This guide will discuss the various ways new pets may be added to a client profile and what information is included on each pet's profile. The way you go about adding a pet will depend on how you are interacting with your client. Are you on the phone or in-person? Is the client filling out an Intake Form as part of an in-person visit or is your staff answering a phone call at the front desk? Is the customer new? All of the methods that can be used to add a pet are catalogued in this guide to help you gather the information you need to start booking pets into your calendar.

All of a pet's bookings will be linked to their Pet Profile, along with any of their information, including vaccines and other custom fields. Pets may be found by searching for their profile directly or by locating the profile of the client with which they are associated. To find a pet directly, enter their name or their owner's name into the search bar at the top of the page.

Select the "Pets" tab to filter the search results by Pet Profiles, then click the pet's name to open their profile page.

Pet Profiles may also be accessed through the profile of the customer with which they are associated. Navigate to the client's profile page, then locate their pet list. Select any pet's name to open its profile page.

To locate a full list of all pet profiles, start by selecting the "Customers" icon in the menu bar at the left-hand side of the page.

Ensure the submenu is set to "Customers".

Then select the "Pets" tab.

That will take you to your Pets Index. By default, the listed pets will display based on upcoming birthdays (i.e. birthdays left in the year, organized by date). Each pet is listed with their name, the name of the associated customer profile, their breed, age, any custom tags, birthday, the date their profile was last updated, and the date their profile was created.

Note that the default for this list will include only those pets with upcoming birthdays. Those whose birthday month has already passed will only appear if you adjust the sorting for the list. You can change the sorting by selecting any of the blue column headers. Sorting options include name, owner, birthday, date updated, and date created. Clicking any selectable header once sorts the list by that data, selecting it again reverses the order of the sort (i.e. clicking "Name" sorts pets A to Z, clicking it a second time sorts them Z to A).

Pet profile photos are displayed with their name on their associated client's profile in addition to any booking for which the pet has been registered. If a customer or user chooses to upload a photo for a pet, that photo will display as their profile icon. If no photo has been uploaded, the default will display.

These photos may also display with one of two additional icons, depending on their status. Those profiles created within the last 30 days will have a purple star at the top-right. Additionally, a small orange cake icon will display on a pet's birthday.

A client's profile provides the most comprehensive way to add, access, and edit their pet information. Pet Profile pages allow you to view a lot of detailed information about a specific pet and their bookings with you. You can add and edit any associated pets from any Customer Profile page. For more information on adding and locating clients in BusyPaws, check out our guide on Adding a Customer.

To add a new pet for a client, select "Add Pet" from the "Actions" button menu at the top of the client's Customer Profile page.

The New Pet form has a number of default components to consider. Note that the only required information on this form is the Pet Name.

When all desired information has been entered, use the "+ Add Pet" button at the bottom of the form to save the new pet to the client's profile.

Once a pet has been added to a Customer Profile, the Pet Profile can be accessed by selecting their name under "Pets" in the card on the left side of the client's page.

Note that the pet's vaccine status will be displayed next to their name on the Customer Profile page. A green icon indicates that their required vaccinations are up to date, yellow indicates a vaccination coming up on expiry, white indicates missing or unknown vaccine information, and red indicates at least one expired vaccination.

Opening the pet's profile page will provide you with much more information, including a section for Notes and a detailed list of their Bookings. This page will also list their Vaccine information and any additional Custom Attributes (if any have been added to your account).

The "Bookings" section of this page gives a snapshot of the current status of each booking the pet is associated with. A blue, partially filled progress bar indicates that the pet has been successfully booked into that space, a yellow, partially filled progress bar indicates the booking has been completed, but not paid/invoiced for, and a fully green progress bar indicates that the booking has been completed and paid for. Any cancelled appointments will be listed with red X.

The default pet information (photo, name, gender, type, breed, birthday) can be edited by selecting "Edit" from the "Actions" button menu at the top of the page. Note that this menu also includes options for deleting the pet, merging it with another pet (in case the same pet has been added more than once), or adding a booking.

The Edit Pet page can be used to make any desired changes to default attributes. Update pet photos, correct any mistakes, or add information not already entered. Once you're done, select the "Save Changes" button to apply the updates to the pet's profile.

Custom data attributes can be viewed and edited directly from the pet's profile page. Select the name of any attribute (in blue) to open a pop-up with fields to edit its content.

If you have set some attributes to not be visible, you may need to select the "Show More" button to display the full list of custom attributes.

Adding and managing pet information through a client's profile allows you to create the most comprehensive Pet Profile. In the following sections, we will discuss some faster, if less in-depth, ways to add new pets.

Pets can also be added during the process of scheduling an Individual Booking on your calendar. This process is very quick, and allows you to combine the tasks of pet and booking creation. Start by clicking the "+" button in the top-right corner of the screen.

Then select "Add Booking".

This will bring you to the New Booking form. To learn more about the specifics of adding new bookings, check out our guide on Adding Bookings to your Calendar. The ability to add a new pet at this stage will only be available for Individual Service bookings. Once you have chosen an Individual Service to book, a Customer/Pet card will populate at the bottom of the form.

Use the drop-down menu to first select a customer or create a new one.

If an existing customer is chosen, a list of their current pets will populate under their name. To add a new pet rather than selecting an existing one, click the "+ Add Pet" button.

This will populate a short list of fields, allowing you to build a basic profile for the new pet. Note that the reduced number of input fields will result in a less complete Pet Profile. More information can be added to fill out the pet's profile later, if desired. For more details, refer to the section above on Editing Existing Pet Information.

If "+ New Customer" is selected from the customer drop-down menu instead, the new pet fields will populate automatically under the new customer fields.

Adding the pet's information and completing the booking will create a new Pet Profile associated with the selected customer. The new pet can now be added to additional bookings and will be listed on the customer's profile.

New pets cannot be added directly to an existing Group Service or Series booking. The Pet Profile must be created first, then the pet may be added to the Group booking. Note that Group bookings also need to be booked into the calendar before you can add any pets to them. For more information on scheduling new bookings, check out our guide on Adding Bookings to Your Calendar.

Many of your clients using the Client Portal or self-booking platform may choose to add their own pets to their account. These self-driven tools allow clients to book services for a new pet without any added administrative burden for you and your team.

There are two ways clients can choose to add a pet to their profile: through the Private Client Portal and through the Public Booking Portal. We will walk through both options in this part of the guide, and will discuss what the process looks like from your clients' point of view.

When logged into the Client Portal, the client can locate their current pet list by clicking on their name at the top-right corner of the screen, then select "My Pets" from the drop-down menu.

The My Pets page of the portal will display a current list of the client's pets with their names, photos, and any flags regarding required vaccine information. Clicking on any pet's card will take the client to the Edit Pet screen, allowing them to update or change any of the pet's information, including their photo and vaccinations. They can also select the "+ Add Pet" button in the top-right corner to add a new pet to this list.

Selecting the "+ Add Pet" button will redirect the client to the New Pet page, where they can enter information about their pet. Note that the only Custom Pet Fields that will be displayed on this page are those regarding vaccines. Once the client has entered all of the desired information about the new pet, they can click the "+ Add Pet" button at the bottom of the form to save the new Pet Profile to their account.

Customers do not necessarily need to log in to be able to create bookings or add a pet. While the Client Portal provides full access to a Customer's Profile and associated information, you may not need or want your clients to have to log in every time they want to schedule a booking with you. The Public Booking Portal and Direct Booking Links can be used instead to allow your clients to book Services and Series without the need to log in or create a password.

The main page of Booking Portal will display the available Services and/or Series that your clients can book. The Public Booking Portal will show all Publicly Available offerings, while the Direct Booking Link will provide access to a specific Service or Series, whether it is set as Publicly Available or not. Either way, selecting a listed Service/Series will begin the self-booking process for your client.

If, during the booking process, a client enters an email that is already associated with a Customer Profile they will be presented with a list of pets linked to that profile. Selecting the "+ Add Pet" button will open the "Add a Pet" card.

The "Add a Pet" card provides a few basic fields to get the new Pet Profile started. After the booking has been created, the client may log into the Client Portal to add more information, or you may add any desired information to their account manually.

If a client entered an email that is not currently associated with a Customer Profile, they will be prompted to enter their own profile information before they can add a pet. The options displayed can vary depending on any Forms or Contracts you may have assigned to the Service/Series they are booking, however by default they will be required to enter only their First and Last Name.

After entering their name to create their own profile, the client will be prompted to enter their pet's information. They may choose to enter a single pet, or use the "+ Add Pet" button to add multiple pets to the booking at the same time.

Completing the Add a Pet page and clicking the "Select Pet(s)" button will create a new Pet Profile for the client's account, whether or not the booking process is completed.

Note that setting an Intake Form for the booked Service/Series may affect the way these forms display. i.e. If I have set up a custom Private Training Intake form with customer and pet fields for my Individual Dog Training Service, the system will prompt the following screen to display for new clients instead of the separate Profile and Pet pages. Submitting this form will automatically create a new Customer and Pet Profile and take the client directly to the Package Selection, Payment Collection, or Booking Confirmation page (depending on your self-booking settings).

Once a pet has been added to a Customer Profile, the only way to remove it is for you or one of your team members to delete it manually it through the Customer's Profile page.

Sometimes a client may accidentally create a duplicate account for their pet. This may be due to a variety of reasons, from spelling errors on intake forms to creating a duplicate customer profile and associated pet. Regardless of how the duplicate profile came about, it is possible to merge them without losing any of their booking history. Note that, if the client has created a duplicate profile for themselves, you can also merge the two Customer Profiles.

To start, navigate to the first of the pet profiles that you are looking to merge. From there, select "Merge" from the "Actions" button menu at the top of the page.

That will redirect you to the Merge Pet page. The left side of this page will show the "Merge From" card, with the name of the first selected pet. The right side of the page will show the "Merge Into" card, allowing you to select the second pet. This page will also display a warning message indicating that profiles cannot be separated again once the merge is complete.

Click the "Select a Pet" field under Merge Into and use the search bar to locate and select the second pet. Note that this menu will allow you to choose pets with the same owner as the Merge From pet, or a different owner. If the selected pet has a different owner, the merged profile will be associated with the owner of the Merge Into pet.

Once the second pet has been selected, the rest of the form will populate. Select which photo, name, gender, type, breed, birthday, and custom field info (if any) that you want the merged profile to keep. Below those selections you will see the owners associated with each profile followed by counts for all the bookings that will be merged. Note that the information that is not selected will not be saved and cannot be retrieved after the merge is confirmed.

Once you have made your selections, click the yellow "Merge Records" button at the bottom of the page.

A pop-up window will appear, asking you to confirm whether or not you want to merge the two profiles. Click the "Cancel" button to go back or the "Continue" button to confirm the merge.

If you choose to confirm the merge, you will be redirected to the merged Pet Profile and a green confirmation message will display at the top of the page.

That's it! You now know the many ways to add and edit your client's pet information. If you are having trouble with any part of this process, be sure to reach out to our team in-app for assistance!