We have always had Bearded Collies so we are used to the high energy thing - but we are lucky and have a farm with fenced pastures so they can run on their own twice a day. Ours don't dig up anything though so I guess we have been lucky. Good luck, I hope the trainer is right - for your sanity and your yard. We had to replace all the stretcher bars on our chairs with our last puppy. This is an example of what I was trying to describe. [houzz=]

I think charcoal grey is the most popular carpet colour at the moment. I've recently been trying to make the same decision between a more "beige" carpet and a "grey" carpet. I ultimately decided to go with beige. I think it will still show up lint and fluff, but less so than charcoal which I've seen in other houses and which seems to show almost everything. If I had a larger budget, then I would have gone with a woolen carpet in beige with specks/flecks of colour throughout. I was unable to find any non-woolen carpets which had specks/flecks of colour. As you're not looking to spend a lot, I'm guessing that a woolen carpet will be outside of your budget also. I think whoever regularly does the vacuuming and cleaning in your household should get to decide as they'll ultimately be responsible for cleaning the carpet whatever colour is chosen.

We are currently in the same situation with flooring and have been researching heaps of info. Currently living in QLD so bamboo flooring is out of the question as it does not tolerate humidity. With our two small dogs (who do run around psychotically at times) vinyl/laminate style planking was recommended. These are very easy to install...you can do them yourself. The only thing with the planking and dogs is don't go for the high gloss finish as they will slide badly on it and it will show scratches. I was told that in 5 years I would not be happy with surface so make sure you get a style that is slightly rough. Hope this helps and good luck!

unable to read all the dimensions but assuming a narrow block of land with zero set back on the garage you would lose extra width upstairs with the additional setback needed for upstairs, none of your examples could fit the available space and there would be a lot of wastage upstairs and down with hallways and stairs and, if a suitable plan could be achieved, there would also be substantial costs ($10,000?) in council, design and plan drawing fees plus costs of living elsewhere for months to build a second story and an upstairs would not improve modest downstairs living and outdoor areas...my suggestions would be to make improvements without over capitalising and could be achieved in stages eg new laundry and move meals storage, (nb this allows the old laundry to continue to function pending completion of new laundry) rearrange bedrooms and replace old external laundry door with window and cladding, enclose the alfresco with insulated wall and cladding), move sliding glass doors and use windows to suit direction of sunlight and outlook in new family room and add a tiny handbasin (inside the wall) to the toilet and, although it's not legal to use a garage for living areas, consider a partition to create a storage area (keeping the garage door) and make a rumpus room with skylight in the garage and leave cars outdoors...these changes creates 4 bedrooms, bigger study, new laundry with storage and a much shorter inside walk to outdoor drying area, generous dining and family room and you could add paving outdoors with a giant market umbrella to replace the alfresco ...unfortunately you will still be astounded at the cost of any changes but hopefully a staged approach would make these changes manageable and you could save more with DIY freestanding flatpac wardrobes, family room and study furniture and your carpenter/ builder might be happy to credit some costs for help with demolition under supervision