Bathing dogs has never been fun. Two challenges are the mess that is created with water, and cleaning the entire dog. Using a combination of the AquaPaw and Soggy Doggy Towel makes for a super-easy bath time. Fresh Wave shampoo makes a wonderful all-natural ‘Made In The USA’ pet shampoo which leaves them with a shiny coat and subtle natural smell.
AquaPaw was started as a project on Kickstarter and they ave shipped their initial production run. I purchased mine full-price and just received it yesterday. I liked the idea of being in control of the water, and I think the massaging ‘fingers’ on the device make rinsing and lathering in dense fur very easy.
The unit comes shipped in this clamshell packaging that is heat-sealed in six place. I used scissors to clip away the sealed portions, and was able to easily open it.
For some background, the AquaPaw straps around the palm of your hand like a glove, and has a shower head type of opening embedded in the glove with a valve, so you can push the valve to start the shower of water – all with one hand.
The contents of the package include, the AquaPaw handheld unit, a shower head extension, a quick-connect coupler, and some plumbers tape.
I was impressed by the quality of the construction. Clearly, a lot of effort had gone into the design of the unit. The connections seemed sturdy, and – while the actual open/close valve is buried in the unit – it sounded and felt sturdy as I tested it before installation.
Installation was very easy and required only one tool, a set of pliers, to loosen and re-tighten the shower head. Everything else you need is included in the package. From start-to-finish, the installation took 5 minutes, if I’m being generous. The illustrated directions were easy to follow and I was successful the first attempt. The thread of the plumbing that my shower head attaches to is slightly askew from the threading on the AquaPaw so the quick-connect coupler comes out the top of the extension, rather than below it. It is more of an aesthetic thing for me, and is completely outside the control of the designers, but it is a subtle observation.
The instructions also show you how to connect it to a garden hose if you desire.
I don’t need a high-pressure stream of water, so it turned the water supply to about 50%, checked the temperature, and activated the shower lever. The extension has a slider to indicate if the water should go to the AquaPaw unit, or the shower head. Sliding the indicator to expose the blue end causes the water to go to the hand unit, while exposing the black end sends the water to the shower.
The extension is plastic and easy to use; it feels sturdy. It does lower the shower head a bit, but not by much.
Overall, this product is well-designed, well-constructed, and makes easy work of the worst parts of bathing a dog.
When the wash and rinse is done, the Soggy Doggy Towel takes over and using this innovative pocketed chenille towel makes quick work of drying your pooch. Even before Dexter was out of the tub today, I could see his coat was already drying. Ordinarily I would bring out the hair dryer and finish drying him that way, but I brought him outside in the sun, finished up with the towel, and he was quickly dried.
My favorite shampoo for dogs is Fresh Wave. It has a nice, natural scent, and is safe for their coat. It isn’t a gel, more of a thick liquid (like the consistency of cough syrup), and doesn’t get too sudsy. I didn’t need to use a lot of shampoo to get Dexter clean, and having a lower amount of lather made it easy to control around his face.
Dexter's Dog Days 