[Bizzymammabee]

Carpeting seems to call to the best of potty trained dogs. Our new Pup lulu is not allowed upstairs at all..it's fully carpeted. The minute she steps on carpeting she goes potty. Drives me batty. When she is downstairs (parquet floors and linoleum) she does have some accidents but will also go on the pee pad. When she gets into the livingroom it's open season on the area rug. It's drives me batty. The minute she can escape to the carpeted areas she starts in to handle her business.

I totally agree that it's like a sweater that is worn for 10 years. No matter how much you clean you can't get it all out. Most houses have carpeting with sponge under it for extra cushioning. Things get down on that as well. A steam cleaner can only go but so far down. So I am sure that no matter how well we clean the mess there is some residual smell that they can smell and that is why they will find their way right back to the dang rug to piddle/poo.

With children, hubby and two dogs and a cat I would vote for the hardwood. Plus overall it's money well spent. Laminate does run into issues of warping and all that good stuff. Plus the finish doesn't last as long. With hardwood you can down the road refinish and not have to replace like you wood with laminate. My dad put laminate in his livingroom and his older dog zeus peed on it and god did it get messed up. We are going to have to remove that part. The cost of hardwood is not that much more than laminate.