Here's an interesting example of a company evolving new products around a central idea: Bissell got their start in the late 1800s producing carpet sweeping devices. By the 1950s they'd branched out into carpet-cleaning contraptions, and in the 1970s, carpet deep cleaning machines. In the 2000s, vacuums targeting owners of fur-shedding pets. Now they've combined the latter two categories, adapting a carpet-cleaning machine to harmlessly wash dogs.

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As an owner of two dogs, I have been through the exact hell depicted in this video for the Bissell Barkbath:

The Barkbath, if it works as advertised, would be worth every penny of the $150 asking price, versus paying professional groomers to do it. Isolating the mess to the inside of a tank you can pour out, and obviating the need to scrub your entire bathroom down every time you wash your dog(s), would be a huge boon.

My only concern is that the unit is essentially a vacuum—which produces the exact type of noise that most canines find distressing. There's no way the more skittish of my dogs would come anywhere near this thing, long hose notwithstanding. My thought was to buy one of these and construct some sort of soundproof box to keep it within. However, while similar hacks exist for pancake air compressors, they are bulky fixes and care must be taken to ventilate them properly. The storage space and set-up required might outweigh the benefits.

What this product is begging for is noise-canceling technology. While that would raise the price drastically, I bet it would still find a ready market.