How do I pick a durable flooring for my house?

With 2 dogs and kids in a busy house, 5 years is about max for most floors anyway. At that point they would need to be refinished or redone some way. Luxury vinyl plank is very durable and relatively speaking low cost. I recommend this particular style... not all are created equal when it comes to flooring... some low end stuff does not hold up. Here is a post I wrote about this luxury vinyl planking I put in our house renovation.

The only flooring you can get a return on is hardwood or ceramic. So for the money and maintenance I'd go for the wood look vinyl plank. Much cheaper than real wood or ceramic.

We have Pergo flooring in our kitchen and have loved it. It is a high traffic area that we are constantly using. Here's a peek at it: https://www.aratariathome.com/blog/new-kitchen-flooring

Your realtor is right, but that is five years down the road. A lot can change in that period of time. It also depends on where you live. Some areas pretty much call for hardwood and real stone tile, while others are fine with the ceramic tile, vinyl plank, stick on tiles, cork and linoleum. For the kitchen and bathrooms, I'd put in tile, you can get porcelain and ceramic tile at reasonable prices if you shop around. The rest, I would put in hardwood. For the stairs, use a runner or stair treads. Hall use a runner. And area rugs everywhere else. Get prefinished hardwood and make sure that it's been sealed with a commercial urethane to help protect it. I have hardwood floors with bona commercial water based urethane and an 8 year old, 150 pound great dane and our floors have held up with no scratches. We had our house assessed last year and the home inspector was so amazed by how well our floors have held up, that he asked what was used.

Have tile in whole house, many pets kids ; would not have anything else

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