Here's a business opportunity ! How many people have a stinky dog they dont fancy putting in their own bathtub, or its too heavy a dog to cope with lifting into the bath, or its just too filthy and gritty for your wet room.
You have visitors coming and you're conscious that when the dog passes you theres an unpleasant whiff drifts past,so you worry the house must pong -- BUT you cant spare/justify the £20-£25 to take him to be fully 'laundered' at a dog salon and anyway you dont need him blow dried just towelled off .

Well Id like a halfway house ! I need a dog launderette (No Zipper dont say it, I know how your brain works lol)-- where I can take my stinky friend in the car, go inside and take him into a ground level individual booth with a bath with a sealing door, that I walk him into , close door (so I stay relatively dry) hook his lead to a ring in the wall, and turn his individual shower above the bath on. Bath fills, I wash dog thoroughly,let bath water out, shower him clean --- Ah yes, a modified dog wet room! Open door ,keep dog in booth and dry him with towel I took along. Whizz back to car and home to air in warm house.

Now for this service , I would be prepared to pay double what the launderette charges me for my washing ,or even more. So , maybe £8 ish?

So, am I alone needing this facility , or am I just a cheapskate, or do all your dogs always smell like rose petals lol?

Trendy Pooches in Hoylake have this already and £8.00 it is.
http://www.trendypooches.co.uk/

not much use for this time of year though surely ?

I would imagine this is a very busy time of year for the wash with all the mud and muck around .

I woudnt wash my dogs in a outdoor wash at this time of the year, how cruel.

It is enclosed and warm water.

Wow, thanks Salmon . I was a bit tongue in cheek there so Im gobsmacked to find that it actually exists. RIGHT pooch, hold onto your bone, you're getting booked in before Xmas ! Will go and view it first to make sure its not cruel. If it works out, I will be absolutely thrilled .

OH NO!!! It IS outside . I had in mind a proper heated shop type place similar to a suntan parlour or something. Nope, our radiator hugger wouldnt be happy in an outdoor wash . Probably only good for filthy legs from Oct to May. Our dog has just knocked you off its Xmas card list Salmon lol!!

It is outside, but it's only really for a 10min wash and a quick dry off, you need to dry properly at home.

This is the place that supplies them so might give you an idea K9000

My dog was swimming in the lake left by the broken river bank last week, he didn't seem bothered by the cold

Our dog can't get into the sea fast enough as soon as she sees it.I don't know what sort of dogs you guys have.I have not been to the one in Hoylake yet but after bathing her in our bath yesterday it is either that or on the patio. I do connect the hose to the mixer tap so it is not too cold for her, before the RSPCA are put on to me.3:)

Our dog can't get into the sea fast enough as soon as she sees it.I don't know what sort of dogs you guys have.I have not been to the one in Hoylake yet but after bathing her in our bath yesterday it is either that or on the patio. I do connect the hose to the mixer tap so it is not too cold for her, before the RSPCA are put on to me.

what about the Japanese pet washing machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BPTvD8Yd9w

mine are radator hugger breed like venices lol

Dog washing looks like fun, send me your dogs...

Ha Ha Zipper ! Funny one.Knew I could rely on you. However that Japanese one, I DONT really like, it must be very frightening for a lot of old or more timid dogs. They unlike the woman who tested it, dont understand whats happening.What scope for accidents too. Heard of a number of dogs burnt in dryers even in this country. Here they could scald, drown or have a heart attack too!

Regarding the lakes and the sea etc that dogs jump into happily, I dont think standing still in the chill wind with mains cold water being directed through to your skin at speed, is comparable . Its the swimming and bounding round and excitement of chasing a stick or whatever that makes being wet in the other circumstances fun. Smiler , you are also off Fidos' Xmas list - Madge theyre sending you an expensive one! lol.

At this rate Fido won't be sending any cards at all!

haha venice thanks for that. i do go past that dog wash a lot and even in other times of the year when its cool i remember thinking Brrrr. but i suppose its dependant on the dog, my two dogs are small breeds, and i wouldnt dream of using it in anything other than really warm weather, but i should imagine a hardier big dog might be ok, i just cant help thinking it isnt the thing for our climate.

The more I think about it, the more Im thinking that , an indoor one is perfectly possible, and Im sure would have a good take up. Youd need a largish shop footage , a large south facing roof where you would have your solar water tubes/panels --- a few bays with baths shower and hoses , and thats about it really . £8 per person to diy your dog. Id bath mine a lot more often (and God knows she needs it,shes an absolute ronk machine) if I had access to one of those. Ive just realized -- those Pets at home type places would be perfect to give over a corner for this purpose. They have the large roofs so easy for solar to offset water heating costs, have staff around anyway, and a good footfall. It would be a very fitting diversification to their business.

Ha !I think you are right Salmon . Hes afraid he and his mates wont be able to exchange weemails if too many trees are cut down for cards, so hes now an activist for the pressure group SOT (Save our Twees).

Our dog will join that one to ensure her supply of sticks does not dry up but again she may welcome the lack of trees as there would be less places for her arch enemies (squirrels) to scamper up.