Built around the real mobile grooming day.

Start with the entire mobile grooming day.

A mobile appointment is affected by drive time, service area, arrival window, dog needs, equipment, staff or van context, client expectations, payment state, and what follows next. OpenDog is designed around those connected decisions instead of treating every booking as an interchangeable square on a calendar.

• Review route fit before confirming new work.
• Keep the dog and client attached to the stop.
• Carry invoice and follow-up context through the visit.
• Give the owner a clear place to inspect exceptions.

Keep the business in control of confirmation.

OpenDog is request-first. A public request can collect useful client, dog, service, address, timing, and consent details, but it does not silently create a confirmed appointment. The business reviews service area, route fit, availability, timing, and pet needs before accepting the work.

• Customer interest enters a review queue.
• The owner or team confirms the actual fit.
• Route changes remain visible and deliberate.
• Public pages do not expose the authenticated staff workspace.

Treat the dog record as working context.

Breed alone does not explain a groom. OpenDog keeps the client relationship, dog profile, care and handling notes, appointment history, services, and relevant visit context connected so the person doing the work can prepare from the record instead of memory or a private text thread.

• Keep multi-dog households explicit.
• Put handling and care notes where the visit can use them.
• Preserve history without turning old notes into silent policy.
• Limit sensitive information to what the business is authorized to keep.

Make setup reviewable—not magical.

Services, prices, durations, hours, service areas, staff access, booking rules, payment expectations, websites, and imports all need owner judgment. OpenDog uses guided setup and review-first paths where available. Suggested or imported information remains something a person checks before it changes the live business.

• Start with the active clients, dogs, services, and upcoming work that matter most.
• Use a small representative import before a full file.
• Test the first route, request, visit, invoice, and rebooking decision with sample data.
• Keep the old workflow available until the new one has been reconciled.

Draw a bright line between live and planned.

Clear product language matters. Confirmation and reminder email workflows are live. SMS, including on-my-way texts, remains Coming Soon and should not be treated as available today. Stripe, maps, email delivery, and other connected services also retain their own account, processing, approval, availability, and cost boundaries.

• Describe what is available now in plain language.
• Label planned or provider-dependent work before a buyer relies on it.
• Keep owner decisions separate from automated suggestions.
• Recheck current pricing, provider terms, and product status before launch.

Keep money close to the appointment without hiding the edges.

OpenDog connects invoices, recorded payments, balances, receipts, eligible deposits, refunds, and rebooking to the grooming workflow. Supported online card entry and processing use Stripe after required setup. OpenDog is not a bank, payment processor, tax adviser, payroll system, or full accounting ledger.

• Show draft, sent, paid, and balance-due states clearly.
• Never collect complete card details in notes, support messages, or imports.
• Reconcile Stripe payouts, disputes, and processor activity in the connected account.
• Use exports and an accounting professional for the books the business requires.

Design for the owner and the person in the field.

The owner needs setup, route, staff, records, invoices, reports, website, and exception visibility. The groomer needs the next stop, dog, service, address, timing, care notes, and permitted actions without an owner-sized control room on a phone. OpenDog separates those responsibilities through authenticated roles and focused views.

• Give each person an individual account.
• Use the least role that fits the job.
• Test the real phone and desktop paths before launch.
• Deactivate access when a person or device leaves the business.

Earn trust with proof and careful limits.

OpenDog be judged by the workflow it can show, the claims it can explain, and the limits it states before a buyer commits. Public pages use clearly described sample product data rather than invented testimonials, customer counts, revenue outcomes, review scores, security badges, or competitor rankings.

• Ask to see one complete grooming-day scenario.
• Separate sample data from real customer evidence.
• Verify security, import, support, and provider requirements directly.
• Choose the product only after it fits the way the business actually works.

Workflow

What OpenDog is trying to protect.