PetGroomBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Routes

Scheduling a Monthly Senior Living Pet Day

Some of the best days on a mobile groomer's calendar have just one address. A senior living community where residents keep small dogs and cats can turn into a standing monthly pet day: the van parks in the same spot, the residents bring their pets down, and the groomer works through the list. Scheduling that day is simpler than a route, but it has its own details.

One Address, Many Pets

Neighborhood days group many homes in one area, as covered in Neighborhood Days: Grouping Mobile Grooming Appointments by Area. An account day goes one step further: many pets at one address.

In PetGroomBossPro, the community is a client with its own address, or with several addresses if it has more than one building. You can set up the community as a monthly account, so it gets one statement each month covering every visit, rather than an invoice for each pet.

A Fixed Day and Van

The community and its residents will want the same day each month. Add Recurring Grooming can book the account monthly or on custom days, on the same weekday, time and van. Every visit is written up front, so the pet day is held on the schedule for months ahead and nobody books a house route into that van's day by mistake.

Like any repeat visit, the pet day waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until you confirm it the day before. That is a good moment to check with the community contact that the day is still on and the space is booked.

Keeping Track of the Residents' Pets

Each visit holds up to four pets, each with name, Dog or Cat, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and a notes line. For a community day with many residents' pets, there are a few ways to organize it, depending on how the community and you want it billed and tracked:

• Separate visits on the same day. Several jobs at the community address, each holding a resident's pets, all on the same van and day.
• Notes on each pet. The notes line is where you put the resident's name and room, along with the cut and behavior: “Room 214, Mrs. B's Maltese, puppy cut, gentle with paws.”
• Van notes for the site. Where to park, which entrance, which outlet, who to check in with at the front desk.

Because the next visit fills in from the last one, the pets and their notes carry forward to next month's pet day without re-typing.

Building the Day

An account day needs little routing; the van is at one address. What matters more is the order and timing of the pets. Some residents can only come down at certain times, around meals or activities. Setting appointment times on each visit gives the residents and staff a timetable to work from, and the groomer sees the same times on the phone.

Leave room for the unexpected. Residents may bring a pet down late, or a pet who was not on the list. Building in a little slack keeps the day calm for everyone, including the pets.

Monthly Billing

Billing is where account days save the most work. An account set to Monthly gets one statement each month covering every visit. Instead of chasing many small invoices, the community gets one bill. Invoices carry line items and sales tax, and the statement shows each visit that month.

Some communities pay for the pet day as a resident amenity. In others, residents pay for their own pets. Talk that through with the community before the first pet day and set the account up to match.

Fitting Account Days Into a Van's Month

A monthly account day takes a whole van for most of a day. For a one-van owner, that day is a break from the house route; for a multi-van business, it might be the same van every month. A saved view for that van keeps account days easy to find. Daycare and apartment community days work much the same way, covered in Daycare Bath Days and Apartment Community Days on the Grooming Schedule.

Being Clear About Your Role

A senior living pet day is a grooming service, not pet care beyond that. If a groomer notices something about a pet's coat or skin, the grooming checklist note for the customer is the place to mention it, and the owner or staff can take it from there. The office can print a Grooming Report for each visit so residents have a record of what was done. For how account days fit with the rest of the schedule, see the mobile grooming scheduling software page.