Learning Hub · Policies
Vaccination Records
What does this policy do?
Every dog has a vaccination record under its owner's My Pets: the vaccine, the date it was given, the next due date, a note and a photo of the card. The owner adds the entries, and so can you from the Clients page. From those entries the app works out one status for the dog — no record, expired, expiring or valid. The status shows on your Pets page, on the owner's My Pets and on the client card your team opens; on the Clients page you see the entries themselves, with overdue ones marked, and a Send reminder button beside any dog whose record is not valid. This policy decides whether the app chases a missing or out-of-date record by itself. Both switches start off, saving sends nothing, and you can always send one reminder by hand from the Pets or Clients pages. A dog's record never blocks a booking.
How a dog's status is worked out
The status is worked out fresh from the entries every time; nothing stale is stored. The latest next due date on the record decides, so an old entry that was renewed later does not drag the dog down.
No record on file
No entries at all. Shown in red.
On file
Entries exist but none of them carries a next due date. This counts as valid, so no automatic reminder goes out for the dog. An entry without a due date beside one that has a due date is simply ignored.
Valid until a date
The latest next due date is still further away than the warning window. Green.
Expires in N days
The latest next due date falls inside the warning window. Amber. On every screen that window is 30 days; the Expiry warning (days) you set here is used only by the automatic reminders when they decide whom to chase.
Expired, with the date
The latest next due date has passed. Red.
Not the profile tick
The yes/no "fully vaccinated" answer on the pet profile plays no part in this status or in these reminders; only the entries on the record count. That answer has its own rules elsewhere: in My Pets a dog cannot be saved with it set to No, and the Vaccination Enforcement setting of your Client Registration policy can warn about or turn away a sign-up that answers No.
The two switches, and what each one sends
The card at a glance
The card shows Active when either switch is on. Its line reads "Auto every 30d" and "Boarding pre-check 14d" for whatever is on, or "Off — send reminders manually from Pets / Clients".
Automatic reminders
Once a day, in the ten o'clock hour UK time, the app goes through every active client of your business and every pet on their profile. It does not look at the species — a cat or a rabbit with no record is chased too, with the same dog-worded email. A pet whose status is not valid gets the reminder email, and a push if the owner has the app. The same pet is then left alone until the Repeat every (days) have passed since its last reminder — one you sent by hand counts too.
Remind before boarding & daycare stays
Shown only when your plan sells boarding or daycare — Sitter, Boarder and Pro, or Starter and Walker with the Boarding add-on; the Pet Sitting add-on does not bring it. The rest of the card is on every plan. Every upcoming stay is checked — boarding, daycare, pet sitting, and home visits, which run on the daycare engine — including a request you have not yet confirmed. Walks are left out, and a Meet & Greet has no stay to check. If the stay starts today or within the lead days and a dog on it has no valid record, the owner is reminded once for that stay and dog. This nudge does not wait for the repeat days.
Start reminders from
Neither switch sends anything before this date. If no start date has been saved, the field shows a date 30 days ahead. Clear the date and save, and there is no start gate at all.
The numbers
Repeat every: 7 to 365 days. Lead: 0 to 90 days. Expiry warning: 0 to 180 days. A number outside its range is pulled back to the nearest end when saved. Until you save, the card uses 30, 14 and 30.
Clicking a switch saves at once
Each switch saves the moment you click it, together with every setting on the card. Save settings keeps your edits without changing either switch, and never sends anything.
Who is never reminded
Owners with no email address, admin accounts, test accounts, and pets that are archived or at rest. A dog on a booking is only found when the booking carries the dog's id. A live-demo copy of a business sends nothing.
The email, the owner, and your team
The email on this card
The subject and body you save here are what the automatic reminders send, with {petName}, {firstName} and {businessName} filled in for each owner. It goes out through your own email set-up — or the platform's shared sender if you have none — wrapped in your business's email header and footer, and a push goes with it when the owner has the app and your push settings allow reminders. The card starts filled with the built-in friendly version; leave it as it is and that is what goes out — the same gentle wording for both switches, even before a stay.
The hand-sent reminder
Send reminder on the Pets and Clients pages opens its own dialog. It starts from the built-in wording — a gentle Dog walking version or an urgent Boarding version — and you can edit it before it goes. It does not pick up the email saved on this card. It needs the client to have an email address, contacts only that one client, and is sent only when you press the button.
What the owner receives
The gentle version says there is nothing to worry about and no deadline. The boarding version says the records are needed before the stay can begin. Both offer two ways to sort it: add it in the app, or reply with a photo of the card for you to add. The button in the email, and the push, open My Pets on the Vaccinations tab with Add Vaccination ready for the first dog on the list, set to Custom, so a photo can go straight on.
The owner's own record
In My Pets the owner picks the vaccine from a list or types a custom name, gives the date it was given (required), the next due date, a note and a photo. They can edit and delete their own entries. You see the same entries, and can add, edit or delete them, from the Clients page.
Your team
Staff see each dog's entries, with overdue ones marked, in the client details on their dashboard, and the status line on the client card they open from Messages. Only an admin can change this policy or send a reminder.
Tips
Set the start date a few weeks ahead and tell clients first: on the first ten o'clock after it, every client with a dog whose record is missing or out of date is emailed in the same run — except a dog you reminded by hand within the repeat period.
A reminder you send by hand resets the clock for that dog — the automatic one waits the full repeat period after it.
A record whose entries carry no next due date at all counts as valid and is never chased. Add the due date from the vet's card so the status means something.
With both switches on, a dog with a stay inside the lead window can get the regular reminder and the pre-stay nudge on the same morning.
The Expiry warning (days) here changes only who the automatic reminders chase. The amber "Expires in N days" on the screens always means 30 days.
Ask Gaia whether vaccination reminders are on — it reads this policy and tells an admin the repeat period, the pre-stay lead and the warning window.
Learning Hub • Vaccination Records