An owner books a boarding stay for a holiday. She sends the vaccination card two days before and everything looks current.
The kennel cough vaccination was given four days ago. The requirement is a minimum period beforehand, which is standard and sensible, and it has not been met.
She is leaving the following morning. Nothing can be done, there is no alternative arranged, and a requirement she was never clearly told about has become a holiday crisis.
1. Publish the exact requirements
Which vaccinations, which treatments and what evidence. A general statement about being vaccinated leaves owners guessing about exactly what is needed.
2. State the timing requirement prominently
The minimum period between vaccination and the first stay. This is the detail that causes the failures and it is the one most frequently omitted.
3. Send the requirements at the point of enquiry
Not at booking, and certainly not in a confirmation nobody reads. An owner enquiring in June for August needs to know in June.
4. Explain the kennel cough position specifically
Whether it is required, which form is accepted and what the timing is. This is the requirement owners most often lack and the one vets do not always prompt.
5. Explain the flea and worming requirements
What treatment, how recent and what evidence. Owners assume this is not checked and providers check it because an infestation affects every animal on site.
6. Explain the neutering policy
Where one exists, at what age and why. This is a common requirement, it surprises owners and it needs stating before a booking rather than at arrival.
7. Explain what evidence is accepted
A vaccination card, a vet's record or a printed summary. Being specific prevents an owner arriving with something that cannot be accepted.
8. Check the requirements well before arrival
A check at the point of booking and a reminder a fortnight beforehand. Both are cheap and both prevent a dog being turned away.
9. Explain the assessment requirement
Where a trial day or temperament assessment is required before a first stay, with how far in advance it must happen, which owners routinely leave too late.
10. Explain the health declaration
Existing conditions, medication, recent illness and anything the provider needs to know. This protects the animal and the other animals on site.
11. Explain what happens if a dog becomes unwell
Which vet, who authorises treatment, what the cost position is and how the owner is contacted while away. Owners worry about this and rarely ask.
12. Explain the medication arrangements
Whether medication can be administered, in what form and what information is needed. This determines whether a boarding is possible at all for some animals.
13. Explain the exclusion position honestly
That a dog not meeting the requirements cannot stay, stated warmly and in advance, so it is a known rule rather than a decision made at a door.
14. Check the requirements at the enquiry, not at the door
An assistant that sends the exact requirements, states the timing, checks what an owner currently has and reminds them a fortnight before arrival prevents a holiday crisis for the sake of four days. Handled with the care in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot, alongside vaccination and temperament questions for pet care, vaccination and health record questions before boarding, and the same documentation failure in loan application questions that stop at the documents. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under pet services.