I think you need tile on all 3 sides. Can tile be applied to the side of a cabinet?

My contracttor said tile can be applied on that side. The cabinet person suggested instead doing clear glass or plexiglass on the cabinet wall, but I think that will look weird.

Where there is dog bathing, there is Great Splashing and Shaking! :) Ok, a little melodramatic but you're right to be concerned about your wood cabinet side. How about a temporary water protection used only while you're actually bathing the dog?

My dog wash station isn't nearly as nice as yours but perhaps my "backsplash" solution would work to protect your cabinet while not putting tile on the wood. This is an Ikea desk pad Skvallra (SKVALLRA Desk pad, 15x22 ¾" - IKEA) for $6 US along with some 3M Command Clips on my painted walls. The clips aren't the best as the desk pad is heavy enough to slip out but the rubber bands help give grip. I'm sure that you could come up with something more upscale for your lovely area!

I use four of these desk pads during a bath, otherwise they sit below the sink.

anyway, hope this helps

Thanks, mtnfever! Good suggestion. But I wonder if only having backsplash tile on two sides ( the back and right wall) will look off kilter. Has anyone seen that done before? I’ve been looking through Houzz but haven’t seen anything like that so far.

Thanks to all for your input! It's much appreciated.

Why not do sheet stainless instead of tile and then only a small bit of attachement needed on the walnut wall and easy to clean and seems to me to look pretty good too. I do agree unless your dog is very small this is not an ideal dog bath. This to me is a perfect one

Lots of bending over and reaching in on that last one.