Guides · Finding clients
Dog walking client onboarding and intake form
The short answer
Onboarding is a short chain of steps, not one conversation. Answer the price question in the first reply, screen the job in five questions, book the Meet and Greet, and send the intake form before you meet rather than after. The form collects the facts in writing: the household, the way in, who to call, the vet, and one block per pet covering medical history, behaviour and the consents you need. Then you get in and out once on your own before the first paid walk.
Key points
- Send the intake form before the Meet and Greet, so you arrive with questions instead of a blank page.
- Screen in five questions on the phone. The long conversation belongs at the door.
- Every pet gets its own block: basics, medical, behaviour. Two dogs in one house are two blocks.
- Ask the bite question in writing. An answer you can point to later beats an answer given at a door.
- Consents belong on the form and in the agreement: vet care and a cost cap, off leash, photos, text reminders, backup walker.
The sequence, first message to first walk
Onboarding is not one conversation. It is a short chain of small steps, and each step has a job. When a step is missing the problem does not show up straight away. It shows up at a door, on a morning when you are already late.
| Step | What it is for | Your time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The first reply | Price and area, so nobody wastes a trip. | 5 minutes |
| 2. Five screening questions | Decide whether this is a dog and a schedule you can take. | 5 minutes |
| 3. Book the Meet and Greet | Put it on the calendar while they are still keen. | 2 minutes |
| 4. Send the intake form | Collect the facts in writing before you meet. | They fill it in |
| 5. The Meet and Greet | Meet the dog, test the door, agree the schedule. | About 20 minutes |
| 6. Agreement and payment | Sign the terms, set up how you get paid. | 10 minutes |
| 7. Keys and a test run | Get in and out once, on your own, before it counts. | One short visit |
Answer the money question in the first reply
A new enquiry usually asks two things and only says one of them out loud. The spoken question is whether you are free. The unspoken one is what this costs.
Answer both. Give your rate, your service area and the days you have room, in three sentences. Being coy about price does not win the job. It moves the disappointment to the end of a twenty minute drive. If you have not settled on a rate yet, work it out first in the dog walking pricing guide.
Five screening questions before you drive anywhere
These are not the Meet and Greet. They are the short filter that tells you whether the Meet and Greet is worth booking. Ask them by phone or message, in a couple of minutes.
- Which street are you on? Not the town. The street decides whether this client sits on your route or two miles off the end of it.
- Which days and times, and is it every week? A recurring slot and an occasional walk are different businesses.
- How many dogs, and how big? Two large dogs at one address is a handling question, not a pricing one.
- Has your dog ever bitten anyone, or been in a fight? Ask it plainly, now. You will ask it again on the form, in writing.
- When do you want to start? Next week and next month need different answers from you.
Then stop. The long conversation belongs at the door, where you can watch the dog answer some of it for you. It is covered in what to ask before the first dog walk, and running it twice means you learn less, not more.
Send the form before you meet, not after
Most walkers send the intake form after the Meet and Greet, as paperwork. Sending it before is better for three reasons.
- The client fills it in calmly at home, not standing in a hallway with a dog jumping up.
- You read it before you arrive, so you turn up with three specific questions.
- The awkward answers get written down by someone with time to think about them.
You still confirm the important lines out loud at the visit. A form is a record. It is not proof that anybody read it.
The intake form, field by field
Everything below is a field, not a question you read out. Group it exactly like this and the form stays usable on a phone at a door, which is where you will actually read it.
The household
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Full name | The name on the agreement and on the payment. |
| Address, with unit or apartment number | A missing unit number is a lost ten minutes on day one. |
| Mobile number and email | One for the day, one for the paperwork. |
| Best way to reach you on a walk day | Some clients cannot take calls at work. Find out before you need to. |
| Second adult in the household | Name and number. The person who answers when the first one does not. |
| Who else holds a key | Cleaner, neighbour, family, another walker. You want no surprises inside. |
| Is anyone likely to be home during a visit | Changes how you enter and whether the dog is already excited. |
Getting in and out
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| How you get in | Key, lockbox, smart lock, keypad, doorman, side gate. |
| Lock and door quirks | The lift, the pull, the door that sticks in the rain. |
| Alarm | Is there one, how to disarm and rearm it, and who to call if it goes off. |
| Where the leash, harness and towel live | So you are not opening cupboards in somebody else's home. |
| Water bowl and where to refill it | A thirty second job you should not have to hunt for. |
| Cameras in the home, and where | You should know you are on camera. So should they. |
| Parking | Permit zones and driveways decide whether this visit runs to time. |
| Which door to use, and how to leave it | Locked, chained, bolted, latch down. Say it once, in writing. |
Keep this block somewhere private and separate from your general notes. Codes are not trivia. A phone screen read over your shoulder on a bus is a real risk, and it is the one clients worry about most when they think about it at all.
Emergency contacts
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Emergency contact 1 | Name, relationship, phone. Someone local if possible. |
| Emergency contact 2 | The backup to the backup. Travel and flights are why this exists. |
| Who may approve treatment and spending | Name this person. Not everyone on the list is allowed to say yes. |
| Where the pet carrier is | Ten seconds now, ten minutes in an emergency. |
Vet and emergency care
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Regular vet practice | Name, address, phone. The address matters as much as the number. |
| After hours or emergency hospital | Different place, different hours. Most owners have never checked. |
| Name the pet is registered under | Often a partner name or a maiden name. It stalls a phone call. |
| Pet insurance provider and policy number | The front desk will ask for it. |
| Spending you may approve before reaching the owner | The cost cap. A number, written by them, agreed in advance. |
| Permission to transport in your own vehicle | Yes or no, and check what your own insurer says about it. |
Add one line most forms miss: the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, on (888) 426-4435. The ASPCA says on its own page that the service runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and that a consultation fee may apply, so keep the number and that fact where you can see them rather than searching for both while a dog is eating something it should not. Checked in September 2026.
The cost cap and the transport permission belong in your service agreement as well as on the form. Collecting a fact and agreeing a term are different jobs.
Each pet: the basics
One block per pet. Two dogs in one house means two blocks, because the fields that differ are the ones that matter.
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Name, and what you actually call him | Plenty of dogs answer to something else entirely. |
| Breed or best guess, age, weight | Weight is the field a vet asks for first. |
| Sex, and neutered or not | Changes who you can walk him near. |
| Colour and markings | Written for the worst day: describing a lost dog to someone who has never met him. |
| Microchip number and which registry | The number is little use if nobody knows where it is registered. |
| Licence or tag number | Whatever your city or county requires. |
| A recent, clear photo of the whole dog | Not a close up of a face. A whole dog, standing. |
Each pet: medical
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Medications, dose, time, and who gives them | If it is you, that is a service with a price, not a favour. |
| Allergies, food and environmental | Decides which treats you are allowed to carry. |
| Ongoing conditions | Heart, joints, seizures, blindness, deafness, breathing. |
| Recent surgery or injury, and any vet restriction | A lead only instruction from a vet is not optional. |
| Vaccination status and rabies tag, with a review date | Set a date to ask again. Records go stale quietly. |
| Flea, tick and worm treatment date | You handle other dogs. This is their business too. |
| Things he must not eat or pick up | Sticks, stones, socks, food left in the street. |
| Heat or cold sensitivity | Flat faced, elderly, thick coated and thin coated dogs change your weather decisions first. |
Each pet: behaviour
| Field | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| On leash: pulls, lunges, freezes, fine | Sets the equipment and the route. |
| With other dogs, small dogs, and dogs behind fences | Three different behaviours in most dogs. |
| With bikes, scooters, skateboards, buses, joggers | The list of things that appear behind you without warning. |
| With children, with men, with hats and hi-vis | Specific fears are common and owners rarely volunteer them. |
| Door behaviour | Does he try to get out. This is how most dogs are lost. |
| Resource guarding | Food, toys, doorways, the couch, the owner. |
| Bite or fight history, with the date and what happened | The single most important line on the form. |
| Recall, and whether he has ever been off leash for anyone | An honest answer here is worth more than a promise. |
| Equipment: collar, harness, leash, and what not to use | Some owners have strong views. Better to know them now. |
| What calms him, and what scares him | Two lines that save a walk. |
| Muzzle: trained, tolerated, or never worn | A muzzle a dog has never worn is not a plan. |
Ask the bite question in writing, plainly, with a box for the date and what happened. Owners answer it honestly far more often than people expect. An answer you can point to later is a different thing from an answer given at a door with a dog leaning on your leg.
The consent lines
These are lines the client agrees to, not facts they report. Each one is a decision you would otherwise have to make alone, at speed, on a day you would rather not.
| Consent | What it prevents |
|---|---|
| Emergency vet care and transport, up to the cost cap | Standing in a waiting room with no authority to say yes. |
| A named backup walker may cover | A dog with nobody coming, on the day you are ill. |
| Off leash: allowed or not, and where | The most expensive misunderstanding in this trade. Default to no. |
| Photos: may you take them, and may you post them | Two separate permissions. Posting a dog with a street or a house in shot is a privacy question, not a marketing one. |
| Text reminders | Sending a text nobody agreed to receive. |
| They are allowed to give access to this home | Renters, shared houses, and the occasional landlord problem. |
| Walking with dogs from other households, or not | An argument after the fact about who their dog met. |
| The answers above are complete and accurate | A bite history left blank on purpose. |
| They have read your cancellation and weather policies | The first invoice argument. One of them lives in your cancellation policy. |
Does this work as a pet sitting intake form?
Mostly, yes. People search for a pet sitting intake form far more often than a dog walking one, and they are looking for the same thing. The household, access, emergency, vet and pet blocks above do not change at all.
What a sitting job adds is the house:
- feeding amounts, times, and where the food is measured
- litter trays, and where the litter and bags live
- plants, bins and bin day, and the mail
- the thermostat, and which lights they want on
- the overnight routine, and where spare bedding is
- who else might turn up, and on which days
A walking visit asks you to run the dog. A sitting visit asks you to run the house. The pet blocks are identical and the difference is entirely in the building.
What to do with the answers
A form nobody reads is worse than no form, because it feels like preparation. Four habits make it real.
- Read it before you leave for the Meet and Greet. Arrive with three questions, not a blank page.
- Put the door facts at the top. The gate, the bite history, the medication. Those are what you need in ten seconds, one handed, in the rain.
- Keep codes separate. Access details are not general notes.
- Review it every six months, and after anything goes wrong. Vaccinations lapse. Dogs get older. Locks get changed and nobody thinks to tell you.
Paper works until about the fifth client, then it stops. PackRounds keeps client and pet details with the bookings, so the notes that matter at a door are on the phone you are already holding, and access details stay locked until you open them. It is free for your first 5 clients, counted as households, so three dogs at one address is one client and one form.
The first walk
Onboarding ends with a walk, and the first one sets what the client expects forever.
- Arrive at the time you said you would.
- Go in the way you agreed, and leave the door exactly as you agreed.
- Send one short message afterwards. He walked, he drank, the gate is shut.
- Write down the one thing the form did not tell you. There is always one.
That last habit is the whole point of a form. It is not a document you complete once. It is the place the next four years of small facts get written down.
Read next
- What to ask before the first dog walk is the conversation this form prepares you for.
- What a dog walking service agreement should cover turns the consent lines above into terms you both sign.
- How to get your first 10 dog walking clients is the step before this one.
Common questions
What should a dog walking intake form include?
The household and how to reach them, how you get in, two emergency contacts, the vet and the emergency hospital, a spending cap for vet care, and one block per pet covering the basics, medical details and behaviour. Then the consent lines: vet care, off leash, photos, text reminders and a backup walker.
Should I send the intake form before or after the meet and greet?
Before. The client fills it in calmly at home instead of on a doorstep, and you read it before you arrive. You then spend the visit checking the things a form cannot show you, like how the lock behaves and how the dog is on a leash.
Do I need a separate form for each dog in the same house?
One form for the household, and one block inside it per pet. Medication, behaviour and equipment are per dog and are the fields most likely to differ. The address, the alarm code and the emergency contacts are shared.
Can I use a dog walking intake form for pet sitting too?
Mostly yes. The household, access, vet and pet blocks are identical. Add feeding amounts and times, litter trays, plants, bins, mail, the thermostat and the overnight routine, because a sitting job asks you to run the house and not just the dog.
How long should onboarding take?
About a week from first message to first paid walk, and most of that is waiting for a Meet and Greet time that suits the client. Your own time in it is roughly forty five minutes, spread over a reply, a phone screen, a twenty minute visit and setting up payment.
Sources
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: 24/7 number and consultation fee (checked 2026-09-02)