Self-service dog washing · Public park partnerships

They'll thank you for this one

People who use off-leash areas deserve better than "does my car smell like wet dog?" City Dog Wash partners with parks departments to put self-service dog washing where it belongs — right at the park, so the best part of everyone's day doesn't end in a muddy car.

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The partnership

A three-way win

The partnership works because Parks departments and City Dog Wash share the same values. Both want a great visitor experience, well-used amenities, and a strong park community.

Park Visitors

An affordable price

Park visitors get convenient, self-service dog washing at below-market rates, in a park they already use, right when they need it.

Parks Department

Revenue at zero cost

Parks receives lease revenue and shared receipts from City Dog Wash while adding a high-use amenity at no cost to the public.

City Dog Wash

Doing what it loves

We're a dog-first team that gets to add community value and operate a durable business that creates jobs and reinvests locally.

Public health

Every dog should leave cleaner and healthier

Dog parks are joyful places, but they also concentrate the disease and parasites dogs carry with them. A 2016 study found that 38% of dogs using off-leash areas carried at least one pathogen capable of spreading to humans.¹

An on-site wash station acts as a practical firewall, containing dirt and contaminants at the point of origin before they reach cars, homes, and neighbors. Regular washing also reduces what dogs bring back to the park on their next visit.

Tap to wash

If an off-leash romp means muddy towels, a dirty car, and a full cleanup at home, visits get shorter and less frequent. When that burden is removed, people stay longer, come back more often, and get the full benefit of being outside.

Washing your dog after the park isn't fussy. It's just plain smart. We put together a summary of the research behind why.

Read the Summary

¹ Hascall KL, et al. J Vet Intern Med. 2016;30(6):1838–1845. Full study (PMC)

Accessibility

Every person can give their dog great care

For most people, washing a dog isn't hard. It's just inconvenient and more expensive than it should be. For some, it's genuinely harder. The goal is simple: make it usable for everyone who comes to the park. When the right choice is also the easy choice, more people make it.

City Dog Wash is designed to remove friction for the people who actually use the park. Adjustable-height tubs make baths manageable whether a person is tall, shorter, strong, or just tired at the end of a long day. Very importantly, the design works seamlessly for those with additional needs.

Finally, the system is built to adapt. A digital interface allows the experience to improve as we learn from real use — adding language support, refining usability, responding to needs that aren't always obvious at the start. The system is designed to keep getting better.

City Dog Wash adjustable-height tub with scissor lift

The facility

Designed for parks

A City Dog Wash station is designed for outdoor public parks and constructed by a modular builder with municipal experience.

The exterior is adaptable. We work with parks staff to align materials, form, and finishes with existing park buildings. It looks like it belongs because we design it to.

The footprint is compact. A five-bay configuration fits within a 40 × 60 pad. Final size is determined with the parks department.

The structure contains enclosed wash bays that support timed wash and dry cycles for a fee. Bays are fully equipped, cleaned and sanitized between uses, staffed during operating hours, and secured when closed.

Each bay includes an adjustable-height wash tub, allowing users to set a comfortable working height.

All stations use a digital control interface rather than mechanical controls. This enables ongoing refinement of the user experience as City Dog Wash and parks departments learn from use.

To our knowledge, no other facility combines adjustable physical infrastructure with an adaptable digital interface.

Because the facility is modular and privately funded, financial risk to parks is minimal. If the partnership ends, City Dog Wash removes the structure and restores the site to its prior condition.

AI rendering — actual facility design, scale, and features determined collaboratively with each park.

From factory floor to park

Design & Engineering

Custom layout matched to your site specs, utility connections, and ADA requirements.

Factory Construction

Framing, plumbing, electrical, and interior fit-out in a controlled facility — not on your site.

Turnkey Fit-Out

Tubs, heaters, ventilation, and digital systems installed and tested before shipment.

Transport & Site Prep

Delivered flat-bed. Utility connections and pad prepared in advance.

Drop-in-Place

Craned onto a prepared pad and connected to utilities. Operational within a few weeks of arrival.

The financials

How this works financially

The dog wash technology is sophisticated. The model isn't: dirty dog, credit card, tub. It's a steady, predictable revenue stream at no operational or in-kind cost parks can reinvest in the system.

How we generate revenue

The model runs on utilization, not premium pricing. A public park location next to an off-leash area provides consistent, predictable demand — the kind that makes below-market pricing viable and the business self-sustaining. We don't need to charge more. We need to stay busy.

A five-bay station operating eight hours a day at moderate utilization generates meaningful volume. Wash revenue accounts for roughly 95% of income. Concessions and merchandise contribute, but they don't drive the model. A rainy week is worth more to us than a merchandise display.

As the operation grows, revenue can be reinvested to bring this amenity to parks where access to pet services is limited. Your strategic plan envisions improving one to two OLAs per year. We share that goal — and we can help fund getting there, one park at a time.

How parks share in the revenue

Your department receives three payment streams: base rent, a percentage of gross receipts above a defined threshold, and applicable leasehold excise tax. Base rent is your floor. It arrives regardless of volume. The revenue share is your upside. It grows automatically as utilization increases. No renegotiation required.

In the first full operating year, projected payments to parks are approximately $33,000. By year five, that figure exceeds $41,000. Over the five-year term, forecast cumulative payments exceed $150,000. Parks never has to contribute capital.

Every term is negotiable. Some partners prefer a higher base rent with a lower participation threshold. Others prefer a straight percentage of gross revenue. We model it both ways and come to the table with numbers, not concepts. The full methodology and five-year forecast are in the pro forma.

The pro forma

We show our work

You don't need a finance background to read our model. We built it so that a parks reviewer can open the spreadsheet, find the lines that matter, and draw their own conclusions. Here's what they'll see.

1.83x

Financing coverage ratio
Industry threshold: 1.25x

33.7%

Break-even utilization
We model 40%. Comparable facility runs 40–45%.

18 yrs

Continuous operation at
a comparable regional facility

Three things to look for

Year 1 loses money. That's intentional. Two months of revenue against a full buildout. Any model that shows a profit in Year 1 is leaving something out. Cash turns positive in Year 2 and stays there. The business covers every obligation from that point forward. Staff, rent, operating costs, your revenue share. If utilization drops six points below our base case, we still don't lose money. That's not a best-case plan. That's a cushion.

View the Pro Forma

Secure access for authorized reviewers.

The process

Here's what to expect

A clear process with no surprises, from first conversation through opening day.

Discovery

We start by understanding your park and its community, constraints, and goals. No site plan, no pressure. Just a conversation about whether this is a fit.

Feasibility study

We do an on-site study measuring unique visitors, dog-to-person ratios, seasonality and demand. The data informs fit, site planning, and the pro forma.

Pro forma

We deliver a partnership proposal and full pro forma: revenue projections, financing coverage, and a five-year cash flow. Conservative by design, transparent by obligation.

Agreement

Lease terms are negotiated collaboratively. Afterwards, we handle design drawings, code compliance, utility coordination, and permitting, all with minimal burden on your staff.

Construction

Built off-site over several months. Delivered complete. On-site installation takes days.

Grand opening

A soft opening lets us get it right before we get it busy. Then we open the doors, and you start receiving revenue.

The founder

It started with a parasite.

Hi, I'm the owner of City Dog Wash, and I can tell you the exact moment I started caring about off-leash hygiene.

My dog Dex and I were regulars at a popular off-leash area in Seattle. Coincidentally, he kept getting Giardia. He had just failed his third snap test in six months... and I had just failed my first.

Two things I know for sure: dogs can transmit disease to people, and there's no such thing as a mild case of Giardia.

What I can't say for sure is what cured Dex. I made a number of environmental changes, one of which was visiting a regional 40-acre off-leash area. They have a dog wash station at the entrance. Both are great parks. My point is that one had a dog wash and the other didn't.

I believe frequent washing contributed to Dex's permanent recovery. We're inspired by what that park got right — convenient, affordable, and in the right place. Fifteen years later, we decided to bring that model to Seattle.

City Dog Wash exists because some parks have amenities like this and others don't. We'd like to change that, one park at a time.

We're not a franchise. We're a local business that cares about the parks we work with and the people who use them. That shows up in how we design the facility, how we price the service, and how we report back to you.

If this sounds like your park, I'd love to talk.

Sincerely,

Joel Arabia, Owner
City Dog Wash