PAW PARTNER
We are excited to release a bunch of smaller updates in this release. We have one more significant feature we are releasing today which is our new "Multiple Reservation Builder". This is accessed under "Quick Reservation" in the overview screen. This multiple reservation builder is used to make quick boarding reservations from the staff side and allows staff to make multiple reservations very quickly. This is particularly useful for new businesses transitioning into Paw Partner, but can also be used by staff to make reservations quickly. NOTE: you need to click "Create All Reservations" to finish creating them. Also, you need to put an end date for the system to know if the kennels or suites are occupied. Please see our Change Log for all of the other features we released today! Please see the video below for instructions on how to use the new Multiple Reservation Builder
We have added the ability for groomers and trainers to set up "Soft Start Times". This essentially means that a larger dog that has a longer reservation duration time can take up 2 spots and block it off so that two spots are blocked off. This is especially useful for businesses who want for instance a small dog to be able to book at 9am and another one to book at 930am, but if a large dog books, they can only book the 9am and that large dog reservation will take up both 9am and 930am spots. So essentially "Let the system book 2 small dogs OR 1 large dog" for the specified times. The set up for these settings are complex since there are so many customizations. We are in the process of redesigning and simplifying our settings area. For now please reach out to our support and we would be happy to set those up for you. Please see the video below for more explanations of how this works.
We are excited for all of the other features to go out to Paw Partner so please look at the change log for the full list, and as always let us know if you have any questions at Support@pawpartner.com!
Let’s face it, dogs are no longer dogs. They are now our children, best friends, emotional support companions, and never-ending snouts of love. I’m a 34-year-old married guy with 2 amazing pups, no children, and I am not alone. Unlike the generations before, today's young adults are waiting longer to have the “traditional family” and are instead having fur children.
The money we are spending on these fur kids shows how much we care about them; 44% of milenials see their pets as "starter children" . In 2019, Americans spent over 95 billion dollars on their pets which is up from 44 billion a decade ago (American Pet Products Association). Today's workforce is working long hours and increasingly having to commute further to work. We try to take our dogs with us when we can, but what is the best option when we work long hours, and can't take our dogs to work?
With all this spending, there have been a significant rise in companies vying for a piece. Pet walking and sitting services such as Rover have sprung up over the last decade from small online platforms to giant billion dollar companies. They promise a convenient, safe and affordable option for your pet.
Another option has been around for decades and has been well established, dog kennels and dog daycares. Because we put so much into our fur family, we want to make sure they are safe, happy, and well taken care of. When we can't take them with, what is the best option? Let's explore the choices.
Because Rover's pet sitters are actually going into your house instead of you going to them, they have "background checks" for their pet sitters and dog walkers. Going onto Rover.com I looked into what their procedure was to make sure I felt safe having a stranger off the internet go into my home. Here is what their process for looking into the history of their pet sitters:
So to be clear, when hiring a person from Rover, you are trusting a stranger in your home. Many times you are trusting them in your home when you are not even present. Per their website, these pet sitters need to not be a sex offender, not a terrorist, or have a vague 'disqualifying criminal offense.' If I want to make sure my pet sitter is super qualified, they will also prove they have lived in a house for 7 years. There is a big leap from using an established business and having a stranger who passed a vague internet background check into my home while I'm not there. There have been some pretty entertaining stories of what people have come home to, or seen from pet sitters on their 'nanny cams', including this horrifying story from the New York Post.
Ok so now we have a person who passed this background check, now lets take a look at what in depth training they have to make sure that my dogs, who I love like my own child, are safe. Here is Rover's extensive "certification" program to make sure their sitters are qualified.
Ok so step one: prove I'm not a sex offender or criminal, check. Step two: prove I know how to put a harness on a dog and know how to use an app, check. Now I know everything I need to know about pets; I'm a 'certified' sitter and can start going into people's homes and taking care of any type of pet regardless of special needs or health conditions. With these strict qualifications its not hard to see why Rover has had a pretty constant stream of pets running away or dying under the watch of these 'certified' professionals. There are far too many stories to recount here but here is a pretty clear example of the risks of using these platforms.
Handling pets is not an easy side gig. It's hard work and things happen. But when things happen we expect those who do wrong to own up to it and take responsibility. There is no making someone whole who has lost a pet while it was being cared for by one of these platforms. Let's look at how Rover handles situations that go wrong. Amy Houston lost her beloved pup Coco while under the care of a Rover sitter and said about Rover's "help" in a Fort-Worth Star Telegram story , “They said they would reimburse for the vet cost, they thought they were gracious in waiving the $250 deductible. They suggested I contact the pet-sitter to cover the purchase cost of Coco and I said I was not interested in ever speaking or seeing her again. The relationship between myself and the pet sitter is solely because of Rover and I expected them to take responsibility.”
Unfortunately this billion dollar platform simply views themselves as a "match maker" between you and a pet sitter. Many people have reported that Rover required them to sign non-disclosure forms if they are to accept any compensation for lost, injured, or deceased pets. They are more concerned with maintaining their brand image than the pets on their platform.
Dog kennels and dog daycares have a stigma for much of the public. Many people view kennels as 'cages' for pets. There are many different types of kennels and daycares. The services range from the high-end luxury facilities to the standard chain link kennels. It is incredibly important to research, tour, and meet the kennel or daycare that you are looking at using. For these businesses, taking care of your beloved pet is not a 'side job' but their lives work. They live, breathe, give blood, sweat and tears to their business and to your pet.
When people begin working at these dog kennel and dog daycare facilities, they go through vigorous training to become qualified to look after your pet. When doing your research, check to see if the facility you are looking to use are members of industry associations. These associations provide training and certifications for employees to make sure that businesses have qualified staff. One of the most prominent pet associations is the International Pet Boarding and Service Association (IBPSA). They provide in depth certifications for pet staff to be able to handle any situation from pet behavior to safety and medical related situations. Here is just some of the species specific-certifications available through IBPSA:
Beyond the industry group training, most businesses have their own training manuals that new hires have to complete. Furthermore, most facilities require a long "job shadow" period before new hires are trusted with your pets. Most facilities I have spoken to have training manuals over 30 pages long with job shadow periods averaging 2 weeks. So beyond certifications these pet specialists have completed; they also complete knowledge training as well as 80 hours of hands-on training before they are ever allowed to handle a pet themselves.
Beyond being a safer option, dog kennels and dog daycares provide your pup with much needed socialization and structure. Many dog daycares use enrichment training within their daycare. One of the best and most popular enrichment programs was created by a couple of veteran trainer/daycare owners. Their company is The Dog Gurus , and many facilities out there use The Dog Gurus' principals to provide the structure and safe environment that is ideal for your dog. Not every dog wants to socialize with other dogs and that is totally fine. There are many facilities out there that cater to pups with special social needs matching them up with one other pup or just with humans to gain more human socialization than staying at home.
Many of my friends cherish their dogs more than their children. For those of us who don't have children, those wet snouts we come home to at the end of the day make the long work days totally worth it. The pet industry has blown up over the last decade and people in the U.S. show no signs of owning less dogs.
There are many companies vying for your business. There are good pet sitters and there are bad pet sitters; just like there are good and bad dog daycares and kennels. The moral here is as a pet parent it is up to you to do the research and make sure you are putting your beloved pup in the best position. In general, when I am making the decision on where I want my pups to go, I look at where they will be the happiest and safest. I personally don't have any friends who work on the pet sitting app platform, but looking at the requirements to join pet sitting apps makes me nervous. To think about letting a "background checked" stranger in my house, and also trusting a "certified with harnesses" sitter with the safety of my family members terrifies me.
With dog daycares and dog kennels you can find actual professionals who have more than a cursory "harness check". These people are serious about every aspect of your pets safety and happiness. Do your research, tour the facility, speak with the manager or owner and learn what certifications they have and what training their staff goes through. If something does go wrong, instead of a billion dollar "match making" platform, you have an actual person operating a small business in your community who you can go talk to and find solutions. These are not light decisions but your work in researching the best option will end with your pups being safe and having the best time with their pals.
So there we were, floating on a rainbow filled with golden retriever puppies. The pet industry was booming and we were adding customers and bookings everyday. My kennel software informed me that spring break was booked out and we had a lovely 50 person wait-list going. Coming into 2020, we all felt that we could continue plugging along and there were hugs all around...
Then the news started rolling in, and kept rolling in. Every day seemed crazier then the last. Corona was on it's way and I remember holding onto some hope that it would be a blip in what was going to be a promising 2020. Cancellations started coming in and the tough decisions about how to plan staffing, finances and what to shut had to be made.
Next was the fun news that our state had a "shelter in place" order. Safety in our society is crucial and I fully support sacrifice for the greater good. That being said, owning a dog kennel, daycare, and grooming facility which relies on the travel industry meant staring down the barrel of an ever worsening situation, which made for some long nights. In a matter of a week I saw our kennel spring break reservations go from a 50 person wait-list to having 2 total dogs scheduled for boarding. Watching friends and family talk about Netflix and chilling their days away, while watching the thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears I spent building my business melt away was beyond disheartening.
My daily solace was going to our industry groups and seeing I wasn't alone. Everyone in our pet facility owner family was going through the same emotions, financial troubles, tough staff layoffs etc. The other best medicine was to get back to what I loved, the dogs.
Beyond more time playing with dogs, this downturn has created a lot of downtime. Netflix naturally calls our name and sitting on the couch and relaxing seems more and more like a good idea. For us kennel, daycare, groomer and training center owners, this simply is not an option. Now more than ever it is incredibly important to double down and work to find ways to improve our business. Many people are getting those projects that have been put off for far too long done, many are dreaming up new services to offer, and many are reworking their business plan and changing their business to a whole new model. Some great organizations like The Dog Gurus and National Kennel Sales & Appraisals have put on some great virtual seminars on how to better your operations.
The lesson here is that coming out of this "shutdown" one thing is evident: business as usual is no longer a thing. Recovering from this downturn, those businesses who look towards the future, find ways of separating themselves from others, get leaner, and find more meaningful connections with their customers are going to be the businesses that come out stronger than before. We have a decision to make: we can succumb to the fear, or rise up and get stronger. Our industry is full of resilient leaders who are ready to retool their operations and come back better than before.
When looking at your operation one central tool can have a major impact on almost every aspect of your daily operations: your kennel software. Many people I talk to think of their kennel software as just how they manage their reservations. If this is how you feel, then you definitely need to use this time to think differently about kennel software. Yes your kennel software should manage your reservations, but it also can help your pet business by managing your customer interactions, manage your customers food, medications, and items, manage your playgroups, employee task lists, communicate with employees and connect with your customers via social media.
There are two different types of kennel software: Cloud based software and Offline software. Offline kennel software typically has a large one time fee, and then a monthly "maintenance" or "data storage" fee. Many people falsely believe this is the cheaper option because they have a little to no monthly fee. This gives people a false sense of cost saving because these offline kennel software options provide little automation and require your employees to do a lot of work. What these pet business owners save in software costs they more than pay for in personnel costs. When coming out of this shutdown you need to think about getting your company lean. By trying to save on monthly software fees and paying your employees to do things your software could do is stepping over dollars to make dimes.
Cloud based software solutions began being offered in the last decade. It started out as a couple big companies making big advances from the offline options. Over the last decade many people have jumped on the bandwagon of making kennel software. In 2016, I rigorously searched for a cloud based option that would fit my business but became extremely frustrated. It seemed as though many of the kennel software options were created by people who had very limited to no actual pet facility experience. I went to an IBPSA conference and listened to the creator of one of the biggest software companies in our industry. His opening line was, "You guys know more about dogs than I do. I can't even make a dog sit." This is supposed to be a leader in the industry and I am supposed to trust him with the lifeblood of my business and he is boasting about having no dog knowledge? No thanks!
Many of the cloud based kennel software options are very similar and are lacking one major feature: a fully integrated mobile app that can be used by customers, employees, and owners to check on the business. Many claim to have an app, but are in fact, just "portals". These are websites that are mobile friendly, and lack many of the features of a true mobile app. Being a resourceful pet business owner I knew there had to be a better way. After two years of working with developer friends, we created Paw Partner . Paw Partner is a fully integrated software and mobile app that is used by kennels, dog daycares, groomers, and trainers to optimize their business and better connect with their customers.
Using Paw Partner at my facility, I have been able to lower my personnel by $28,000 per year (pre-covid), and raise my add-n sales by over 30%. U.S. consumers are using their phones more for everything they do, making reservations for hotels, planes, restaurants, rental cars with their phones. Naturally they would also like to make their reservations with you on their phone, so why not let them? With Paw Partner your customers are able to make reservations with a free mobile app 24/7, can manage their own vaccines, can see photos of their pets and message directly with you. Our email and call volume has dropped by over 90% and our customers love being able to connect with us on their schedule instead of playing the constant phone tag game. Paw Partner has helped us get leaner with personnel in a significant way and helped us to connect with our customers in a more meaningful way. Our new social platform lets our employees share photos with our customers directly. We no longer have to pay an employee to constantly download photos and re-upload to Facebook. Paw Partner automatically alerts the customer they have a new photo. Connecting better with our customers has helped us keep our loyalty and daycare reservations strong during this downtime which has helped to retain key staff.
Times are tough, and you have a lot going in your life both personally and professionally. I get it, I do too. You can either use this time to binge watch Tiger King and wallow, or you can get proactive and make your business better. Control what you can control. One big way you can make real change in almost all aspects of your business is to look at your kennel software and ask yourself, "will this make my business stronger?" Doing what you did pre-covid will not get you back to where you were or better than you were. You need to find what makes you different and better. With this down time, you have the perfect opportunity to implement the changes that will make your business the best in your market. Not only will Paw Partner make your business and life easier, but it will increase your customer loyalty, decrease your expense and increase your profit margin.
Our plan was to release Paw Partner nation-wide at the IBPSA conference this fall. After seeing so many people struggling and looking for answers of how to come out of this shutdown, we've decided we can help. To help all of our fellow pet facilities, we are giving Paw Partner free for the next 6 months. This will get you instantly leaner and help facilitate the change you need to come out stronger than you were before. Contact us today and we will show you what kennel software made by actual kennel owners looks like.
