I am a big dog person. I like them to be big, or, at least, this is my default result. There are eight big dirt wrestling dogs in the house. I succumbed a long time ago to a life in which I was followed by circles of rotating debris, reminiscent of the pigsty in the old Peanuts comics. I think that small dogs can easily be washed away with the evening dishes. But for real dog-sized dogs—Labrador retrievers, velvety bulldogs, Rottweilers, shepherds, and all their mixed dogs—keeping it clean can be a challenge. My first dog, Brando, was a fully grown dog in the shelter, and it continued to grow to three times the size of the shelter. When he was close to a hundred pounds, I started to send him to the beautician and told them, "It must be cleaned under his fender." "What's his??" They asked. I mean the webbed area where his thigh meets his torso.

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Although the image of children bathing the dog in the old bathtub on the porch is a good advertisement for iced tea, it is not a very accurate description of how the dog is actually cleaned. This is the real choice: throw your dog into the bathtub (in the process, throw your back out before the bathtub must be cleaned); rinse your dog with a hose in the yard (and inadvertently create a mud puddle) Let him roll in); put your dirty dog ​​in your car, drive to the groomer or self-washing shop, then put your wet dog back in the car and go home (yes, you must clean your car after all ).

The great thing about Bissell’s BarkBath Dual Use is that it’s a caddy-sized wet vacuum cleaner that gently cleans and rinses your dog without causing another bigger mess. It bypasses all these options , To provide you with all the pets (regardless of their size) you need to clean up after your lover, without any hassle.

Am I skeptical? always. Are my dogs so dirty that I have given up keeping them tidy? Yes, I do. (Disclaimer: I wipe them off occasionally.) Inevitably, BarkBath ads sneaked into my social media feed and aroused my curiosity. BarkBath looks like a small carpet or upholstery cleaner. There is a small water tank to hold clean warm water and the other to collect dirty water. There is a long vacuum hose that can alternately use special no-rinse shampoo and suck dirty backwash into the water tank. I decided that this is either the best thing ever invented or the worst thing.

In essence, BarkBath is an upholstery cleaner, but it is licensed to cover the "upholstery" of your favorite dog. The latest model acknowledges this with its "dual use" upgrade, which includes an upholstery and carpet cleaning accessory, in addition to dog shampoo, it also adds a sturdy scrub brush for application tools and carpet shampoo for you to use on the carpet Use, not your dog. After the storm decided to cross my bedroom ceiling and destroy my bed, I first tried this non-dog function. (Too disgusting!) BarkBath does a good job of sucking up the mud and plaster that settled on the mattress. This is also a good way to get the machine to adapt before persuading my dog ​​to accept it.

The system itself is very lightweight, with a sturdy handle, so even if the tank is full, it can be easily taken from room to room (it has a capacity of 68 ounces, which is enough to clean an 80-pound dog; obviously, this device It also helps to save water!). It comes with a special cushion that can be placed between the equipment base and the floor to help eliminate your dog’s motor noise, and an 8-foot hose, so you can put the machine in a room and Bring the hose and app to another room room, this is especially useful if your dog is afraid of vacuuming. Put the shampoo into the flask installed next to the water tank. The water tank itself has a setting for applying shampoo and the other for rinsing with clean water. When you pull the applicator across the dog's surface, it sprays and sucks off the excess after a few inches. After using the shampoo and water combination, you can rinse and absorb the dirty water and repeat if necessary.

Rooney is obviously skeptical, but reluctantly willing to participate. Rooney was my first victim: he was a yellow brindle bulldog who never hesitated to get dirty. He dug holes, chased neighbors' cats (occasionally pushed to the corner by them), and tried to squeeze into the fence and under the fence. He is my threat Dennis. He will also let me do anything to him. He was obviously skeptical, but reluctantly willing to participate. As I continued to "vacuum" him, his patience began to fade in the middle, and I worried that we might end up with a half-clean dog, just like Solomon Grundy on Sesame Street. For the dog, this must be a strange feeling: it gets wet a few inches at a time, and then it gets vacuumed. Rooney seemed to expect more things to happen. But we survived. Rooney was still wet and needed a bath towel for the final wipe, but in general, the process of getting him clean was easy and did not stain.

For another test, I chose his crime partner Tonga. He is pleasant, but a bit crazy, and never stands still. This is a challenge for both of us. In the case of another bath, she will get spray, quick shampoo and rinse. With BarkBath, she needs to do the impossible: stay still so that the applicator is in direct contact with her. But we did it! I followed the old method of letting the dog adapt to new objects or noises: distribute snacks while the device is buzzing nearby, and then reward her with snacks to keep her focused. Because the cleaning nozzle can be operated with one hand, one hand can be free to distract or restrain, so even if you are the only person in the home, you can still complete the work.

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The price of BarkBath is US$199.99, which may not be the budget of every dog ​​owner, but when you consider the cost of grooming, depending on where you live, or renting a place at the dog bathing station, each treatment may cost you US$50, 75 U.S. dollars or even US$100, usually ranging from US$12 to US$20, it will pay for itself very quickly, and it also has the added benefit of helping you clean other parts of your household. My next goal: figure out how to clean the dog and the sofa at the same time!