Dog Grooming Pet Profiles

[wigglewaggle]

Hi there!

I am a dog groomer and currently use square appointments for all my booking. I am wondering if there is anything in the works for making pet profiles that nest under customer profiles (especially, for people who have more than one pet). If not, I would be super interested if Square would look into making a more dog groomer friendly addition. Even if I have to pay monthly for it. Can we please make this a thing if it isn't already??? Thanks!

[DogGroomerNC · Accepted solution]

Hey I’m a dog groomer also and I would love for square to make something specifically for us. There are a lot of features we need. But until they do, I figured a way around it that works well for me. I’ve been using square appointments for over a year and I customized my customer profiles so I can add all the info I need on the owner and additional info on up to 6 pets per owner. It’s pretty easy and is super helpful for me to stay organized on what each pet is like. Here’s what I did...

• sign in to the standard square app (you cannot do this in square appointments app, maybe it works on the website though idk)
• Open the Menu and select Settings
• Select Customers 
• Select Add Custom Field and customize to your liking. 
  
  

This is where you can be creative and add sections to the customer profile for additional info of your choice. Here are some screenshots of my set up as an example.

 

 

 

 I have these options basically repeat themselves all the way through P6 or “Pet 6” and each option expands for more info. This last screenshot shows an example of the personality options for each pet.

 I hope this is helpful for you. It’s not perfect but it works well for me. 

[AdamB]

That's a great suggestion, @wigglewaggle! I'm not aware of this as being in the works, but I could definitely see it being helpful for any pet related service, or even other services that don't specifically serve pet owners.

[PetParlor]

It looks like its been about a year and a half since this was posted. Was wondering if there has been any updates that Square is working on for Dog Grooming businesses. There are many of us looking for an alternative, and although we can struggle and make Square appointments work, it really isn't the greatest, for grooming.

[ashaahleee]

Yeah i am a dog walker & I have also mentioned features for dog walking but the services provided and recommended has been working smoothly for me. 

[PetParlor]

I would like the ability to have the dogs name in the appointment, or multiple dogs names, without having to make an individual account for each dog in the family, also in the text and email reminders. I cannot find a way to do either. 

[DogGroomerNC]

I’m not sure what you mean by “individual account for each dog in the family.” Nothing should be individual because the pet profiles are part of the customer profile. Did you add your own custom fields for your customer profiles? You are able to organize your customer and pet info however you like. Once I edit a customers profile, and add a new pet to it, I have all the info I need for future appointments.

I also add the pets name in the notes section of the service they receive. This helps me keep track of which pet received which service when I look at appointment history. And the pets names are visible for the customer to see during checkout.

For text and email reminders, I can understand why some Groomers might want the pets name to appear in the reminder info. I haven’t figured out a way to fix that with the current settings. In my opinion it’s not really a big deal because the customer already knows who their dog is. After all, these are automated reminders and the main goal is to remind the customers to show up on time for their appointment.

Square has been working great for my grooming business and they have added a lot of good features for appointments over the recent years. Texting with customers has had many updates that you can use to communicate and interact with customers more easily than in the past. I’ve had many customers compliment me on how easy it is for them to keep track of their own appointments using my booking website and automated reminders. I seriously doubt that square will ever make anything specifically for dog groomers. I agree that it would be nice for them to add some kinda official “sub profile” to a customer profile that then allows us to apply that “sub profile info” to services for appointments. For now you can do it yourself by adding your custom fields and it works well as long as you are well organized. 

To anyone who wants square to make more changes for dog groomers, be more specific with what you want. For example it would be nice for customers booking online to be able to book duplicate services. Such as 2 small dogs both getting a bath. Right now you can’t add a quantity to services. Which means once you checkmark a small dog bath online, you can’t select it again. So if your online customer has 2 small dogs that both need a bath, they have to book 2 separate appointments online. To work around this I created a new service option for online called 2nd Dog, 3rd Dog, and 4th Dog, each with all the variations of all my other services so they can be selected multiple times for multiple pets. So now my customers can book up to 4 dogs online, all for the same appointment, and most importantly all with the same service if that’s what they need. The point is it would be nice for square to update it so I don’t have to come up with a work around. Online booking needs to be able to book duplicate services for the same appointment. 

[PetParlor]

When the appoint shows on the calender I would like the dogs name(s) there instead of or along with the owner. The only way I can see to make that happen is to create a separate account for each pet. Unless I am missing something else. I have added the extra fields, but dont see a way to pit them to use in schedule or in auto text & emails.

[DogGroomerNC · Accepted solution]

I understand, and yes if you wanted to do that now you would need to make an individual profile for each pet, but that’s not good for you or your customers because it wouldn’t be organized as well in comparison to my solution. I believe you need to prioritize the customer’s name over the dog’s name. The reminders aren’t for you, they are for the customer. It’s the customers appointments, not the dogs. The customer already knows which dog they made an appointment for. The dog’s name does not need to be on reminders for the appointments. 

So you just want the dogs name on the calendar for yourself. Which honestly isn’t necessary because when you look at the appointment calendar you can’t even read the customers full name because it’s cut off. Sometimes you can’t even read the customers complete first name before it’s cut off. So if an appointment has multiple dogs booked you’re never gonna see all the names anyways.

Just put the dogs name in the note section of the service they receive. It’s easy for me to just look at my calendar, see the name of a customer booked, open the appointment and then see each dogs name along with the service they are getting that day. If I want more info, I open the customers full profile and then scroll down for a complete pet profile and appointment history all on one place. The dog’s name does not need to appear on the calendar.

[PetParlor]

I actually work the front office for my daughter, she is the groomer. We have discussed the options, and for her having the Dogs Name on the schedule is more important, she remembers the dogs not the people. We have been using DaySmart Pet (formerly 123Pet) for our scheduling, there too, dogs name appears on the schedule along with the owner and services. She likes seeing at a glance the dogs she has on the schedule.

We don't do online booking, as we have everyone on a schedule for the year, and are not taking new clients. 

I have been able to use much of what you have done in setting up the profiles, extremely helpful, thank you for that. Perhaps someday Square will add features to their schedule, but for now we will adapt. It will be a lot smoother check out, since I won't be jumping back and forth between programs.

[JJ_]

Hey, @PetParlor and others in this thread. I recommend you submit a Feature Request here. This will help our product team get visibility and track other Sellers with similar interest in your request. 

In the meantime, what comes to my mind is using the idea that @DogGroomerNC shared but tweak it a little bit for your convenience. I would suggest putting the Dogs Name as the Customer name and then creating a custom field called Owner Name. At the end of the day, the real customers are the dogs. Doing it this way the dog's name would appear on the calendar. Keep in mind that this only works because you don't do Online Booking. 

I hope this information is helpful!

Important: When submitting a request, make sure to include the desired feature, and provide the details of how this feature will help your business succeed (how would you use it and what you expect from it).

[DOGwashRetail]

Hey Pet Parlor! I’m in a similar situation- I’ve been using an old pet software and Square for credit cards. We’re also booked way out and not taking new folks for grooming. I’m trying to set everything up on Square and stepping away from the old software. (Trying to make it low cost and easy, bwahahaha.) We do self wash, retail and grooming by appt. Have you found Square Appts to work for a calendar and do you like it for checking out clients? I spoke to Square today and bc I’m wanting a POS to track retail inventory, they’re suggesting Square Retail POS Plus and Appointments. I am so torn bc I like the ease of the card reader but don’t want to flip between two apps for sales totals and tracking inventory, etc. cost of products/inventory is an important feature for me. I may as well keep using old software and Square for cards as I’ve been doing if I’m still stuck with two new apps. Lol At this rate I’m about to go old school and write grooms on a planner. 🤣 we’re not fans of online booking as so many variables go into booking pups. Age, breed, style, etc So we’d be using Appointments mainly for calendar visual for in store use. Would love to know what you think and others in similar business. Thank you!  

[washwag0804]

Hi! Could tell more about what did under the 2nd, 3rd, 4th dog service? I'm starting to get Square POS together and I'm having a heck of a time. I've come to understand that I can't book the same customer for dogs at the same time. I have clients with 2 dogs for grooming and 2 different groomers groom them at the same time. Would your work around work for this? Any info would be amazing. Thanks for your time. Sharon

[DogGroomerNC · Accepted solution]

Hey I’m a dog groomer also and I would love for square to make something specifically for us. There are a lot of features we need. But until they do, I figured a way around it that works well for me. I’ve been using square appointments for over a year and I customized my customer profiles so I can add all the info I need on the owner and additional info on up to 6 pets per owner. It’s pretty easy and is super helpful for me to stay organized on what each pet is like. Here’s what I did...

• sign in to the standard square app (you cannot do this in square appointments app, maybe it works on the website though idk)
• Open the Menu and select Settings
• Select Customers 
• Select Add Custom Field and customize to your liking. 
  
  

This is where you can be creative and add sections to the customer profile for additional info of your choice. Here are some screenshots of my set up as an example.

 

 

 

 I have these options basically repeat themselves all the way through P6 or “Pet 6” and each option expands for more info. This last screenshot shows an example of the personality options for each pet.

 I hope this is helpful for you. It’s not perfect but it works well for me. 

[AdamB]

I marked your reply as a solution for anyone else who wants to use that in the meantime. Thanks for sharing that, @DogGroomerNC!

[wigglewaggle]

That is amazing @DogGroomerNC! Thank you so much!

[wigglewaggle]

@DogGroomerNC Just another question. What info do you put under, "Appointment Reminders," "Appointment Notifications," "No Call/No Shows," "P1 Type," and "Groups"?

Thank you!

[DogGroomerNC]

👍🏻 You’re welcome @wigglewaggle. 

So appointment reminders is a yes/no option for letting me know which customers would like a reminder to set an appointment. I also create a note on their profile with a reminder notification for myself. This way I can get an email that tells me to call them after 8 weeks or whatever is necessary.
The appointment notifications is for setting the customer preferences for how they get their appointment notifications (email/text). Customers can also self manage that option from their profile on the booking website. 
No Calls/No Shows is to help me keep a count on how many times a customer has missed an appointment completely or if they cancel/reschedule without a 24 notice. I used to have more of these but, after I updated my policy, I started to charge a fee for missing an appointment. So if you don’t already have a No Show/Cancellation Fee policy I highly recommend you set one up.

P1 Type is to tell me if the pet is a Dog, Cat, or Other. I mostly work with dogs, sometimes a cat, but every once in a while someone will bring in another small pet like a sugar glider for a nail trim for example. 
Groups may be a default option for the profiles. It can help filter customers who might have something in common. I know the customer list will filter people into groups for things like “reachable” for people with an email on file. I also created groups for things like no shows, customers with multiple dogs, and large dog customers. 

I’m glad you like my setup. Let me know if you need any more info. 

[DogGroomerNC]

👍🏻 You’re welcome @wigglewaggle.

So appointment reminders is a yes/no option for letting me know which customers would like a reminder to set an appointment. I also create a note on their profile with a reminder notification for myself. This way I can get an email that tells me to call them after 8 weeks or whatever is necessary.

The appointment notifications is for setting the customer preferences for how they get their appointment notifications (email/text). Customers can also self manage that option from their profile on the booking website.

No Calls/No Shows is to help me keep a count on how many times a customer has missed an appointment completely or if they cancel/reschedule without a 24 notice. I used to have more of these but, after I updated my policy, I started to charge a fee for missing an appointment. So if you don’t already have a No Show/Cancellation Fee policy I highly recommend you set one up.

P1 Type is to tell me if the pet is a Dog, Cat, or Other. I mostly work with dogs, sometimes a cat, but every once in a while someone will bring in another small pet like a sugar glider for a nail trim for example.

Groups may be a default option for the profiles. It can help filter customers who might have something in common. I know the customer list will filter people into groups for things like “reachable” for people with an email on file. I also created groups for things like no shows, customers with multiple dogs, and large dog customers.

I’m glad you like my setup. Let me know if you need any more info.

[Peanut]

I would love to see square do somthing for groomers but they can do it in such a way it could work for a way wider user base.

My sugestion/feature request..

Rather than pet profiles how about a more generic parents child relationship?

So... the current profiles remain the parent profiles. This is the person is the main contact and responsible for ensuring the appointment is attended, payment etc...

Child profiles are assigned to a parent profile and separatly customisable.  In the case of dog grooming these would be our pet profiles. This would also apply for kennels, day care, dog walking, vets etc.

This same parent child relationship could also be applied too other animal care like horses or other industries such as parents taking their children - swimming lessons, music lessons, hair dresers, kids clubs etc.

I think square would then need a setting for the child profiles to turn them on if the a feature you require along with a second option to to allow the appointment to be created for only the child profile  so in the case of groomers we wouldn't ever book in the human parent profile.

I hope all this makes some kind of sense

[LMpetspa19]

Super helpful!

Q: Is there a way to link the pet profile to the customer profile?

[DogGroomerNC]

Thank you. In what way do you want to link them? The pet profiles are already part of the customer profile. When you edit the customer profile and add your custom fields you can change info for the customer and pets in the same place.