Scratch-resistant flooring is friendly to pets, pet owners

Virginia-based Nydree Flooring released Hardwoof with an eye on pet owners who want the elegance that wooden floors bring, but not the claw and scratch marks.

Hardwoof is real hardwood flooring with a 1/10in-thick real wood veneer infused with acrylic, making it 300 percent more durable than traditional wood flooring. The formaldehyde-free product is said to have a dent resistance of 8,000 pounds per square inch.

Nydree spent a year and a half researching and developing Hardwoof. Testing was done at a 13-acre pet resort in Atlanta. "We've had over 5,000 dogs come across our floors with no scratches, no residue, no water marks, nothing," said Pet Lodge Pet resort general manager Jeff Hoehn.

Seeing a large market for Hardwoof, Nydree is working with flooring installation companies to boost sales. In the past two decades, the pet industry grew by more than 350 percent to $60.59 billion while nearly half of US households have a dog.