your pups nails as short as possible there still might be some marring of the floors. Puppys play hard so you might want to think about having a few area rugs around.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Even if you trim the puppy's nails religiously (like, every week), pretty much it will still shred your entire house to bits. If not the nails, there will be gallons of pee, slobber, and anything else he/she can find to tear up and drag around. If your husband is concerned about damage to the house, you might consider getting an older dog. My husband and I just adopted a 1 1/2 year old beagle and she is in my opinion a million times better than a puppy. You have just as many options as to the breed/size/temperament as with a puppy. Plus when you rescue a dog who's been passed around a lot, they know very well what you did for them and they will bond to you much stronger than a puppy will who's never known anything but safety. Again, just my opinion.
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Kadee Sedtal
home of old lady Lucy (boxer/lab/garbage disposal), and the lovely new addition, Fancy the Wonder Beagle!

>>Will simply keeping a dog's nailed trimmed keep them from ruining a hard wood floor?? We are getting a pup and my husband is a little concerned that his nails might scratch up the floor.. any suggestions are welcome, thanks!!

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On smooth floors, dogs often cause scratches accidentally by sticking out the claws to try to keep from falling. You could manage that by putting down rugs with rubber backing so they won't slip. The dog will prefer walking on these to slipping on the floor.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

As others have said, you'll really need plenty of area rugs. They need traction to run around. . . .

I've seen the rubber nail covers that help dogs from scratching you when they jump on you... I wonder if those would help with your floors???

I've two big 60 lb. dogs for 6 years on hardwood floors and I've only seen very light marks on the floors, and only when the daylight hits it just right. You really have to be looking for it. My floors get more of a traffic mark problem with the way we walk through the house so about every 10 years we get the floors refinished anyway. I don't use throw rugs at all to keep the flea population down, and we have leather furniture. They have quite the wrestling matches, but I use a dremel to keep their nails down so if I can't hear the nails hit the floor when they walk, I know they aren't scratching anything. M