Dog Walking

Dog walking lets your team walk clients' dogs at their homes: walk types with their prices, walkers and how many dogs each takes, a board of the day's walks, weekly walks that book themselves, a phone screen for walkers with a report that goes to each owner, and walk invoices that draft themselves for you to review.

Turning Dog Walking On

Go to Facility Settings → General → Services You Offer and switch on Dog walking. It's off until you turn it on. Once it's on, a Walking section appears in the sidebar — Board, My walks, Book a walk and Invoicing — and Facility Settings gets a Dog Walking tab for walk types, walkers and cancellation terms. The settings card links to it: Set up walk types and walkers →.

Running drop-in visits for cats and other pets too? See Pet Sitting — it shares these screens.

A facility with walks still to come can't switch walking off — Goodstay says how many are left ("Walking still has 2 upcoming or in-progress walks."). Finish or cancel them first.

Walk Types & Prices

Open Facility Settings → Dog Walking (owners and managers). Under Walk types, click Add 30, 45 and 60-minute walks to start with the usual three, or use Add a walk type:

Walks are priced per home, per walk: two dogs from one home on a 60-minute walk at $40 + $15 cost $55. A walk type with no price yet says Set a price before booking this walk. and doesn't appear on the booking form. Archive a type you've stopped selling — walks already booked keep it — and Restore it any time.

If a holiday window covers the day, its surcharge applies to the walk: a percentage on the whole walk, or a flat amount once per walk.

Walkers

Anyone on your team can walk. Under Walkers on that settings page, tick Walks dogs for each person who does, then set:

• Up to … dogs at once — their dog limit across homes (1 to 12). Group walks are normal; booking never puts more dogs on one walker at the same time than this.
• Their walking days — the weekdays they walk. A walker has no slots on other days.

Changes save as you make them.

Late Cancellations

Under Late cancellations on that settings page, set a Cut-off (hours before the walk) and a Fee (% of the walk) — 100% is the full walk. A walk cancelled less than that many hours before it starts bills the fee, and so does a walk where the walker finds Nobody home. Staff can untick the fee when they cancel, or Waive fee afterwards. Leave the hours blank and cancelling is always free.

The fee goes on the client's next walk bill as its own line — "Late cancellation · Mon 11/02 · 60-minute walk · Pepper" — isn't taxed, and no promo code comes off it.

Service Area

At the bottom of walking setup, Service area lists the zip or postal codes, or the towns, you travel to — one per line. When a client's address doesn't mention any of them, the booking form and the client's page show Outside your service area. It's a heads-up only: you can still book. Leave it blank and nothing is ever flagged.

The Walker Login

For walkers who shouldn't see the rest of Goodstay, invite them from Staff with the role Walker — their own walks only. A Walker login opens only their own walks for today, with the homes' addresses and access notes, and their profile — no clients, billing, settings or other walkers' walks. Anywhere else, they're sent back to their day with "Your walker login opens your walks only." On a phone they get a tab bar with Today and Profile. Walker logins count toward your plan's staff accounts.

Home & Walks on the Client Page

With walking on, each client's page has a Home & walks panel:

• Home address — the address on their contact details; walks start there.
• Access notes — door codes, where the key is, alarms, gates. Marked staff only: they're never shown to the client or put in an email. Owners and managers see them here; a walker sees them on their own walks that day. Other staff see that notes are on file, not what they say.
• Walks billed — Weekly, Monthly or After each walk. See Walk Invoicing.
• Weekly walks — each weekly schedule, with Change to edit it and End to stop it. See Weekly Walks.
• Keys — the household's keys and who has them. See Keys.

Owners and managers click Edit to change the access notes and Bill walks. Book a walk opens the booking form with this client picked.

Booking a Walk

Click + Book a walk on the walks board (or Book a walk on a client's page):

1. Search for the Client. Their dogs are ticked — untick any who aren't going.
2. Pick the Walk.
3. Under Repeat, choose Just once and a Date, or Every week — see Weekly Walks.
4. Pick a walker and start time in the grid. Each walker has a column, and every start time says whether they have room:

Full and off slots can't be picked. Decide later books the walk with no walker yet — it waits under Needs a walker on the board. Show half hours adds the :30 start times.

5. Add a Note for the walker if this walk needs one (a harness, a route).
6. Type a Promo code if the client has one — see Promo Codes on Walks.
7. Leave Email … the booking ticked to send the client a confirmation, or untick it.
8. Click Book this walk.

Closed Days

A day on your Blocked Dates that closes the facility — fully, or to drop-offs, pick-ups and appointments — stops walks too. Pick one and the form says Closed on …; booking it needs Book anyway ticked. Weekly walks skip closed days and book nothing on them (the form lists the days it'll skip). A Part of the day notice closes nothing, so walks go ahead.

The Walks Board

Walking → Board in the sidebar opens the day's walks, one row per walk in time order. Dogs from different homes on the same walker at the same time are one group walk.

• Needs a walker — an amber banner lists walks no one is assigned to.
• Walker cards — each walker's progress: walks done, dogs today, and Next at …, Out now · back ~… or All done.
• Filters — Everyone, one walker, or Unassigned.
• Each row shows the dogs and homes, a walker picker to assign or hand over the whole group (refused if they haven't room: "… only has room for 1 more dog then."), how many dogs of the walker's limit it uses, and its status: Not started, Out now or Finished.
• Change next to a home opens its walk on the booking form — see Changing or Cancelling a Walk.
• Cancel next to a home cancels that home's walk, after asking first.
• Closed this day — an amber banner on a closed day, with how many walks are still booked on it.

The board keeps itself up to date: when a walker taps Start walk or finishes on their phone, or someone else books or reassigns a walk, it shows on every open board without a reload. A walker's own day picks up walks the office assigns them the same way.

Click Week for the week grid: walkers down the side, days across, each walk a chip with its dog count. A chip turns amber when the walker is at their limit. The Needs a walker row and the Dogs walked totals sit at the bottom. Click a day to open it.

Changing or Cancelling a Walk

Change on the board opens the walk on the booking form with its client fixed: move it to another day or start time, change the dogs, the walk or the walker, or edit the note. The grid doesn't count the walk's own dogs against its walker. The price is worked out again only when the walk, the dogs or the date change. Click Save changes. Only a walk that hasn't started can be changed.

When the day or time moves, Let … know about the move (email and text) appears ticked: the client gets an email with the new time and the old one, and a text. Untick it to move the walk quietly.

Cancel asks first. Inside your late-cancellation cut-off, Charge the late-cancellation fee is ticked with the amount; otherwise it says Nothing bills for it. Let … know (email and text) is ticked too. Click Cancel walk, or Keep it.

The day's cancelled walks are listed under Cancelled at the bottom of the board, each with Late cancellation · $40.00 fee, Nobody home · no fee or Cancelled · no fee. Waive fee drops a fee until it's on a bill; after that, change it on the invoice.

Weekly Walks

Choose Every week when booking, tick the days under Every week on, set when it's Starting and, if it ends, Until (optional). The grid checks the first week of those days: a slot that fits only some of them says, for example, Only Mon — you can still pick it, and the other days are booked with no walker. Click Book weekly walks.

How weekly walks behave:

• Goodstay books the next four weeks straight away and keeps topping them up every night.
• A day the walker has no room (full, or not one of their walking days) is still booked — with no walker, under Needs a walker.
• Cancel one day and it stays cancelled; it's never booked again. Change one day and it stays changed — the schedule doesn't book that day again.
• Closed days are skipped — see Closed Days.
• Email … the weekly walks sends the client one email for the whole schedule, not one per walk.

Change on the client's Weekly walks list opens the schedule on the booking form: the days, start time, dogs, walk, walker, note, promo code and Until. Changes apply from tomorrow — every walk from tomorrow that hasn't started or been billed is booked again with the new details. Today's and earlier walks, and walks you changed on their own, stay as they are. Click Save weekly walks; with Let … know about the change (email and text) ticked, the client gets an email and a text.

End stops the schedule and cancels its walks after today, after asking first — with Let … know (email and text) ticked. Today's and earlier walks stay as they are.

On the Walker's Phone

A walker's day is the first screen for a Walker login, and Walking → My walks in the sidebar for anyone else on the team who walks. The next walk is opened up: Up next, the time, each home in pick-up order with its address, Map for directions, the Access notes and any note from the office, and a big Start walk button. Finished walks fold to one line; later walks show their time and address.

From My walks, the rest of the team can look at any walker's day by picking them at the top.

The Day as a Route

When two or more addresses are still to visit, the day list shows Route for the rest of today — it opens the walker's maps app with every stop left, in order. Each walk also has its own Map link. On a group walk, homes are listed nearest first once Goodstay knows where they are; a home's location is learned the first time a walker starts a walk there with location allowed, never looked up from the address.

During the Walk

Start walk opens the walk: a timer of how long they've been out, and the homes as a checklist. Tap Pick up as each home's dogs come along (it changes to Picked up).

Each home also shows a key reminder when you keep their keys ("Pick up #12 from the office"), and if the phone allows location, Start and Finish are stamped for the office — see Keys and GPS on Visits.

Can't get in? Tap Nobody home on that home. Their walk is cancelled — with your late-cancellation fee, if you've set one — and they get a short email: "We couldn't get in for Pepper's walk today". The rest of a group walk goes on.

Finishing & the Report

Tap Finish walk for the report:

1. Each dog has a row of Pee, Poo and Water. Pee starts ticked — untick it if not.
2. Add up to 4 photos.
3. Write a note for the owner (or owners).
4. Tap Finish & send report — or Finish without a report to finish quietly.

On a group walk each home gets its own report with just its own dogs' marks; the note and photos go to every home on the walk. The walk then shows Report sent with what went out.

What Owners See

Each home gets an email — "Pepper & Moose's walk today — your facility" — with each dog's marks, the walker's note, the photos, and a link to the report in their customer portal. A home with no email address isn't mailed; the report is still in their portal. Access notes are never in either.

When your team books, moves or cancels their walks, a client hears about it if the box was left ticked:

Texts go only when SMS is on for your facility and the client hasn't opted out. A cancellation that bills a fee says so.

In the portal, a client with walks gets a Walks tab: their Weekly walks, the walks Coming up (with the time and walker), and every Report. It's read-only — walks are booked by your team — with a Message the team link for changes. Clients who've never had a walk don't see the tab.

Walk Invoicing

Each client's walks bill on their own cadence, set under Walks billed on their page:

Each walk is its own invoice line — "Mon 11/02 · 60-minute walk · Pepper, Moose (Maya)" — using your default tax rate. Weekly and monthly drafts wait for you: nothing sends until you review it.

Open Walking → Invoicing (owners and managers):

• Weekly clients and Monthly clients show how many homes are ready to draft. Draft now makes their drafts early — for the first week, or to catch up.
• Drafts to review lists each home with the days walked and the amount. Open shows the invoice preview with every walk line (and Edit on the invoice page › to change it), and Send sends one.
• Send at the bottom sends them all. Each is emailed with a Pay Now link; clients on Autopay are charged on the due date.
• Held back — a walk in the period isn't finished lists homes with a walk still scheduled or under way in the period. They aren't drafted until that walk is finished or cancelled, so a bill never goes out short. Click the date to open that day.

A walk is on one bill. If you void a walk bill, its walks are billable again and go on the next draft. To put a client's walks on the same bill as their stay, use Combine into one bill on their page. A cancelled walk bills only a late-cancellation or nobody-home fee; otherwise it never bills. Clients billed after each walk get the fee's bill straight away. Account credit is used when the client pays, as on any bill.

Promo Codes on Walks

A promo code typed on the booking form rides on the walk — or, for weekly walks, on every walk the schedule books. The box checks the code as you type: a code scoped to other services says Promo code not applicable to walks, and a code with a Minimum Stay (nights) is a stay offer, so it says Promo code is for stays, not walks. A code that doesn't work stops the booking until you fix or clear it.

• The discount comes off each walk on its bill: a percentage of the walk, or a fixed amount off each walk (never more than the walk itself). The bill shows one discount line per code — "Discount — Promo code WALK10: 10% off (4 walks)".
• The code is checked again whenever a walk is billed, the way a stay's code is at checkout. Once it's expired or switched off, the walks still to bill are full price.
• Each booking uses the code once, on its first bill: a single walk is one use, and so is a whole weekly schedule, however many weeks it runs. A schedule that took the code's last use keeps its discount on later bills.

The client's Weekly walks list shows the code a schedule was booked with.

Walk lines have their own Dog walking tax category — switch it on under Taxable line types in Settings → Payments & Tax if your walks are taxed — and walk sales show as Dog walking in your revenue reports.

The automatic discounts (multi-pet, extended stay) don't apply to walks — only promo codes do.