The house your dog moved through effortlessly for eight years suddenly becomes an obstacle course at twelve. Same floor, same stairs, same bed. Only the dog has changed. Adapting your home for an old dog rarely calls for a renovation. It comes down to a handful of spots where things go wrong. Those can be pinpointed room by room.

Below you walk through them, one room at a time, with what actually matters in each space.

Start by watching, not by buying

Before you order anything: follow your dog with your eyes for a full day. Watch for four moments.

• Where does he hesitate before stepping onto something?
• Where do his paws search for purchase?
• Which route does he take to get somewhere, even when it is longer?
• Where does he lie down when he gets to choose?

That behaviour maps out the problem areas for you. A dog avoiding the shortest way through the kitchen is telling you exactly where that floor is too slippery. Within a day you know where to start setting up your home for an older dog.

Adapting your home for an old dog: the living room

This is usually where the largest stretch of slippery floor sits and where your dog gets up most often.

Grip on the walking routes. You do not have to cover the room. Put something down where your dog stands up, turns or accelerates: in front of the bed, in front of the sofa, at the doorway to the hall. What other options exist and what they cost is in the complete guide to slipping on slippery floors.

Grip under the paws. Mats solve the floor where they lie. Non-slip socks travel to every room, including the places no mat fits. For many owners the combination is the answer: a mat in the fixed spots plus non-slip dog socks for the hours the dog is up and about.

One fixed resting place near you. Old dogs sleep more while still wanting to be close. A bed in the corner nobody visits will not get used.

The kitchen and the feeding spot

The kitchen is the slipperiest room in the house. Tiles that are often wet plus a dog arriving excited because food is coming.

• Put a mat under the food and water bowl. It catches spills and gives purchase during eating.
• Raise the bowls if your dog struggles to bend down. With a stiff neck or painful shoulders that makes a noticeable difference.
• Wipe up spilled water immediately. One wet tile is enough for a slip.
• Do not make your dog wait on the exact spot where he will have to turn to walk away.

The hall and the stairs

The hall is narrow and your dog has to turn there often. Turning on a slippery floor is the movement where the hind legs slide out fastest.

A runner along the full length works better here than separate mats, since those slide away the moment your dog pushes off. Choose one with a non-slip backing.

The stairs are a story of their own. Whether you block them off, adapt them or keep helping depends on his condition and on your house. That trade-off is worked out in old dog and the stairs. What helps in any case: grip on the first and the last step, because that is where it goes wrong most often.

The sleeping spot

A good sleeping spot for an old dog meets four conditions.

1. Firm enough to get up from. A cushion that is too soft sinks away under the paws. Your dog then has to push himself up out of a hollow. Have a look at old dog struggling to get up for the rest of that puzzle.
2. Grip in front of it. The first two steps out of the bed are the risk moment. A mat half a metre wide in front of the bed takes care of that.
3. Out of the draught and not too cold. Stiff joints get stiffer on a cold floor.
4. Reachable on one level. A dog who gets up three times a night should not face a staircase each time.

The door to the garden

The transition from garden to indoors creates two problems at once. Wet paws on a hard floor plus a threshold your dog has to clear.

• An absorbent mat on the inside dries the paws before your dog walks into the hall.
• A low threshold aid or a small ramp removes a step for dogs with hip or back trouble.
• The socks do not need to go on outside. They are made for indoors and on wet grass they lose their function.

What you do not need to buy

A senior dog proof home is not a shopping basket full of aids. A few things come up again and again without delivering much.

• Wall to wall carpet over parquet. Expensive, warm in summer and rarely necessary. Targeted runners do the same job.
• A harness with a handle for every situation. Useful when the hindquarters genuinely give out. In a dog who only slips, you take away muscle strength he still needs.
• Four different beds. One good spot downstairs is enough. The rest stay empty.

Keep in mind: aids provide comfort and grip, they treat nothing. With arthritis, hip dysplasia or legs that give way, the vet sets the plan. What you can do at home alongside that is in arthritis in your dog.

In what order to tackle it

All at once does not work, not for your dog either. This order delivers results fastest.

1. Grip along the route from bed to garden door. That is the path he covers most.
2. The sleeping spot: firm enough plus a mat in front of it.
3. The kitchen and the feeding spot.
4. The stairs: help, adapt or block off.
5. The rest of the house, in the places your dog actually goes.

Unsure about the sock size? The size calculator gives it in thirty seconds based on the width of the spread paw print.

Frequently asked questions

At what age should I adapt my home?

Go by behaviour, not by age. The moment your dog hesitates in front of a slippery floor, gets up more slowly or starts avoiding routes, it is time. In large breeds that is often around seven years, in small dogs later.

Does the whole floor really need doing?

Rarely. Dogs follow fixed routes and the accidents happen in a handful of spots: at the bed, in the doorway, at the bottom of the stairs. Deal with those and you have covered most of it for a fraction of the cost.

My dog prefers lying on the cold tiles. Should I allow that?

You can, dogs like to cool off on tiles. Just make sure a warmer and firmer spot is available for the longer sleeps. If you notice your dog is extra stiff after getting up from the tiles, put a thin mat over them.