I just came across a mat brand called Muscle Mat that is good for kids to play on and comfortable for dogs. They market that they are stain-resistant and easy to clean.
I desperately want a living room rug for 1. the aesthetic of pulling the room together, and 2. so our baby can play on the rug and not risk bumping his head as hard on the hardwood floor. BUT with 2 Australian Shepards that are outside 90% of the time - they stink up ANY rug that we get from laying all over it (even with keeping them bathed they get stinky/dirty after a couple of days) - our house is open concept, so there is no way for us to train them to just not get on the rug.
We already tried the House of Noa play mat as a living room "rug", but with 2 big hyper dogs - that didn't last long as their nails pierced through the mat pretty quickly, so now we made it smaller and have it in our son's room.
We had an off-brand washable rug from eBay (I know, lol), but it just looked cheap (because it was). When we tried to wash it, being 8x10, it barely fit in the washing machine, so it barely got washed. We ended up just throwing it away because it wouldn't stay down, was paper-thin, and looked just terrible. I'm cautious about getting a name-brand washable rug and ending up with the same problem.
So would the Muscle Mat work as an alternative? Do they hold smell? Are there any other recommendations for a rug or "rug" that doesn't hold smells as badly?