Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The BarkBath gets your dog clean without making a mess of your bathroom

It’s a brave owner who tries to clean their dog in the bathtub. The mightier the mutt, the greater the struggle, the bigger the mess. It’s time consuming, too, and uses a ton of water from start to finish.

So check out the

BarkBath

, a new piece of kit that hopes to transform this tiresome chore into something quick and easy for both you and your four-legged family member.

Recommended Videos

Dubbed “the next generation of dog bathing,” the BarkBath is the creation of Michigan-based floor-care specialist Bissell. Considering its line of work, it’s little surprise that the BarkBath resembles a canister-type vacuum cleaner, with a main base, flexible hose, and cleaning head.

The BarkBath requires just a small amount of water and shampoo to clean your canine from head to tail, with the dirty waste collected in a separate tank for simple, speedy disposal.

You begin the process by simply moving the cleaning head gently over your dog’s coat. As you do this, the head sprays warm water and a no-rinse shampoo onto the animal’s fur. The nozzle gets beneath the hair, right down to the skin, to allow a deep clean that removes both dirt and odor, while a soft suction mechanism pulls the grime and water away, depositing it in the tank.

The fact that the system creates little to no mess means you can use the

BarkBath

anywhere in the home, with a full clean likely to take around 20 minutes.

“We’re actually changing the way that you wash the animal,” Chuck Martin, Bissell’s general manager of innovation, says in a video (above) promoting the BarkBath. “Normally you would wash from the fur down, and what we’re doing is cleaning from the skin up.”

Martin explains that “in a traditional bathtub method of washing a dog, you’d use about 19 gallons of water to wash an 80-pound dog. We use less than 48 ounces of water because we’re much more efficient at the process.” He adds, “Our shampoo is really unique because it doesn’t have a lot of the harsh chemicals that other shampoos might have, and it’s really safe and effective on the animal.”

One note of caution: Bissell points out that the machine makes a sound similar to that of a vacuum cleaner, which most people know can scare the bejeezus out of some dogs. “For best results, your dog should not be afraid of the sound of a vacuum,” the company helpfully explains.

The BarkBath is currently an Indiegogo project with a month left to go. It’s already more than doubled its $50,000 funding target thanks to pledges from more than 1,000 backers.

At the time of writing, some early bird deals for the machine remain, allowing U.S.-based dog owners to make a saving of up to 27 percent on the expected retail price of $150. Shipping is scheduled for June 2017.

BarkBath

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Amazon Memorial Day sale 2025: The 35 best tech deals
Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

The Amazon Memorial Day sale is already up and running, which means there are some amazing discounts available for all kinds of tech products. Whether you're looking for upgrades to your home entertainment setup, additions to your arsenal of mobile gadgets, or devices that will simply make life easier, there's surely something for you from the retailer's Memorial Day deals this year.

There's a chance that you get overwhelmed with the sheer number of offers from Amazon though. To help you decide what to buy, we've gathered the 35 best tech deals that we've found below. Read on and see if anything catches your eye, but you shouldn't take up too much time because we're not sure how much longer stocks will last for these products. It won't be a good idea to wait until the final minutes of the holiday before you make your purchases -- proceed with your transactions from Amazon's Memorial Day sale as soon as you can.

Read more
Samsung Memorial Day sale: The best washer, dryer, and refrigerator deals
Samsung front-load washer and dryer set in chapagne finish in a laundry room.

The Samsung Memorial Day sale is finally online, so now's the perfect time to make some upgrades in your home. The brand, which is known for making some of the best phones and best TVs, is also a reliable name in the world of appliances, including washer, dryers, and refrigerators. No matter your budget and the amount of space you have, something will surely catch your eye in this year's Memorial Days deals for Samsung appliances.

You can take a look at all the home appliances that are on sale for Memorial Day from Samsung through the link below, but we've also highlighted our recommendations below if you want to finish your purchase quickly. That's actually a good idea, because we're not sure how much longer stocks will remain available. You shouldn't wait until the last minute of these Samsung Memorial Day deals before you proceed with your transaction, as you'll be in danger of missing out.

Read more
How to use the robotic arm of the Roborock Saros Z70
The Saros Z70 picking up a sock.

While the Roborock Saros Z70 didn’t exactly live up to the hype, there’s no denying its robotic arm is still a cool piece of technology. Capable of picking up small objects in its path, moving them to a new location, then continuing its cleaning process, the Saros Z70 and its robotic arm might be the coolest feature we’ve ever seen in a robot vacuum. But how exactly does it work? And what are the robotic arm’s limitations?

Here’s a closer look at how to use the robotic arm of the Roborock Saros Z70 and ways you can improve its performance.
Limitations of the Roborock Saros Z70’s robotic arm

Read more