How To Build A Home Hydrobath Cheaply

[Goofy]

Hi Good Peoples,

First time post.

I have been lurking for a while and have found some excellent information on this site, so thought it was time to try and give something constrictive back.

I have put together a guide on how to build your own home hydrobath for anything between about $300 and $900, depending on how flash you want to be and how far your budget extends.

The whole thing can be found herehere - complete with pictures.

Cheers

Ric

[shmoo]

Neat. Not sure if you have already, didn't see it posted on the shopping list But I would make the bath anti slip somehow.

[dancinbcs]

Great instructions except you normally never put the water actually in the bath for the dog to stand in. Most dogs hate standing in a bathtub full of water but are fine with a hand shower arrangement. For white legged/footed dogs it is essential that they don't stand in water as the dirty water from the coat can stain the legs. The water should go in a separate tank and is recycled by the pump. I have seen a homemade setup that used square plastic drums for the soapy water. It is always best to rinse with straight clean water, not recycled or you will never get all the soap out.

[Parkeyre]

It would be great if you could set it up to have legs and a table type setup, rather then sitting on blocks like that.. :S

[becks]

wouldn't it be easier to just have one of those showers that attach to the hot and cold taps in the laundry, instead of all that extra plumbing?

i think there was a thread in the grooming section a few months back about how to build your own hydrobath.

[Goofy]

Not sure if you have already, didn't see it posted on the shopping list But I would make the bath anti slip somehow.

Great point about the slip issue. I am sure I have seen some stuff at my local Dogalogue hardware shop.

Great instructions except you normally never put the water actually in the bath for the dog to stand in. Most dogs hate standing in a bathtub full of water but are fine with a hand shower arrangement.

I didn't know that! You learn something new everyday, but my three have never had a problem with that in the past. The new bath, because of the slope and length, only has a couple of inches of water in it at the deep end, and very little/none at the shallow end.

It is always best to rinse with straight clean water, not recycled or you will never get all the soap out.

Yep. Understand your thinking. The rinse water starts out clean. If it turns out that the first rinse cycle does not get the the soap out, I can always flush it and refill on the go.

wouldn't it be easier to just have one of those showers that attach to the hot and cold taps in the laundry, instead of all that extra plumbing?

I used one of those to wash my old Toy Poodle for many years and it worked well but its a bit hard to fit a Goldie into a laundry tub, let alone a Newfie, but your suggestion is a good one for little dogs.

The way I have this set up, it would not be hard to modify the plumbing and add a separate tank (or even two) if needed. Certainly worth thinking about after a few more washes.

Once all the suggestions are in, I will rework the text, so thanks for the ideas.

Cheers

Ric

Edited August 23, 2010 by Goofy