Tent floor material and dogs

I've been toying with the idea of a small Tyvek groundsheet that I'll place above the tent floor between the sleeping bags where the dog will (hopefully) sleep. I'll be curious to see what others experience is on this subject.

We've got a TT Rainshadow 2, and it works great. We've used the shelter for the past year pretty heavily with our oldest Great Dane (150lbs or so), and we never use a groundsheet.

Zero damage done by the dog, although it's important to teach your pup not to paw at the bug netting when he wants to get out in the morning to do "his thing".

On the flip side, 60mph+ winds and sharp rocks did manage to tear a 1"x1" L shaped hole into the floor one day when I ironically had the tent setup in the field behind my house to air out after a trip. A gust toppled the shelter (my fault entirely), and whipped it around multiple times and directions.

Honestly, from my experience, the dog paws aren't near as bad as boots or the weird shuffling motions that humans can pull.

Matt, I believe the REI Quarterdome T2 is 30D PU coated nylon. That's what an REI rep told me when I asked via 'LiveHelp'. With that said, I would have guessed a higher denier number than that. It feels more like 50-70 denier to me but I don't really know….

I guess I could use some technical analysis of materials (and coatings?) and implications for durability.

I imagine that info is somewhere on this site somewhere…I'll do some more poking around

I've never had any problems with any tent floor with my dog. That was true even when I had a Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo with the ultralight floor.

My dog is crate-trained and considers my tent his crate (note the "his"), so he goes right in and lies down quietly. However, I obviously will never test the situation by going off and leaving him alone in the tent! I also trim his claws twice monthly to keep them as short as possible.

I strongly recommend a closed cell foam (CCF) pad for your dog to sleep on, to keep him insulated from the cold ground. I cut a piece out of a cheap pad (Coleman) to 20" x 30", just the right size for my 80-lb. lab when he's curled up.

I've been putting my dogs straight on the floor, without a ground sheet, in my tarptents forever. Never any damage to the floor. One is a 95lb Husky Shepherd and the other is a 60lb Karelian Bear Dog