Solana Beach Do It Yourself Dog Wash

This place is closed, but if you live close to Carmel Valley/​Torrey Highlands or Rancho Penasquitos, try EarthWise Pet Supply, Grooming & Wash. Great service, clean and super friendly.

This place has closed. I have been going there for years and we drove there in July to wash our Collie and the place is dark and empty! They were always most helpful. Sad to see it closed down.

This business is now closed. Boo hoo. The next closest DIY dog wash is Dirty Dogs in Cardiff next to Lourdes Mexican food, just north of VG Donuts.

I live right near here and I have a dog who tends to get really dirty at the beach, on trails, etc. so I REALLY WANT to like this place. Unfortunately, they make it really hard to give them business. I have been there a few times over the years and found it to be a little dirty. The towels shed white threads on the dog, the baths have dog hair in them, and the shampoo seems like it is mostly water. But, when in a desperate situation it’s better than nothing. (There is a much better place up in Cardiff, but not when my dog is so dirty that I don’t want to put her in the car). Anyway, I went today with my dog for an «express wash.» This is when they bathe your dog for you. I have a baby and I had a dirty dog, so I decided that it was worth $ 30 to not deal with a dirty dog in the house and a crying baby! I arrived to a guy sitting outside smoking. Not the friendliest welcome. He then took my dog inside to bathe her while I waited outside. My dog is 4 years old, gets at least one bath every week, and I have NEVER heard her crying like this… I went in to see what was happening and the guy was rinsing her off with cold water. She was shaking, totally choking herself out (he didn’t tighten the collar to keep her in place) and he was just spraying the water on her appearing to be afraid to actually touch her and calm her in any way. I told him that she hates cold water so if he lets it warm up she will be much easier to bathe. He waited about 5 seconds and continued with the cold water. I stuck my hand over to feel it and he sprayed my arm. I then said «For $ 30 I would think that you would at least have warm water.» He replied «Well we don’t want to scald your dog!» I didn’t want HOT water, but if I wanted to bathe her in cold water I would have used the hose at my house. I took her home… dirty and wet… and I will definitely not return. I now know why this place is always empty and the other places in the area are packed!

This place was nice came in the employees were friendly and helpful until the owner /​boss came in screaming he freaked out my dog who is very sensitive to people screaming and negative vibes and began yelling at the employees for absolutely nothing. Had to cut the drying short and wasn’t even able to clip his nails like we intended to. we walked up to pay and the owner reeked of booze! And my boyfriend and I called him out for reprimanding his employees so in appropriately infront of his costumers ! Still In Shock from the whole situation, so inappropriate. Other than the situation employees are awesome it’s a cool little place but I don’t know if we will be coming back

Gosh I’ve been coming here for years. Can’t believe I haven’t written a review on this place.
If you have a dog and have taken said dog to Del Mar dog beach, you’ll understand how much of a PAIN it is to take said dog back to your own place and wash the dang sand-​y gross icky dog in your bathtub after a romp on the beach. It’s filthy, yucky, and it clogs the drain. YOUR drain in YOUR place.
This dog wash is simply amazing b/​c they let you wash your dirty dog in THEIR tubs AND with THEIR shamps and conditioners. There’s a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and face wash at each tub station. PLUS there’s an air dryer hose at each station too.
It’s self serve and you pay $ 14 (cash) or $ 14.50 (credit card). We’re usually in and out within 20 min. Service can be hit or miss. We were there once when this one awesomedawsome girl worked there and she was SO helpful & friendly.
Give this place a try if you’re in the area. They have their own parking lot too so no need to fret finding a spot in this neck of the woods.

We live right down the street, great place to take our hairy husky after a day at the beach! The front desk girl was really nice. We’d never been before, she was happy to explain all of the tools and give us some tips. The tubs are at a good level so you don’t have to bend down, the water is nice and warm, they have lots of brushes, all of the shampoo/​conditioner options and a blowdryer in every tub.
For $ 15, this is a great option to clean up the pup and let somebody else take care of the mess. However — I do wish there had been less other-​pup hair. I’m not sure there is a great way to keep a do-​it-​yourself dog wash neat and tidy, but everything was wet and I had trouble deciding which tub had less residual hair from the last dog. We’ll definitely be back, I’m just not sure it will ever be my favorite building to walk into.

This place is not clean and my dog ran out if this place shaking. I had the lady wash my dog and not sure what they did but my dog was never the same. I’m only going to dirty dogs from now on.

This place does the trick if you don’t want to wash your dog at home. They provide shampoo, aprons and towels. We brought our dog in after a trip to the del mar dog beach. My only complaint is that the blow dryer air was a bit too cold for my liking for my dog. Eventually it got a bit warmer, and we had one pretty puppy when we left! They also sell grooming tools there which is great!

My dog and I frequent many self-​serve dog washes, and after you’ve been to a few you start to notice the little details that set the good ones apart from the not so good ones. Details like water temperature, clean tubs and clean grooming tools. I’m sure this please gets a lot of traffic but we were the only ones in there on a Friday afternoon. First, the water was barely lukewarm. Next, there was dog hair all around the bath mat. Lastly, I grabbed the curry brush and it was matted with hair as well. Pretty gross actually. The staff was nice and it is close to dog beach, but that was about it.

This place is sad. We came in at 5:39 and the lady that works here told us it was closed. They used to close at 7. They have new hours now, which is understandable, but, the lady who works here told me they were closed and was very rude. This was not the first time. She is VERY unhelpful and rude and is closing before the posted hours. She gave me a rude attitude and asked us to pay before we even had a tub for the dog. I have had better service here in the past, but I DO NOT recommend this place based on this service and attitude. Why have hours if you don’t follow them? Poor business and attitude which I’m sad to say.

Let me just start by saying that I am a Certified Groomer myself and I have worked for quite a few reputable salons. That being said you can know that my review is coming from an educated person in regards to dog bathing and grooming standards. I live just down the street from this place and I recommend it for the BATHING part of the salon.
The Bath:
The tubs are clean and they always have plenty of towels. I do wish they would give customers more shampoo because its very diluted. However, I always bring my own supplies for my pooches so it doesn’t really affect me. I tend to find that the water runs a little too hot for dog bathing (water should be lukewarm) at best. Its quite hot sometimes, and one of my dogs has very sensitive skin. The blow dryer has a good amount of force.
The Grooming:
I usually bring my dogs in on a Sunday or Monday when there is no groomer working. I have seen him a few times but it does not appear to me that he is Certified to groom? I have never actually witnessed him grooming a dog. I groom my dogs myself with my own equipment. They are very gracious to let me use their grooming table to shave down my dogs or give them a trim as they don’t have a groomer on the days I go in.
All in all… for $ 14 per dog I get them bathed and groomed and I don’t have to clean up! Its a pretty good deal.

Although you might leave the beach with a gold medal for having tired, yet happy dogs, you won’t leave the beach rewarded with clean-​smelling canines. After a rewarding trip to nearby Dog Beach, I had a few choices in how to clean up my stanky canines:
First /​Cheap choice– I could do the regular and just hose off my dog (s) at home, but I’d have to deal with the drive back. Cost — ZERO
Second /​Expensive choice– I could have planned the beach excursion with a drop-​off at a groomer after the beach. Cost — Less than approximately $ 50 per dog.
Third /​Middle choice — Take your dog to the nearby and plainly named «Solana Beach Do It Yourself Dog Wash!»
I chose the dog wash: chest-​high bath tubs (no more bending over), water hoses, towels, aprons, and soaps galore. And, the air-​dry/​hair dryer that accompanied the basic $ 14.50 per dog sold it for me. You can spend another $ 3 for a higher-​powered blow dry, but the standard was adequate for my pooches.
My point is — all your tools of the trade are found here at the dog wash. Or you need a few more services? All the grooming tools — nail clippers, combs for furrier coats, snazzy shampoos — are here too for all your canine needs.
No appointments are needed and be ready to pay cash, $ 14.50 for each dog. They are open daily until 7pm. They also have doggy day care.
The hose, air dryer is awesome. Did I mention that already?

About the 4 or fifth time in.
We bring our dogs on vacation with us and always use this place after a day at the beach.
The owner is very nice and a good person making sure we had all we needed.
The location is great and always parking.
We will stop in next time we are in town for sure. Great prices also, she should almost raise her prices.

I’ve been going here for about 7 years now with all of our dogs. The owner is very nice, I’m generally someone who supports local businesses whenever possible and you generally get what you pay for there. On that end of things, this place gets a 4. However, this morning was the last straw for me. For at least the 4^th or 5^th time this year, I showed up with two wet and dirty dogs coming off the beach and no one was there. It was clearly during business hours, they’ve said that they are open every day except Christmas, but for whatever reason there was no one around.
Unfortunately, I just can’t continue to be loyal to a place that simply is not dependable in terms of its hours. I’ve been avoiding going to a larger company that’s closer to home, less expensive and more modern. I guess from now on I will have to take my business there.

I took my dog here earlier today for a bath and was underwhelmed. I was given a damp apron and directed towards a wash station that was dirty and inadequately stocked. I emptied the watered-​down shampoo without even getting half my dog washed. If the gal who checked me in wasn’t so busy socializing with her friend, I might have asked for more. Instead, I just finished off the gentle face shampoo. If they had nail trimming equipment, it wasn’t out, and they didn’t offer it to me. For a dirty bathtub and kinda bleh products, $ 14/​$ 14,50 seems steep. Next time I’ll wash the dog at home (and deal with the cleanup).

Hallelujah! My hubby and I stopped in here after spending the day at Fiesta Island. Our dogs were filthy! Bathing the dogs in our bathtubs is not something we look forward to, so we were thrilled to be able to wash the dogs in a tub that didn’t break our backs.
They provide you with everything you need: Shampoo, conditioner, tear-​free face wash, leave in conditioner, ear cleaning solution, towels, apron and a dryer.
The staff are super friendly and my dogs left super clean. This a a great place to take your dogs after a day at the beach.

Great place to go after hitting Del Mar Dog Beach. It’s just minutes away and you can clean up your pup in a jiffy on the cheap.
It’s kind of funky, but in a good way. The staff is super friendly and helpful here. The facility provides shampoo, de-​tangling spray, clean towels and even an apron to wear so you won’t get wet.
The dog washing «tubs» (yep, they look like a bathtub) are elevated so one doesn’t have to lean over or break your back. They are equipped with «fur» dryers in the tub so you won’t have to move the dog for drying.
They also have a frequent «wash» card, so after several visits you get a discount. Of course I always lose my card, but every once in awhile the cool dude running the place gives us a multiple-​dog discount since we’re washing 3 dogs each time. Like I said, super friendly staff there.
I like this place. Probably like it even more because if I’m there, it means I’ve been having way too much fun at the beach. I hope to be back soon!

I’ve been taking my Cairn Terrier here for about 2 years. I only use the do-​it-​yourself side of the service. The staff have always been SUPER helpful and nice. I haven’t had any negative experiences.
You pick a tub, put on an apron and wash away… they provide the shampoo, even a gentle shampoo for the face, conditioner and ear cleaning stuff, towels and blow dryers at each tub. Oh, they even have a few grooming stations in the back with various brushes and nail clippers.
My only complaint, and it’s more of a suggestion, is for the blow dryers at the tubs to provide heated air.

Can’t beat this place! Right by dog beach and very reasonably priced. I bring my 100lb lab/​pitbull mix in here and am happy to say I do not get any sideways glances (every one is afraid of my giant baby of a dog!).
Happy customer, will definitely return again and again!