pergo presto laminate flooring broken on tounge edges

The wood floors are being installed in our house today and tomorrow. We're using red oak and have considered going with a natural finish. Should I be considering an oil based polyurethane or water based? The house is a new construction, so we're not living in it yet. We have plenty of time for the poly to dry. My biggest concerns are long term. Which will hold up better in traffic, and we also have a golden retriever that will be on it all the time. How do I best protect the floors under these circumstances? I've read here that oil based is the way to go, but my floor guy said the water based is more expensive. I know more expensive doesn't mean better necessarily, but so far I've run across nothing in building this house where cheaper was better, but I wouldn't mind saving a few bucks. Thanks for any opinions.

Hi I have a quick question regarding refinishing softwood Fir floors. In our house, the upstairs is all Fir floors. These had been painted over with thick gloss paint. I hired a sander, and took all the paint off - and the floors are in surprisingly good quality. The only thing, is that they look very light in colour. I am use to seeing Fir floors being a somewhat darker, richer red/yellow colour. The colour in our kitchen (fir also) is like this - a nice rich, warm colour. I am a little worried that when I go ahead and sand-seal, then clearcoat the floors they aren't going to get that rich red/yellow colour. Any suggestions on the best way to go ahead and refinish these, after sanding? Or if infact, they will turn much darker when I put the final finish on. Thanks! Matt