Good Bye HydroSurge

I think I gave it more than enough time to grow on me.

It never did.

I am talking about the HydroSurge that I ordered at Hershey.

Thank goodness I was only renting it and did not buy it out right.

I DID NOT like the shampoo at all.

I did not like not being able to use my own shampoo.

I only used the HydroSurge shampoo in the system, and the machine still clogged up on two of the four shampoo intakes.

It also did not give out enough shampoo for me.

I also felt that it just did not clean well enough on its own, you had to follow up with a hand scrubbing.

 

If I have to hand scrub anyway, I am not going to pay extra just to put the shampoo on the dog.

Besides, I prefer scrubbing a dog by hand anyway.

I love running my hands all over the dog.

I like to feel for bump and lumps.

I like to feel the shampoo in the dogs hair.

I can tell by just feeling the shampoo in the hair whether the dog is clean or not.

My main reason for renting the HydroSurge was to have a quick way to soap up a dog.

Mainly the large dogs.

It may have worked great, if I could have used better shampoos.

So I decided to go back to using a homemade shampoo system that I read about on-line 6 or 7 years ago.

It is a little bulky to use, but it does soap up the dogs quickly and, I don't mind following up with hand scrubbing.

What is it?

I think it was called the 'Texas Bowser Blaster'.

A poster from Texas came up with it.

Here is what you need to make one.

First go to your local garden supply store and get an 'Ortho' Dial and Spray Hose-End Sprayer.

I have a couple for different shampoos.

Next, depending on the type of hoses you use, you may have to pick up a connection for the Dial and Spray to fit on your hose.

The connection on the Dial and Spray is a male connection.

I use a washing machine hose, that is also a male connection, so I bought a  connection with a female part on each end.

I also bought a quick-connects piece so that I can quickly switch out bottles if I want to use a different shampoo.

The quick-connects works by quickly sliding the male part in or out of the female part without having to always unscrew something.

Oh boy, did I really just type that?

That just did not sound right...in so many ways.

Okay, I am not going there.

Sorry, I'll get back on track.

Attach the male part to however many sprayers you want to use.

Since both the quick-connects and my hose are male connections, I hook on the female connection so that I can attach the hose to the sprayer.

The quick connects is also great if you only have one hose to work with.

Just connect a male connection to your rinse sprayer and another male connection to the Dial and Spray.

Then put the female connection on the end of your hose.

That way you can quickly switch the shampoo sprayer with your rinse sprayer.

I attached a two hose connection to my tub so that I have one hose for my regular rinse sprayer and one for my shampoo sprayer.

I usually fill the bottle about 1/2 way with the shampoo I plan to use on the dog.

The bottle is big enough to add a mixture of different shampoos if you like.

Depending on how thick my shampoo is, I add a little water to thin the shampoo a little so that it will not clog up.

If the shampoo does stop coming out because of a clog, all you need to do is open the bottle and rinse the little hose off in the bottle.

You can also set the dial at the top of the bottle for the amount of shampoo you want it to spray out.

The spray is nice and powerful.

It sprays the shampoo down to the skin, even on thick coats.

Your warm water mixes with the shampoo so that you are always applying warm shampoo to the dog.

As I said before, the sprayer is a little bulky, but it works great to apply the shampoo quickly.

I got my bottles in the off season for only $5 each.

In total, with a new hose and the connections it cost me around $43.

So Bye, Bye HydroSurge.

I hope everything that I wrote made sense.

It has been a long day, full of a lot of large, very furry dogs.

I still have another day to go. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF