Dog Walking Scheduler

Who counts as a walker

The main walker, plus every active staff directory entry with a name in the Walkers, Dog Walking or Owner category. Someone you set up here who is in no such category is not counted unless they are the main walker.

Working days

Tap the days the walker works. A day they do not work has no walks for them. A client's new-booking calendar follows one walker, their designated walker or else the main walker, and closes the weekdays that walker does not work. The client's edit of an existing booking follows their designated walker if they have one; otherwise, like your own booking screen, it closes a weekday only when no walker offers that kind of walk that day. The 'When a team member is off' rule reads these working days too.

Daily walk slots

Each slot is one walk: group or solo, a start and end time, an optional label. A group slot takes 'max dogs per group walk' dogs, a solo slot 'max dogs per solo walk'. A day's capacity is those numbers added up across every slot of every walker working that day. The 'walks per day' numbers are kept but not used in that sum.

Capacity Enforcement

On, which is the default. A full day is then refused wherever the server checks: a new booking, the client's or your own, and the monthly repeat fill, on a plan that includes walking capacity; a date the client adds to a booking, or a day they move to another service, on every plan; and your own change of the dogs on one walk date. The client reads 'Sorry, this date is fully booked' or 'Only N spaces left on this day', and the booking calendar shows the day as full first. Off, those doors no longer refuse a full day (your one-date dog change warns instead), though the booking calendar still closes a day with fewer spaces left than the dogs being booked. A weekday with no slots is closed on the calendar, and refused wherever the server checks.

AM, PM or no preference

The client picks AM, PM or no preference on each date; the booking carries that choice when every date agrees, otherwise no preference. A service can lock the choice. AM is checked against the earliest slot of the day and PM against the latest; no preference against the slot with the most room. The day is the limit, not the slot: an AM or PM walk may run over its own slot while the day still has room, and both Daybooks mark that walk 'Over cap'.

Solo walks

The Solo Walks switch decides whether solo services are offered at all: off, they are hidden from the booking screen's service list, the client's and your own. A solo walk is booked by the hour inside a solo window; where the plan includes capacity, an hour already taken that day is not offered again. Solo capacity is 'max dogs per solo walk' per solo slot, which is 1 unless you raise it.

Open to Any Timeslots

Per walker. On, the walker's whole working day, 06:00 to 20:00, becomes one slot, and the daily slots are kept but ignored. Because it is one slot, it holds one walk's worth of dogs for the day: 'max dogs per group walk' for group walks, 'max dogs per solo walk' for solo.

Designated dog walker

Give a client a designated walker here. It is saved on the client's record as the walker's own sign-in, and never for a client who has left. Their new-booking calendar then follows that walker's days and hours, and closes a day that walker has no room on, even when another walker has. When a walk date is confirmed with no walker on it, that walker is put on it, unless one of the client's dogs has its own Primary walker, who wins. Nothing checks leave at that moment: the 'When a team member is off' rule deals with it afterwards.

Holidays

A walker's approved or pending holiday takes them out of the day: their capacity is 0 and the Capacity screen shows OFF. Walks already on them stay in the day's count. The 'When a team member is off' setting flags those walks for you to move, or moves them automatically if you chose that.

What counts as booked

Every walk date of a booking that is not cancelled, pending requests included; a date cancelled on its own leaves the booking's dates, so it no longer counts. A Test Walk counts as a group walk. A service with more than one walk a day takes that many slots, the earliest first. A service whose spaces are set to 0, such as a comfort break, takes none. A date on the extra walk counts on the extra walk only.

Plans

The policy is shown to every plan that walks: Starter, Walker and Pro, and Sitter or Boarder with the Dog Walking add-on. Walking capacity is included from the Walker plan: Walker, Pro, and Sitter or Boarder with the Dog Walking add-on. On a plan without it, which is Starter, the rota still shapes the calendar and the solo switch still hides solo services, but the capacity switch and the capacity fields are shown locked with 'Capacity is included from the Walker plan.', the calendar never asks about space, so full days and taken solo hours are not shown, and a new booking and the repeat fill take every date as far as capacity goes. The client's own edit of a booking and your one-date dog change still ask.

Saving

Only an admin account can save. A save writes every walker's settings, keeps a walker's saved slots rather than wiping them when none are sent, and records what changed and who changed it on the policy. A business registered for walking starts with this policy on: the owner as the walker, Monday to Friday, two group walks at 09:00–12:00 and 12:00–15:00, 6 dogs a walk, and solo walks of 1 dog.