Our shepherd mix ruined a leather couch. Her nails scratched it all up, and once a tiny rip occurred it tore completely open. It is nice for easy clean up of fur, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a new leather couch (this one was a hand-me-down). But maybe a better quality leather would hold up better? I think this one was less than $1000 new. I know friends who got a leather set and have cats, and they were happy with it.
A knowledgeable furniture salesperson would probably know. Questions about pets and durability must be pretty common.
Yes, but a salesperson is just that – a salesperson. They’ll say anything to get you to buy something from their showroom
Our dogs have ruined this sectional we currently own, so I think I’m going to go with the site listed above - the fact they have pet resistant fabric AND you can order replacement fabric to recover it easily – I think it’s what I’m gonna run with
I do think quality is an issue, as we have a leather couch and chair that is about 20 years old and it still looks great, and dogs have been in the house for almost 15 years of that time. They’ve never been all that thrilled about the couch (they prefer the fabric loveseat, which I think just feels warmer to them), but they like to curl up in the chair all the time. We’ve never had dogs that were really rough on the furniture though - it’s not like they are chasing each other around and taking headers off the sofa or anything. The female likes to ‘nest’ on the fabric loveseat so I have a slipcover on that and a blanket on top that she can root up when she wants to. I LOVE the new Surefit stretchy slipcovers - it takes a lot of rooting on her part to get it out of place. They are kind of thin, so at first I was worried she’d tear it, but it’s been absolutely fine.
I’ve heard good things about this fabric -
They make dogs beds out of it too. Not cheap, but if you really like the furniture you have already got, recovering it with a sturdier fabric could be a possibility.
Just one thing to note about this furniture - it doesn’t use springs. There are storage spaces under the cushions instead. The cushions are nice and thick, but if you have back problems or people in your family who have trouble rising from a sitting position, this can be an issue.
Not a problem with us, thankfully, as we have no real back problems to speak of. Not to mention that the current sofa is a sleeper, so there’s no real springs under that one either. And we do seem to do okay with it.
As far as our dogs – since there are five of them, the do run and tear around on the couch (think banked racetrack). This generally only occurs when we get home and they are excited. They settle in within a few minutes. Right now, there’s three of them lying on the couch, resting after din din.
The price also can’t be beat, especially with the simplicity of replacing the fabric and lack of down time.
