Pet Grooming and Boarding

Start here: how the lodge runs

Boarding: check-in, care and check-out

Pets

Every dog and cat you care for: owner, coat, handling notes and when each vaccine runs out.

Grooming appointments

Every bath and haircut on the grooming table: service, groomer, time on the table and what it earned per hour.

Boarding stays

Who is sleeping over, in which run, for how many nights, with feeding and medication notes.

Incident notes

Anything that happened to a pet in your care, who saw it and when the owner was told.

Front desk, every morning

Groomers

Take your appointments with Assign to me. Move each pet to On the table, then Ready for pickup, and enter the minutes it took. Press Mark picked up when the owner leaves.

Kennel

The kennel lead reads In the building at every shift change and feeds from the stay notes. Anything unusual becomes an Incident note right away; the owner is told before pickup, never at it.

Handling colors

Green means easygoing. Yellow means slow introductions. Orange means a muzzle for nails. Red means no group play.

Every color is set on the pet record once, so every shift and every groomer sees the same warning.

On the table today

In the building

My grooms

Arriving this week

Bordetella running out

Open incidents

The base menu

Coats that cost more

Matting

Matted coats are a welfare issue as well as a time issue. Tell the owner at drop-off, shave down rather than de-mat if it would hurt, and add a matting fee. Write the conversation on the groom card.

Reading the per-hour number

Enter Minutes on the table at the end of every groom. The Earned per hour column divides the price and add-ons by the time. Look at it each week:

No-shows

Send a reminder by text the day before. A second no-show means a deposit for the next booking. Otis's empty nail-trim slot is the kind of gap that costs a groomer half an hour.

Rebook at pickup

Most coats need a groom every four to eight weeks. Book the next one before the owner leaves; it fills the calendar more reliably than any advertising.

At booking

Reserve the run that fits: standard runs for most dogs, large runs for big dogs and siblings, suites for older dogs that need a cot, and the cat condos away from barking. Record nights, nightly rate and any playtime on the stay.

Vaccines

Before a dog boards or joins group play, check three dates on its pet record: rabies, the distemper combination and bordetella for kennel cough. Cats need rabies and their own combination vaccine. The Vaccines column turns to Update needed the day anything lapses, and Otis is the example: his kennel cough shot ran out, so he cannot stay until the owner brings a new record.

Check-in

Every shift

Check-out

Bathe long-stay dogs before they go home if the owner asked for it. Press Check out: it stamps the day they went home. Tell the owner how the stay went, including anything in Incident notes, before you take payment.