Still wet at the desk
Saturday morning. Six dogs booked for a going-home bath. The groomer arrives at 8 and starts with whichever dog is nearest. The Cockapoo whose owner collects at 9 is fifth in the queue. When his owner arrives, he is still in the drying cage. Meanwhile the Labrador collected at 4pm was bathed first and has since rolled in the play field.
One bath was missed entirely. It was booked on the phone and written on the drop-off form, which the groomer never saw.
Two diaries that do not talk
Grooming is often run as a separate service, with its own book or app, sometimes by a self-employed groomer who rents the room. Going-home baths sit awkwardly between the two.
- Bath requests are taken on the booking form, not in the groomer's diary.
- The groomer does not see collection times.
- Walk-in grooming customers compete for the same slots as boarders.
- Drying times vary a lot by breed and coat.
- Nobody checks after the event that every booked bath was done and charged.
The going-home impression
A dog that goes home clean and fluffy is a lovely last impression. A dog that goes home damp, or smelling of kennels when a bath was paid for, is the opposite. Missed baths often end in a refund and an apology.
The groomer loses out too, with a day planned by guesswork and constant interruptions from the desk asking whether a dog is ready.
Capacity is the quieter problem. Without seeing boarders' baths and walk-in grooms in one place, it is easy to book more work into a Saturday than one groomer can finish, and to find out at eight in the morning. The desk then has to ring owners to delay collections or apologise at the counter.
Grooming slots planned from collection times
What we build links going-home grooming to the collection it serves.
- When a bath or groom is added to a stay, it is placed in the groomer's diary automatically, with the dog's collection time.
- You set the groomer's hours, the time each service takes by size and coat type, and drying time.
- The system suggests an order for the day so each dog is finished and dry shortly before collection, not hours before.
- Walk-in grooming bookings are checked against the same capacity, so boarders are not squeezed out.
- The groomer ticks each dog as done, and the collection list shows it as ready. If a collection time changes, the grooming order updates.
- Completed grooms are added to the final bill automatically.
| Dog | Collection | Groom finished by |
|---|---|---|
| Cockapoo, full bath and dry | 9.00 | 8.45 |
| Spaniel, bath | 11.00 | 10.45 |
| Labrador, bath | 16.00 | 15.30 |
| Walk-in, full groom | Customer slot | Fitted around the above |
If your groomer is self-employed, we can set it up so they see their own diary and the boarders' slots without seeing anything else.
Late changes are the test of any plan. When an owner rings to say they will collect at noon instead of four, the Labrador's bath moves up the list and the groomer sees the new order on her screen, rather than hearing about it when the owner is already at the desk.
Saturday, in the right order
The groomer arrives to a list that starts with the Cockapoo. He is dry and brushed by 8.45. The Labrador is done after lunch and goes into a clean run until 4. The phone booking made on Tuesday is on the list because it went into the groomer's diary when it was made. Everything is on the bills.
Is this how baths work now?
- Going-home baths are booked on the kennel form, not in the groomer's diary.
- Dogs are bathed too early or are still drying at collection.
- A paid-for bath has been missed.
- Walk-in grooms and boarder baths clash.
- Grooming is sometimes left off the final bill.