Pets and Leather furniture...do they get along?

[Ritz459]

I have been trying to convince my mom to let my younger brother and I adopt an adult Basset Hound come the end of May. Besides the fact that she thinks an adult Basset Hound = aquiring a Lab puppy in terms of behavior, she is scared that an inside dog will tear up her leather furniture.

I've read accounts where leather is tough and dogs won't hurt it with their nails (if they are trimmed short and the dog isn't going crazy on the furniture), and if they do, buffing it works well, and then i've heard accounts where leather was showed every single stratch mark and to never get leather if you have a dog or cat.

What is your take on it?

[roman]

max jumps on our leather furniture and personally have never seem anymarks on it

you just need to get the strongest leather you can afford or put an old sheet on top of it just to be safe

[k9hullio_sam]

Mandi doesn't tear up our leather coach, and she goes crazy on them! lol She kind of 'scales' it when she is doing her "victory laps" when she is super hyper.

[mrsgrubby]

I have leather furniture and have an 80 lb rottie and a 60 pound beagle/boxer mix. My leather furniture is perfect. it cleans up easily, the dog oils don't soak in, I don't notice any scratch marks or anything.

Novel also has leather furniture with all her weims and hers looks great as well.

[Ritz459]

Ha, see, I knew she was being paranoid. Does it matter on the quality of the leather? I think ours is pretty nice, but I want to make sure.

Now if I can just convince her that an adult Basset Hound (my younger brother loves hounds, a Basset being his third favorite, and I've always liked them as well) is a much calmer, more easy going dog than a Lab puppy. For some reason she seems to think that a four year old Basset is going to have the same activity level, chewing mentality, and mental needs that a Lab pup would have.

[Rivsky]

We have a leather lounge as well and River is on it a lot - no problems at all with any scratch marks. The best thing about having a leather lounge IMO is that it's super easy to get the dog hair off of it - a quick vacuum and it's done!

[Swiftwind]

We have a leather lounge and scratches DO show up on it. Abby got up on there once without us realising and she scratched it to death! We tried fixing it up with leather polish stuff, and it does look much better, but you can still see that there are scratch marks. Our couch is brown leather... I don't know if that makes a difference as to it's "scratch resistance".

[fancychicken]

I am an interior decorator. When you buy leather furniture you have got to be sure you buy treated leather instaed of the untreated. The untreated you can tell very easily in the store just take your fingernail and scratch and arm or the back of the sofa, if it leaves a mark you don't want it. Believe it or not the UNtreated is also usually a more expensive hyde. Swift: the color makes no difference at all.

[mrsgrubby]

A basset is going to be a way lower energy level. However if you don't have a fenced in yard I would really caution you against getting one. Hounds are not known for being able to teach recall to very well at all!!!! and I have never seen a basset able to recall, they normally just take off following their nose and are gone.

Even my beagle mix Violet is never allowed outside of the fenced yard off leash, as she does the same thing....smells somethign and is gone.

[knewlon]

If you have a good quality leather that is cleaned and treated regularly it shouldnt get scratched up unless he tries to dig his way through I absolutely love having leather verses fabrics with inside pets. If they come in muddy and want to jump on the couch it is so much easier to just wipe it down. Also, if you have a shedder it doesnt collect on your furniture! Thats a plus in my house. My only problem is my puppy likes to chew on the leather when we arent looking and now I have a whole, but with an adult dog they should know better and be out of that phase. AAA+++ for leather furniture!

[calgal]

I would LOVE to have Italian leather sofa and chair because I've heard it can take a lot of abuse. The thing that keeps me for buying just yet is my 7 year old grandson. He's usually armed with crayons, paints, pencils and scissors. Now I have a 4 month old granddaugher who will be chewing thing in a year or so. I don't think the leather could stand up to the abuse kids could inflict.

[DogLover8]

Kenya loves to sleep on the furniture in our house. I do not have any leather furniture.

[TribalRats]

I would never own a cloth couch again.
The leather is SO easy to clean, it does not hold the dog smell. I love it, after all this time with the dogs jumping on and off, playing bitey face and attempting to ground in the mud they haul in the couch still looks awesome. So worth the money in my opinion.

[rmci]

I love hounds!
Basset hounds may seem more laid back than other breeds but I think this usually is due to being overweight. A basset is a very energetic dog, and if this energy is not properly channeled, the basset tends to get himself in trouble.

Not to talk you out of the breed but they also shed all year long and have an oily coat, and drool. Their ears are prone to infections from the floppy ears.

You might consider teaching the pup to stay off the furniture and that way your mom won't have to worry about it

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by mrsgrubby

A basset is going to be a way lower energy level. However if you don't have a fenced in yard I would really caution you against getting one. Hounds are not known for being able to teach recall to very well at all!!!! and I have never seen a basset able to recall, they normally just take off following their nose and are gone.

Even my beagle mix Violet is never allowed outside of the fenced yard off leash, as she does the same thing....smells somethign and is gone.

I have taken that into consideration. We don't have a fenced in yard, but our animals are never allowed off leash in our yard either. We haven't had an incident with Sadie or any of the dogs we have ever slipping their lead and taking off.

Even if getting another inside dog doesn't work out, at least I know now that I can let Blackie and Rose in without fear of them killing our furniture. And it is another myth disproved.