From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Like many people, Tríona Barrett got a dog during the endless days of lockdown in the pandemic.

And like countless families, it took quite an adjustment to having a much-loved canine as part of the household.

“I didn’t love Roxy in the bath. She was always jumping out and running up and down the stairs to dry herself off,” she says, painting a picture familiar to many dog owners.

“I get her groomed every eight weeks, but I was struggling to wash her in between. And if I brought her to the beach or the park she’d be so muddy. And I just wasn’t a fan of sharing my bath with her.”

Many dog owners don’t have the luxury of a bath and have to attempt a doggy wash in the shower or out in the garden with a hose. There have also been many a failed, very messy attempt in the kitchen sink. Even with a bath or a shower, it can be a killer for the back to be bending over for so long.

And there is also the problem of getting into a dog groomers for a regular wash and blow dry.

In Galway City, the wait for an appointment can be as long as three months. Even a mobile dog grooming service that started operating during Covid has a waiting list of six weeks.

Not exactly convenient when you have a dirty, smelly pooch who has spent the day rolling in mud about to jump into your bed.

It was last January when Tríona spotted a post on social media about a self-service dog wash station.

She thought the idea was genius and immediately starting researching.

She came across the machine that ticked all the boxes in Australia and set about importing it.

The trickiest part of the business plan was to secure a location that would be home to the unit.

“That was the hardest part – to actually get someone to take the idea of a dog wash seriously. I tried loads of them, but it was only when Alan Kearney agreed to meet me that the idea got off the ground.”

Alan owns the Texaco service station and Centra supermarket in Lough Atalia, two others in Barna and Oranmore.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the June 16 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.