Living with Pets – Pet Friendly Rugs and Tips with Rugs Direct

I recently worked with Rugs Direct to update our living room to a more pet friendly rug. I’m so happy we did!

If you’re here then you probably have pets or want a pet. I have three dogs (and a husband who walks across the rug with his work boots on) *side eye* and they’re my WORLD! Which is the exact reason why I allow them to go on ALL the furniture and do whatever they want… well almost. In my defense there’s really no way to stop your dogs from going on the rugs! Throughout the years I’ve learned some tricks and best practices for having rugs and dogs.

Do you guys remember when I thought it was a good idea to have the white shag rug with the tassels? Yep. Let’s just say I’m a pro at what NOT to do!

THIS IS A NO.

Although this rug is lovely it’s just really not pet (or kid) friendly. It deserves to be in a guest room or some space with low traffic. I’m sorry I did this to you, rug.

THIS IS A YES.

I apologize about the Christmas tree. You’re probably repulsed to see Christmas decorations at this point but it showed the rug from Rugs Direct the best. This is definitely a better choice for pet owners! 🙂

Here’s another one without the Christmas decorations! I’m so happy about our new rug 🙂

No White

Most of you probably already know this. No white rugs! You’d think this was a given right? No. I tried to have a white-ish rug not once.. but twice. The first time it was more of a temporary solution. It was the only extra one I had hanging around and Mya (my pitbull) won’t walk without the rug down. It literally got trashed in like 3 days. There was no cleaning it. It was stained for eternity.

I also tried to have the white-ish shag one. Maybe I thought because it was shag that it wouldn’t look dirty or the dirt would just fall through and I could spot clean it. #disgusting. I think I was desperate for that beni/shag look.

No Tassels

I repeat… NO TASSELS! I tried it. I really did. By the time we threw the rug out the tassels looked like some unfinished yarn project. It was sad. The dogs literally thought I brought them home 80 new rope toys.

Use a Pattern

Ok this might sound like you’re trying to hide stains or dirt BUT it’s mainly because when you wash the stained area it may be a little discolored or realllly clean looking and the pattern will help make it blend. If something were to stain whether it’s from the dogs or a spilled coffee.. it’s going to be less noticeable on the patterned rug.

No Thick Rugs

This is a biggie! I also learned this the hard way. I swear I’ve had like 10+ rugs in our living room in the past 4 years. Almost all of them were a thick material

Rugs Direct allows you to shop by thickness. Go ahead and check these boxes:

That makes it super easy to figure out which rugs are good for you and your furry family.

Get a Good Rug Cleaner!

This is advice I’m actually giving to myself as well. We used to steal Mike’s mom’s rug cleaner ALL. THE. TIME. and then we broke it. I think it was broken before we borrowed it but that’s between you and I. (and whoever reads this).

Anyway, the times that we DID borrow the rug cleaner our rugs were like brand new! They smelled no fresh and so clean clean. That’s another reason to get a rug that isn’t too thick. The rug cleaner isn’t going to pull all the hair and dirt out of a thick wool rug ya know?

Cover the Edges

This is a trick Mike and I learned a couple years ago when we came home to our new rug missing two of it’s corners! Our dogs aren’t big chewers. For the most part they just sleep when we’re not home. However, those times that we were gone for 6+ hours due to a wedding or some sort of function… one, if not all of them would chew the rug corners. We’re not exactly sure which one it is but as far as I’m concerned they’re all guilty. #guiltybyassociation.

Sooo we started placing objects on the corners. I know this sounds ABSURD but if you have a pup who chews the corners then get a couple heavy small objects and voila. We placed small cardboard boxes on the visible corners for a while and it worked like a charm. If you don’t have dogs you might think I’m kinda crazy at this point. The things we do for our furry friends, right?

If you’re wondering if we tried the deterrent spray that smells like pepper or whatever.. yes we did. My dogs chewed right by that sucker. So try this in order to protect your new pet friendly rugs 🙂

 

Here are a couple rugs that would be great with pets!

SAFAVIEH · MAHARAJA · MHJ-442

SAFAVIEH · VINTAGE · VTG-159
(this is the one I currently have)

LOLOI RUGS · ANASTASIA · AF-15

SURYA · VIOLA · TAUPE (VIO-2001)
(comes in different colors)

SAFAVIEH · VISION · VSN-606
(comes in different colors)

These are just a couple that I chose from Rugs Direct. They have a ton more choices (1,000s) and different colors in those rugs. I of course showed a couple light colored ones but I think with the texture it will be fine. Plus they’re easy to clean. 🙂

I hope this helped you make a decision on a new rug for you and your furry friends.

xo
Cara