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Friday, October 10, 2008

A House for Dogs: The Ultimate Utility Tub


When we were planning our house, I looked around for a decent size utility tub for the laundry room. I wanted something big enough for bathing a medium-sized dog and big enough for washing off muddy boots or even horse blankets. The biggest I could find ANYWHERE was just too puny and flimsy.

Finally I looked for a regular dog bathtub in a dog grooming catalog. Ah-HAH! I found what I wanted. It was a bit spendy compared to the puny utility tubs I'd seen at the plumbing shops. But it would be PERFECT for bathing any size dog and washing any size item...even oversized pots and pans that may not fit in the kitchen sink.

We designed a space in our laundry/dog/mud room for this four-foot steel tub. We plumbed it in and hooked up a sprayer hose. It is SUCH a perfect "utility tub" that I don't know why everyone doesn't do it.

The tub we bought was an "Edemco" brand, one of the standard types offered in any pet grooming catalogs. it stands on legs so that you can get your "tub project" (dog or other object) at a comfortable height for your work. We also purchased a set of folding steel stairs that hook onto the front edge of the tub. This allows any of our dogs to easily climb into and out of the tub. The stairs are lightweight, fold flat, and store nicely against a wall when not being used.

I've used this tub more for washing other things than for washing dogs, but it's a godsend when Lizzie rolls in deer poop and has to be quickly rinsed off (with warm water)! If I were to ever build another house, I'd definitely plan on the same type of "utility tub" for my next home.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i love it! what a brilliant idea!!

willg said...

Yes, this really is a great idea. I've had no problem taking my two dogs to pet grooming Bellevue, but if I could install one of these in my house I would.