Managing Animals

Overview

Every grooming appointment ultimately revolves around an animal. Check-in DOG lets you maintain detailed profiles for each pet, including breed information drawn from a database of over 410 breeds, physical characteristics, photos, color-coded tags, and more. Well-maintained animal profiles help you deliver consistent, personalized care and keep your team informed about each pet's specific needs.

Adding a New Animal

There are two ways to create a new animal record:

1. From the Animals section -- Navigate to Animals in the sidebar and click Create. You will select the owner (customer) during creation.
2. From a Customer record -- Open a customer's profile, scroll to the Animals relation manager, and click Create. The owner is automatically set to that customer.

The second method is generally faster when you are registering a new customer and their pets at the same time.

Required Fields

• Customer -- Every animal must belong to a customer. This field is a searchable dropdown that lets you type to find existing customers.
• Name -- The animal's name (e.g., "Buddy", "Luna").

Optional Name Fields

• Surname -- An optional secondary name or nickname. Some clients register their pets with a formal name and a call name (e.g., name: "Champion Royal Whiskers III", surname: "Whiskers").

Animal Type Selection

One of the most powerful features of animal profiles is the Animal Type selector. This field draws from a curated database of over 410 breeds covering both dogs and cats.

How It Works

• The selector is organized by category: Dog or Cat.
• Within each category, breeds are listed alphabetically.
• The list is locale-aware: breed names are displayed in your interface language (English, French, German, or Spanish).
• You can type in the search field to quickly filter breeds. For example, typing "golden" will immediately narrow the list to "Golden Retriever" and related breeds.

Breed Database

The breed database is maintained centrally and is the same for all salons. You cannot add custom breeds, but the existing list is comprehensive and covers:

• Dogs: Over 350 breeds, from Affenpinscher to Yorkshire Terrier, including common variants (e.g., "Chinese Crested Dog: Hairless" and "Chinese Crested Dog: Powderpuff").
• Cats: Over 60 breeds, from Abyssinian to Turkish Van.

If an animal is a mixed breed or you cannot find the exact match, select the closest breed or the general category.

Locale-Aware Display

The breed name displayed throughout the application adapts to the current user's language. For example:

Some breeds have significantly different names across languages:

This ensures that every user sees breed names in a language they understand, regardless of what language was used when the animal was first registered.

Physical Details

The animal profile includes several fields for recording physical characteristics:

Color

A free-text field for describing the animal's coat color (e.g., "Black and tan", "Cream", "Tricolor"). There is no predefined list, so you can describe the color in whatever way is most useful to your team.

Sex

A dropdown to record the animal's sex. This can be relevant for grooming style preferences and behavioral notes.

Birth Date

Record the animal's date of birth (or approximate date if unknown). The application will automatically calculate the animal's age for display throughout the interface. Knowing an animal's age helps with:

• Adjusting grooming techniques for puppies or senior dogs.
• Anticipating age-related health concerns.
• Sending birthday greetings to the client (a nice personal touch).

Weight

The animal's weight, recorded in kilograms (kg). Weight is particularly important for:

• Determining appropriate bath and drying times.
• Calculating correct dosages if you use flea/tick treatments.
• Monitoring health changes over time (significant weight changes may indicate health issues).

Chip / Microchip Number

Record the animal's microchip identification number. This is valuable for:

• Verifying the animal's identity if there is ever a dispute.
• Emergency situations where an animal needs to be identified.
• Compliance with local regulations that may require microchip records.

Deceased Toggle

When an animal passes away, you can mark it as deceased rather than deleting the record. This approach:

• Preserves the animal's complete history (appointments, invoices, notes).
• Prevents the animal from appearing in active dropdowns (such as when scheduling new appointments).
• Shows a visual indicator on the animal's profile so staff members are immediately aware.

Setting an animal as deceased is a respectful way to handle a sensitive situation while maintaining your data integrity.

Tags

Tags are color-coded labels that you can attach to animal profiles for quick visual identification and filtering. Tags are flexible and can represent anything meaningful to your salon.

Common Tag Uses

• Behavioral: "Nervous", "Biter", "Calm", "First visit"
• Medical: "Allergies", "Skin condition", "Senior care", "Heart condition"
• Grooming preferences: "Short cut", "Show cut", "No nail trim"
• Operational: "VIP", "Discount", "Pickup required"

Working with Tags

• Tags are displayed as colored badges on the animal's profile and in list views.
• You can assign multiple tags to a single animal.
• Tags can be used as filters in the animal list to quickly find all animals with a specific tag.
• The color of each tag helps with instant visual recognition when scanning a list of animals.

Tips for Tags

• Establish a consistent tagging system across your team. If everyone uses the same tags with the same meanings, the system becomes much more powerful.
• Keep tag names short and descriptive: "Nervous" is better than "This dog gets nervous during baths."
• Use distinctive colors for your most important tags (e.g., red for "Biter" so it stands out immediately).

Pictures

Check-in DOG supports multiple pictures per animal, giving you a visual reference that is invaluable for grooming.

Uploading Pictures

• Click the picture upload area on the animal's profile to add images.
• You can upload multiple pictures at once.
• Supported formats include JPEG, PNG, and other common image types.

Reordering Pictures

Pictures can be reordered by dragging and dropping them into your preferred sequence. The first picture in the list is used as the animal's primary photo throughout the application (in lists, search results, and appointment views).

Recommended Photo Strategy

For the best results, consider maintaining the following photos for each animal:

1. Front-facing portrait -- The primary identification photo.
2. Before grooming -- Taken at check-in to document the animal's condition.
3. After grooming -- The finished result, which can also serve as marketing material (with the client's permission).
4. Special markings -- Close-ups of distinctive features, skin conditions, or areas that need special attention.

Notes

The Notes field on an animal's profile is a free-text area for any information that does not fit into the structured fields. Examples include:

• "Sensitive around the ears -- use gentle touch."
• "Owner requests a puppy cut every visit, about 2cm all over."
• "Has had three seizures in the past year. Vet contact: Dr. Dupont, 01 23 45 67 89."
• "Loves treats -- can be used as a calming tool during drying."

Notes are visible to all staff members, so they are an effective way to communicate important information about an animal across your team.

Searching and Filtering Animals

The Animals section provides several tools for finding specific records quickly.

Search

The search bar at the top of the animal list lets you search by:

• Animal name
• Customer name (to find all animals belonging to a specific client)

Filters

The filter panel offers the following options:

By Animal Type

Filter the list to show only dogs, only cats, or a specific breed. This is useful when you want to:

• See all Golden Retrievers in your database.
• Check how many cats vs. dogs you have as clients.

By Deceased Status

Toggle between showing active animals, deceased animals, or both. By default, the list shows only active animals to keep things clean.

By Tags

Filter by one or more tags to quickly find animals that match specific criteria. For example:

• Show all animals tagged "Nervous" before a busy day so you can plan extra time.
• Find all animals tagged "Allergies" to review their specific requirements.

Combining Filters

Filters can be combined for precise results. For example, you could filter for "Dogs" + "Senior care" tag + active (not deceased) to see all senior dogs currently in your client base.

Delete Safeguards

Just like customer records, animal records have deletion safeguards to protect data integrity.

When You Cannot Delete an Animal

An animal cannot be deleted if it has:

• Linked appointments -- You must first delete all appointments associated with this animal.

If you attempt to delete an animal that has appointments, the application will display an error explaining the dependency.

Recommended Approach for Retired Animals

If an animal is no longer visiting your salon (perhaps the family moved away), consider using the deceased toggle if appropriate, or simply leave the record as-is. Inactive animal records take up negligible space and preserve valuable historical data.

The Animal-Customer-Appointment Chain

Understanding how animals connect to the rest of the system helps you use Check-in DOG effectively:

Customer
  |
  +-- Animal 1
  |     +-- Appointment A
  |     +-- Appointment B
  |
  +-- Animal 2
        +-- Appointment C

• A customer can have multiple animals.
• Each animal can have multiple appointments.
• Invoices are linked to customers (not animals), but can reference specific appointments.

This chain means that when you select an animal for an appointment, the system automatically knows which customer to associate. Similarly, when you open a customer's record, you can see all their animals and, through those animals, all their appointments.

Best Practices

Keep Profiles Up to Date

Animal details change over time. Weight fluctuates, coats change color as animals age, and medical conditions develop. Make it a habit to review and update animal profiles during each visit.

Photograph Consistently

Taking before/after photos at each visit creates a visual timeline that clients love and that helps your team maintain consistency across visits. It takes just a minute and adds tremendous value.

Use Tags Strategically

Tags are most powerful when they are used consistently. Consider creating a standard set of tags for your salon and training all staff members on when and how to apply them.

Record Microchip Numbers

Even though it takes an extra moment, recording microchip numbers demonstrates professionalism and provides peace of mind for both you and your clients.

Note Behavioral Patterns

If an animal is nervous during nail trimming but calm during bathing, note that. If a particular calming technique works well, note that too. These details enable any member of your team to provide a consistent, high-quality experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I transfer an animal to a different customer?

Yes, you can edit the animal's record and change the customer field. This is useful in situations such as a pet being rehomed or when you originally assigned the animal to the wrong customer.

What happens to an animal's appointments when I mark it as deceased?

Existing appointment records are preserved. The animal simply will not appear in dropdown lists when creating new appointments.

Can I add a breed that is not in the database?

The breed database is centrally maintained and cannot be edited by individual salons. If the exact breed is not listed, select the closest match or a general category. You can add specific breed details in the Notes field.

Next Steps

With your customers and animals set up, it is time to start scheduling grooming sessions:

• Appointments & Calendar -- Learn how to create, manage, and organize your grooming appointments.