The Dirt on Recirculating Bathing Systems

I hear all the time "You are washing a dog with dirty water if you use one of those" and it is not true. I have talked until I am blue in the face about how this type of system works and I have decided to show you how it works, why it works and how fast and easy it will make washing your dogs. I am going to try to dispel a few myths.

Myth number 1: You are washing dogs with dirty water.

BUSTED. You use fresh water and shampoo on every dog. The dogs are rinsed after each wash, and then the tub is refilled with fresh water and shampoo for the next washing.

Myth number 2: Bacterial and fungal infections are often transferred from the water to another dog.

POSSIBLE, but only if you are not cleaning the pump and draining it regularly. I will explain how to do this later in the second article.

Myth number 3: Dogs are not clean.

BUSTED. The dogs are clean with less water and shampoo usage.

Myth number 4: It takes too long to fill the tub.

BUSTED. It takes less time to fill the tub to a level that the pump will turn on than it does to wet down a dog and then lather them up. If your tub uses a lot of water, like mine does, then this system may not be best for you.

Myth number 4: the dogs don't SMELL clean so they aren't clean.

BUSTED. We have been conditioned to associate fragrance and perfumes with clean. The more diluted shampoos used in the bathing systems result in very little fragrance sticking to the dogs.

Clean dogs will have no fragrance. They are devoid of smell. If clients want a stronger fragrance then you can add cologne.

Myth number 5: The systems cost too much and don't offer enough benefit to justify the cost.

BUSTED. You can build your own system for less than $150 complete and the time, shampoo and wear and tear on your body that the system saves is definitely worth the cost.

Myth number 6: I can get a dog cleaner by hand.

MAYBE. But I bet I can get that same dog done just as clean, faster, with less water, less shampoo and none of the hand scrubbing.

Myth number 7: These systems do not work well in Mobile vans.

BUSTED. It may take some creative parking if your tub was installed level, but many vans come complete with a super sudser and the tub angled. One van company is actually building tubs on a slant with a well to put the pump in.

Myth number 8: These types of systems use more water than I would use if I washed by hand.

BUSTED. Because you are filling the tub with the water you would prewet with if hand washing there is no added water usage. They get dogs cleaner in one wash than you can do with two in many cases by hand, and since the shampoo

is diluted to the extreme, it rinses faster than ever as well, saving water.

Myth number nine: It will not save me shampoo because a gallon of water needs a large amount of shampoo to dilute it correctly.

BUSTED. You are not prewetting which means that one ounce or less of shampoo in a gallon of water will get dogs clean. No need to follow the dilution suggestions on the bottles. Those are for handwashing scenarios and are to be used on a

wet dog, further diluting the shampoo.

Myth numer 10: the dogs will miss the hands on that I do when I hand wash.

BUSTED. The washing action of the pump feels good to the dogs, like a massage. If you miss touching the dogs you can. Fell free. You just do not have to scrub get them clean.

In other words, most of the things you hear from people who do not use this type of bather are wrong. They are incorrect. They are blatantly wrong.

I will tell you how to use the systems and how to build and care for them as well in my next post.

In the meantime you can view the video clips I have on YouTube. One is me washing my Wheaten, Kreamer, who needed a bath BADLY. It takes me less than 5 minutes to completely wash him.

 

And here is the rinsing video. You can see how much faster he rinses, how squeaky clean he is, and how clean the water is, dismissing the theory that the dirty water will redeposit the dirt onto the coat.

 

A Note about the videos. They appear to be cropped looking at them here, but if you click twice, it will take you to YouTube where you can see them in full size. 

Until we meet again!

Comments

[julie bergeron]

I can not wait to see your post on the construction of this system, I looked forward