Keep every dog, handler, class place and session package on one record.

A dog trainer sells time and results. Puppy classes, loose-lead courses, behaviour consultations and residential stays all run on different calendars, and one owner may buy several of them for the same dog. The owner is the customer. The dog is the case. Owners ask for results, and trainers need records that show the work.

Most trainers hold this in a diary, a spreadsheet of packages and a messaging app full of videos. Class lists drift from payments, and vaccination papers go missing when a venue asks for them. The software joins these into one record per dog.

An enquiry arrives by phone, a website form or a message from a vet or a rescue. The trainer asks about the dog’s age, breed, history and the problem the owner wants fixed, then offers an assessment, a place in a class or a private block. Before the first visit the owner must send vaccination proof and sign a waiver that covers handling and bites. The first call sets the tone. A trainer who asks good questions wins the client before a single lead is clipped on.

Sessions run in a hall, a park, a client’s home or the trainer’s own yard. Afterwards the trainer notes what was practised, sets homework and sometimes sends a short video. Classes run in terms with a fixed number of weeks, and a missed week may or may not be made up.

Payment is usually for a package, paid up front or in instalments, and a client who books a second dog or a second course often expects a discount that must be remembered. Assistant trainers are paid per class or per hour, and a venue may charge hire by the session. Month end is slow.