The automatic dog washer was a bulky item––big and heavy. Before it arrived, the courier service company had confirmed with Zhang Zian. After getting a positive response, they delivered it on the first working day after the Spring Festival.
Masanori Suzuhara followed the truck to make sure that everything was okay. The machine’s instruction manual was written in Japanese, after all, so it turned out that she had been overly concerned. Even if the user could not read Japanese, the machine came with cartoon-style instructions at the front.
Zhang Zian knew that the automatic dog washer would be delivered today but didn’t expect it to arrive at such an early hour.
By the time he walked outside the branch store, the workers of the courier service company were already carefully unloading the truck.
Despite the fact that he had confirmed the length, width, and height, as well as other measurements of the automatic dog washer, it was bigger than he had imagined. Each automatic dog washer was equivalent to three vending machines standing side-by-side. The silver, stainless steel front panel was shining in the sun, looking rather stylish.
The front of the automatic dog washer was simple and clean, with a square, acrylic glass front panel that could open and close. There was an airtight seal around it, just like a front-loading washing machine. In addition, it had a small plasma screen. Since it was unplugged at that moment, the plasma screen was off.
In fact, the design of the automatic dog washer was not complicated. If a domestic manufacturer were interested, they could easily duplicate it, except that maybe the manufacturers were concerned that the cat and dog washing market was too small and very few customers might buy them. They might end up losing money, so they gave up; however, there had to be the first person to eat crab in the world. Zhang Zian was going to taste this “crab” today.
Wang Qian and Li Kun came out of the shop to watch. They held the glass door, one on the left and the other on the right, so that the courier workers could carry the machines inside.
“Sir, where shall we place it?”
“This way, please. Gently…”
Zhang Zian instructed them to place the machine in the pet bathroom. After inspection and signature, they left with the truck.
As the company had promised, the specialized transformer was included. Masanori Suzuhara followed the instruction manual and plugged the dog washer the socket of the hair dryer through the transformer. In addition to this, much like a washing machine, the water inlet was connected to the tap, while the waste outlet was connected to the sewer.
She explained the operation method and attention items patiently to Zhang Zian and others, including how to open the machine and remove the money inside. It was simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. After hearing these, Zhang Zian couldn’t wait to ask Lu Yiyun to get a few 100 RMB bills to try the machine.
It was not only Lu Yiyun, Wang Qian, and Li Kun that made a circle around it; even the elfins surrounded it, glancing at the new pieces of equipment.
Who should try them first?
Zhang Zian glanced around, then waved at Famous. “Famous, you haven’t taken a shower in days, have you? Come here for a shower.”
Famous said, “Do you think that I’m a dumbass? I’m not gonna be your lab rat!”
Running out of options, Zhang Zian had to call Zhan Tian over.
Maybe Zhan Tian was used to stainless steel cages or utensils at the police dog base; it didn’t fear these two giant machines at all. Instead, it jumped inside, following Zhang Zian’s order.
Zhang Zian closed the glass panel slowly and observed for a while. Zhan Tian stood inside quietly and didn’t seem to have any panic or fear.
Zhang Zian was a bit concerned if it could breathe inside; however, Masanori Suzuhara pointed at the manual and told him that there was a vent inside.
Zhang Zian got some dog shampoo and filled it into the shampoo tank at the back of the washer. He noticed that the shampoo tank was still wet and slimy. Apparently, these two machines had been shipped to the shop right after the exhibition, where they had done some demonstration.
Everything was ready. He checked everything over again with Masanori Suzuhara to make sure that they didn’t miss anything. After confirming that everything was fine, Zhang Zian selected Big Dog Mode on the plasma screen and inserted two 100 RMB bills into the bill slot.
The machine took the bills in, confirmed the amount, then initiated the washing sequence with a beep. In order to stop children from opening the glass panel, a child safety lock was activated during the washing process so that the panel could not be opened before the washing was completed. To open the panel it needed to be unlocked.
After a while, the shampoo was mixed with the instantly-heated tap water, which produced a lot of foam. The foam then sprayed out from both the front and the back.
Zhan Tian turned white instantly, as most of its body was covered by foam. Only its head was not sprayed by bubbles, as it was located higher.
A large number of water droplets were splashed onto the glass lid, so that the inside was not clearly visible. Zhan Tian was neither screaming nor panicking, indicating that it had not been frightened.
Zhang Zian noticed that the foam was not sprayed out from a fixed angle. It was rotating periodically to cover the few areas that had not been covered by bubbles, except the head.
Masanori Suzuhara followed the manual and explained, “There are four modules in automatic dog washing, including spraying, transmission, rinsing, and drying. The transmission rod is attached to three spray nozzles at both ends and rotates periodically after initiation. The water pressure can massage the dog.”
“It can even massage…” Zhang Zian exclaimed with envy. “I don’t get a massage when I wash myself.”
After a while, the foam-spraying stopped. Zhan Tian stared at the whiteness covering itself with curiosity, as if it had fallen into a pile of snow.
Afterwards, heated, clean water was sprayed from the six nozzles at the front and the back, rinsing off the bubbles all over its body. The bubbles, mixed with skin flakes and hair, flew into the waste pipe through the holes of the anti-slip mat under Zhan Tian’s paws, then flew down the sewer.
Zhan Tian was all wet, and the hair was stuck tightly to the body, dropping water continuously.
It was coming…
As Zhang Zian just thought about this, Zhan Tian started shaking its body violently, splashing water in all directions.
Everyone who had washed a dog had seen this. As long as dogs got wet, they shook their bodies instinctively to get rid of the water. Even Zhan Tian, a well-trained police dog, could not get rid of this instinct.
They were comfortable to get rid of the water, but not those who were washing them. It would be fine in the summer, as it might as well shower the owners at the same time; however, it was quite a headache in winter. If the owners had been splashed with water, they might catch a cold. If it was not warm enough indoors in the winter, the experienced owners would wash their dogs in raincoats. At least they wouldn’t be splashed with water on their bodies. Their faces could not be spared, though.
As Zhan Tian’s body moved, Zhang Zian covered his face with his hands out of reflex. Next to him, Lu Yiyun, Masanori Suzuhara, Wang Qian and Li Kun all watched it without moving. They could not react as quickly, as they had not washed dogs often enough.
Zhang Zian caught nothing on his hands, though, and his body was dry as well. The water splash from Zhan Tian was all trapped inside the automatic dog washer. Not a single drop splashed outside. This was one of the advantages of automatic dog washers.
With the advancement of technology and society, after the basic survival needs were met, people naturally started pursuing life quality. It was cheaper to wash dogs at home, and the owners could bond with dogs as well, but paying to wash dogs in a pet shop was chic and classy, and it could save time. Besides, there were plenty of bonding opportunities with the dogs besides bathing. However, washing cats was a disaster to both the cats and the owners…
Compared to traditional, manual dog washing in pet shops, the biggest advantage of automatic dog washers was to prevent the employees from being bitten by nasty dogs. Even the friendly dogs could bite when they were frightened. In case someone was bitten, a wave of ball-kicking and the rabies vaccine could be foreseen. That was the reason why Zhang Zian had not offered the dog washing service until now.
There were chain stores in Taiwan with self-service pet bathrooms, in which dog washers were available. Those dog washers were not automatic, though, and the owners had to wash their dogs themselves. It was similar to the self-service cat wash that Zhang Zian was offering, but it not as convenient as automatic dog washers at all.
Regardless of washing cats or dogs, one of the challenges was drying the animals. The blasting noise of the dryers could make them frightened or crazy, so much so that they might hide or attack the dryers.
As Zhan Tian finished shaking, the drying system started. Limited by the size, the dryer noise could not be muted nor insulated. There was enough space inside the automatic dog washer so that the hot hair would be blown out after making half a circle around the pipes instead of being blown out directly. The noise had been eliminated by more than a half.
Hot air circulated between the inlet and outlet vents at the front and the back of the machine. Zhan Tian’s hair was being blown like a billowing wheat field in autumn. Zhan Tian squinted its eyes in comfort and shook its ears, enjoying the warm wind.
The bubble-spraying and rinsing took four to five minutes altogether, but drying took 20 minutes. Zhang Zian felt the hydro bill burning!
He knew this was necessary, though. If pets were not completely dry after a bath in winter, they could catch a cold easily. Attention was needed in summer, fall, and spring as well, as damp hair was the ideal warm bed for germs and parasites.
Like a washing machine, while the dog was being washed, the plasma screen was displaying the current sequence and the countdown. As the countdown came to zero, the dog washer beeped to announce the end of the washing cycle, and the child safety lock was automatically disabled.
As Zhang Zian opened up the glass panel, Zhan Tian jumped out of it and sat on the floor with its tongue out. Its fur coat was shiny and slick, with the fresh scent of shampoo. The hair was dry down to the roots. It was not significantly different from a manual washing.
“Holy crap! Master, this is so clean! Cleaner than I have imagined!” exclaimed Wang Qian.
Masanori Suzuhara smiled without a word, looking as happy as if she had been praised. She provided the information about the automatic dog washer to Zhang Zian and made all the connections. She had good reason to be proud, now that the machine had received great feedback.
“I’m not sure if we can wash cats with it. It would be great if it can be used to wash cats, though.” Li Kun looked at Zhang Zian. “Master, would you like to try washing a cat?”
“Wouldn’t this be difficult?” As Masanori Suzuhara heard this, she stopped it immediately. “I’ve never had cats, but I’ve heard of other labs that had cats for experiments in the University. As they need to be washed before the experiments, it is a headache each time. If you use an automatic dog washer, the cats usually scratch and scream inside, sounding very sad… although there are quiet cats, I heard there are very few.”
“Hehe, you don’t need to worry about this.” Li Kun smiled. “Our Master has the mighty power that has reached the Half Step Gold Elixir Phase. Regardless of cats or dogs, they will be trained to full obedience in the shop!”
Even if Masanori Suzuhara knew Chinese very well, she had no idea about this immortality cultivation term, which made her clueless.
Zhang Zian looked at Fina, who did not object. He felt that this was an approval.
“Okay then. Let’s try to wash a cat.”
“Try with Jasmine, then. It needed a shower anyway.” Lu Yiyun brought Jasmine over in her arms. At first, she had some doubts about the automatic dog washer, but after witnessing the washing process of Zhan Tian just now, she was confident enough that nothing would go wrong.
“Okay. Let’s use the other machine.” Zhang Zian took her to the other automatic dog washer. “We can’t mix cat shampoo with dog shampoo. If this works out, that one will be used to wash dogs, and this one will be dedicated to cats.”
Lu Yiyun opened the glass panel and put Jasmine inside. She stroked its back to comfort it. “Jasmine, do not be afraid. It will be finished very soon.”
Jasmine had no idea what was going on. It lifted its head and glanced over the cold and strange machine with a hint of fear in its eyes.
As Lu Yiyun drew out her hands, Jasmine wanted to follow them outside. She had to put it back again. As long as Jasmine refused to stay inside, she couldn’t force herself to shut the door.
“Meow,” Fina meowed lazily.
Jasmine quivered and stayed silent as if it had received a sacred oracle. It stayed still in the automatic dog washer without moving.
“Plug its ears with this to prevent water from getting into the ear.” Zhang Zian brought some earplugs for cats. This was crucial, as it could prevent water from getting into the ear, and make the cats less frightened by noise.
Without Fina, it was still possible to wash the cats, but as the owners heard their own cats screaming and jumping in the automatic dog washer, they may not allow it.
Subjectively speaking, it was without doubt that automatic dog washers could significantly reduce the chances of employees being bitten and scratched during the wash. Zhang Zian grew up in the pet shop. Although he was never involved in the business operation, he had heard from his parents that employees of other pet shops had been bitten and scratched while washing cats and dogs, to the extent that they needed stitches. Without exaggeration, if the hand nerves had been hurt, it could leave some permanent damage.
After getting ready, Lu Yiyun closed the glass panel, inserted a 100 RMB bill, and selected the Small Dog Mode. She placed her finger next to the unlock key of the child safety lock. As soon as Jasmine appeared frightened, she would open the lid immediately to release it.
The automatic dog washer was initiated. As Small Dog Mode was selected, both the foam and water were sprayed at a low angle. Jasmine sat inside without moving. As the water level was below its head and no water went into its ears, contrary to what they had feared earlier.
Apparently, washing cats with the automatic dog washer was entirely dependent on Fina. Without Fina, Jasmine would have bounced around inside, no doubt. Not only would water get into their ears, but the animal could hurt itself.
After seeing Jasmine sitting quietly without fear, Lu Yiyun was greatly relieved.