I’ve learned through many unpleasant experiences that the worse something smells or the harder something is to clean off of your floors, the greater the likelihood that your dog is going to love rolling around in it.

You know what I’m talking about: trash, mud, human or animal feces, wet sand or grass, and sometimes even decaying animal corpses. Fun times! And it’s even more fun when you try to keep your dog still as you hose him or her down in the backyard, or even worse, as you try to clean the icky goo out of your bathtub and off your floors and towels after you’re done washing your dog.

Huge kudos to the people at Pet Food Express for figuring out a way to make this process a little more bearable. Their self-service dog wash takes (almost all of) the headache out of giving your dog a bath.

First, the tubs are large enough for big dogs (I saw a woman bathing a St. Bernard while I was there) and the tubs are chest height, so you don’t hurt your back while you’re bending down to wash your dog. They also provide towels, which as far as I’m concerned, is worth the price alone to keep your ratty towels from smelling like a kennel and from getting even rattier. Each tub also has two sturdy hooks that you can attach your dog’s leash to so he or she stays put.

The process is easy. You purchase your wash, get a token, and then select one of their all-natural shampoos (we chose Mango Tango, which smelled great) and press start to begin. I watched as my friend thoroughly shampooed his nine-month-old golden retriever puppy, then switched the dial to rinse mode to wash away the sandy and dirty Mango Tango remnants. After rinsing him, he dried him with the long vacuum cleaner-like hose (which had a brush attached to the end for easy grooming) and we were done. The Web site says the wash lasts twenty-five minutes, but his bath seemed very leisurely, so we never felt the pressure of a time-crunch.