Living in Santa Cruz, we were right by the beach. As a pup, we’d take Theo to the beach a couple of times a week and let the kids run around with him for an hour or two. We noticed such a big change in Theo’s attitude and behavior whenever he got to spend some time with his doggy friends, running as fast and as hard as he could. We still get to go to the beach every so often, but we live a little bit further away now and so his adventures with us are usually playing ball at the park, racing around the neighborhood, and running with me on the trails by the river.

Our car is always dirty.

Theo doesn’t seem to care if he’s dirty or not but we all know that he spends as much time around our living areas as we do – he lays around on the couches, sleeps on our bed and sometimes even bathes in our bathtub and showers. Typically we try and take these big adventures with Theo on days before the house is cleaned because we know that when we come home, he’s going to tear through the house caked in globs of sand and leaving fur and dirt in our bathrooms and tile. We recently discovered the BarkBath from BISSELL, a portable bathing and grooming system that we can actually use in any room of our house or even in our backyard. The BarkBath uses less water than traditional bathing methods – 48 oz will clean up to an 80 lb dog, where a traditional tub bath can use up to 19 gallons of water for the same 80 lb dog. Plus, it’s cheaper than taking him to a groomer and we don’t get covered with water in the process. It’s much more of a commitment to take him on fun adventures when I have to devote an hour to bathing him and then cleaning up the bathroom afterwards, so this way we can all enjoy time together no matter how messy he gets.

Theo’s happiness is consistent with the days that he gets exercise-kind of like the rest of us. He needs to be outdoors playing with his people and his friends and getting dirty. It makes us all happy to see him living his best life, and I feel privileged to be a part of it. The days that he needs to be bathed after the big adventures have only become that much easier with the BarkBath and they have turned into less of a deterrent for when we just don’t feel like cleaning up the house after we clean Theo. Though he is not much of a shedder, he definitely cakes the dirt into his fur, and having an appliance to clean him off is so much easier and more effective than using a shower or a hose. A happy dog is indicative of a happy family, and we are so fortunate to have both. Now I just need a BarkBath for my toddler!