Charlie's Day at the Spa

In anticipation of the arrival of Patty Dobbs Gross and her husband Ron this weekend (they're coming to our town to deliver one pup and check in on three other current North Star placements), I decided to "treat" Charlie to a day at the spa and get him all dolled up for the reunion with his first foster parents.  

I may have mentioned before that I LOVE a local pet store chain called Pet Food Express.  As I understand it, the company was started by a couple of San Francisco guys who really liked dogs and wanted to create a shop that sold nothing but wholesome foods and quality toys for their canine companions.  At the location near us they have a regular promotion of buy three of anything in the same genre (i.e. toys, food, etc.) and get a fourth one free.  That even includes our giant 40 lb bags of dog food!

Anyway, one of the things I like best about this shop is their self service dog wash.

I think this idea is absolutely genius!  You buy a token for $15 (or a package of 4 for about $45) and then you leash your dog up to one of their elevated bathtubs (no bending over the bathtub at home!)  

Once you've got the dog hooked up you select the type of shampoo your pooch desires (Charlie opted for the oatmeal aloe vera shampoo) and turn on the sprayer.  

Then you lather him up, hose him down and do a pat down with as many towels as you need.  (We used 5.)

After the towel dry, the pup steps up and clips into the drying area.  Turn on the dryer and spend the next 20 minutes or so in the fluff cycle.

And when it's all over, you have one super fluffed pooch and no mess in your bathroom to attend to while your dog seeks out the nearest load of stinky stuff to roll in.  Plus, after the bath you can stroll through the shop and pick out a new toy for your fluffy friend.  Check out Charlie all fluffed up and hanging with his home boy.