By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

Intake Forms for Pet Services: What Groomers, Boarding Facilities, and Trainers Need to Capture

The American pet industry crossed $150 billion in annual spending in 2024 and shows no sign of slowing down. Pet grooming, boarding, daycare, and training have evolved from informal neighborhood services into professionalized businesses with real liability exposure, staffing requirements, and regulatory considerations. Yet the intake process at most pet service businesses has not kept up. A groomer working from a clipboard with the pet’s name and the owner’s phone number is operating without the documentation that protects the business when something goes wrong — and in pet services, things go wrong in ways that no other industry quite replicates.

The fundamental challenge is this: the client is not the patient. The person signing the form and paying the bill is not the one receiving the service. The pet cannot communicate its medical history, behavioral triggers, pain, or anxiety. Everything your staff needs to know about that animal must come from the owner’s disclosure at intake — or from your own observations documented in real time. That makes the intake form the single most important document in any pet service operation. It is where owner-reported history meets professional assessment, and where liability protection either exists or does not.

Why pet service intake is uniquely complex

A plumber shows up and the homeowner says “the kitchen faucet is leaking.” The plumber can see the leak, diagnose the cause, and fix it. The homeowner can describe the problem accurately because the homeowner experiences the problem directly. Pet services do not work this way.

An owner brings a dog in for grooming and says “he’s fine with baths.” That may be true. It may also be true that the dog panics when a dryer is pointed at its face, has a hot spot under the left ear that hurts when brushed, and has bitten a groomer before — at a different shop the owner stopped going to. The owner may not be lying. They may genuinely not know, or may not think those details are relevant. Your intake form is what surfaces that information before your groomer is alone with a stressed animal and a pair of scissors.

Pet services also carry a unique bundle of documentation requirements that no single other trade faces:

• Vaccination verification — boarding and daycare facilities universally require proof of rabies, distemper, and bordetella. Many require canine influenza. You need a system for recording vaccination dates, verifying currency, and flagging expirations before the next visit.
• Behavioral history — aggression, anxiety, reactivity to other animals, escape behavior, resource guarding. These are not personality quirks. They are liability fields that determine staffing ratios, housing assignments, and whether you can safely accept the animal at all.
• Medical conditions and medications — a dog on blood thinners cannot be nicked during grooming without serious consequences. A cat on thyroid medication needs its pill at 2 PM even during a boarding stay. A dog with hip dysplasia cannot be housed in a kennel that requires jumping up onto a raised bed.
• Emergency authorization — when the owner drops off a pet for a week of boarding and then flies to another time zone, and the pet has a medical emergency at 10 PM on a Tuesday, who authorizes emergency veterinary treatment? Who pays for it? Your intake form is where that authorization exists — or does not.

Grooming intake: more than coat type and clip style

Grooming is the pet service where physical contact is most sustained and most invasive. A groomer handles every part of the animal — ears, paws, face, underbelly, rear — for an extended period, often using sharp tools, hot dryers, and running water. The potential for injury, stress reactions, and aggression is built into the service itself. Your grooming intake form needs to capture far more than the owner’s preferred haircut.

Coat condition and history. Breed and coat type are the starting point, but they are not enough. You need to know: Is the coat currently matted? How severely? Has the pet been groomed professionally before, and how recently? A dog that has not been groomed in eight months and arrives with severe matting is a completely different appointment than a dog on a six-week rotation. The matting conversation — including the possibility that a severely matted coat may need to be shaved rather than brushed out — should happen at intake, not on the grooming table when the owner is already gone.

Skin conditions and sensitivities. Hot spots, fungal infections, flea allergy dermatitis, dry skin, recent surgical sites, lumps or growths the groomer should avoid. These are conditions the owner may not volunteer unless specifically asked. A groomer who discovers a bleeding hot spot mid-bath, with no prior documentation that the owner disclosed the condition, faces a much harder conversation than one who documented it at intake and adjusted the service plan accordingly.

Aggression triggers and handling notes. Does the dog bite when its feet are touched? Does it snap when water gets near its face? Does it panic in the dryer? Has it ever bitten a groomer, a vet tech, or a stranger? These questions are uncomfortable to ask. They are far more uncomfortable to answer after an injury. Your intake form should include a direct, specific behavioral section: known bite history (yes/no), areas of the body that provoke a reaction, known triggers (loud noise, water, restraint, other dogs in the salon), and whether the pet has been muzzled during previous grooming.

Preferred styles and standing instructions. Beyond the obvious breed cut or custom clip, capture details that prevent misunderstandings: nail trim included or declined, ear cleaning, anal gland expression (some owners want it, some explicitly do not), teeth brushing add-on, cologne or no cologne. These seem minor until a customer picks up their poodle and says “I told you not to express the glands,” and there is nothing in the file one way or the other.

Boarding and daycare intake: the 24-hour responsibility

When a pet stays overnight, your documentation requirements multiply. You are not providing a one-hour service. You are assuming custody of a living animal for days or weeks. The intake form for boarding and daycare needs to function as a comprehensive care manual for each animal in your facility.

Feeding schedule and dietary requirements. Brand and type of food (owner-supplied or house food), portion size, frequency, any supplements or toppers, food allergies or intolerances, feeding method (bowl, puzzle feeder, slow feeder, hand-fed for resource guarders). Does the pet eat in the presence of other animals, or does it guard its food? A dog that resource-guards its food bowl cannot be fed in a communal area — and that is a staffing and space-planning decision that starts at intake.

Medication administration. If the pet takes medication, your intake needs to capture: medication name, dosage, administration schedule, administration method (pill in food, pill pocket, liquid syringe, topical, injection), and what to do if the pet refuses the medication. This is not a veterinary intake — you are not diagnosing anything. But you are accepting the responsibility to administer prescribed medications on schedule, and your documentation needs to reflect exactly what that responsibility entails. For overlap with veterinary documentation standards, veterinary intake forms capture similar medication and allergy fields from the clinical side.

Behavioral profile for group housing. Boarding and daycare facilities need to make housing and playgroup decisions for every animal. Your intake should cover: socialization with other dogs (friendly, selective, reactive, aggressive), socialization with people (friendly with all, timid with strangers, aggressive with men/women/children), separation anxiety (destructive behavior when left alone, excessive barking, escape attempts), and escape behavior specifically. An “escape artist” checkbox is not paranoia — it is a legitimate safety field. Dogs that can climb fences, open gate latches, or squeeze through gaps in fencing are a known category, and losing a boarded pet is a business-ending event.

Comfort items and routines. Does the pet sleep with a specific blanket or toy? Does it need a nightlight? Is it crate-trained and does it prefer to sleep in a crate? These details reduce stress for the animal and reduce nuisance barking and destructive behavior for your facility. Capturing them at intake also signals to the owner that you take individualized care seriously — which is a retention factor in a competitive market.

Emergency veterinary authorization. This is the field that separates a professional boarding operation from someone watching dogs in their backyard. When the owner is unreachable and the pet needs emergency veterinary care, your intake form must establish: the owner’s primary veterinarian (name, clinic, phone number), an authorized emergency contact who can make medical decisions for the pet, a spending limit for emergency treatment (or explicit authorization for “whatever is necessary”), and the owner’s preferred emergency veterinary clinic if different from their regular vet. Without this authorization documented at intake, your staff faces an impossible decision: provide emergency care and potentially face a billing dispute, or delay care and potentially face a negligence claim. Neither option is acceptable. The intake form eliminates the dilemma. For more on emergency authorization in service businesses, the same principles apply across any industry where after-hours decisions must be made without the client present.

Vaccination proof requirements. Every boarding facility requires proof of vaccination, but your intake process determines how rigorously you verify and track it. Capture: rabies vaccination date and expiration, DAPP/DHPP date and expiration, bordetella date and expiration, canine influenza (if required by your facility), and the name of the administering veterinarian. Build a system that flags upcoming expirations before the pet’s next reservation — sending a reminder 30 days before a boarding date that vaccinations need updating is far better than turning away a customer at drop-off.

Training intake: behavior, liability, and household dynamics

Dog training intake is the most nuanced of all pet service intakes because the information you need goes beyond the animal itself. Training outcomes depend on the household environment, the owner’s consistency, other animals in the home, and the specific behaviors that prompted the owner to seek training in the first place. A training intake form must capture the full picture.

Behavioral issues and training goals. Why is the owner seeking training? The answer is rarely simple. “He pulls on the leash” may be the presenting complaint, but the underlying issues might include reactivity toward other dogs, resource guarding at home, separation anxiety that manifests as destructive behavior, or a bite incident that scared the owner into finally calling a trainer. Your intake should list common behavioral issues with checkboxes (leash pulling, jumping, barking, counter surfing, digging, chewing, house soiling, aggression toward dogs, aggression toward people, separation anxiety, resource guarding, fear/phobia) and then provide space for detailed narrative. The checkboxes get you started. The narrative is where the real information lives.

Bite history. This is a liability field, full stop. Has this dog ever bitten a person? Another animal? When, where, what were the circumstances, what was the severity, was medical attention required, was an animal control report filed? A dog with a documented bite history is not necessarily a dog you refuse to train — but it is a dog that requires specific handling protocols, additional liability documentation, and potentially a different pricing tier. Failing to ask about bite history at intake, and then having an incident during training, is the scenario that generates lawsuits. The question must be on the form. The answer must be documented.

Previous training methods. Has the pet had prior training? With whom? What methods were used (positive reinforcement, balanced training, e-collar, prong collar, clicker training)? What worked and what did not? This matters because a dog that was previously trained with aversive methods may have learned associations that affect how it responds to your approach. A dog that shuts down when corrected needs a different protocol than a dog that has never been trained at all. Previous training history prevents you from repeating what has already failed and helps you set realistic expectations with the owner.

Household dynamics. How many people live in the home? Ages of all household members, especially children under 10? How many other pets, and what species? Who is the primary caretaker of the dog? Who will be responsible for practicing training exercises between sessions? Is everyone in the household on board with the training plan, or is one person undermining the process? Training is a household intervention, not just an animal intervention. Your intake form should capture the human side of the equation as thoroughly as the canine side.

The veterinary overlap: fields every pet service shares

Regardless of whether you are grooming, boarding, or training, certain veterinary-adjacent fields belong on every pet service intake form:

• Spay/neuter status — affects housing decisions (boarding), hormonal behavior (training), and heat cycle timing (all services).
• Known allergies — food allergies, environmental allergies, medication allergies. A boarding facility feeding a dog chicken-based kibble when the dog has a chicken allergy is a preventable incident.
• Current medications — name, dosage, schedule, purpose. Even if you are not administering the medication, knowing that a dog is on anti-anxiety medication or seizure medication affects how you handle it.
• Chronic conditions — diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, Cushing’s disease, arthritis. These conditions affect exercise tolerance, stress tolerance, dietary requirements, and emergency response.
• Primary veterinarian — name, clinic, phone number. You need this for vaccination verification, medical emergencies, and medication questions.

These fields create a baseline medical profile that every staff member interacting with the animal should be able to access. They are not diagnostic — you are not practicing veterinary medicine. They are informational, and they are essential. Veterinary clinics and animal hospitals, of course, need intake that goes far deeper — capturing clinical history, emergency triage data, surgical consent, and diagnostic workups that pet service businesses never touch. For a look at how veterinary clinic intake forms handle that clinical layer, see our dedicated guide.

The bite and aggression liability problem

Across all pet services, the single highest liability exposure is an animal that injures a person or another animal. A groomer bitten by a dog with no documented behavioral warnings has a workers’ compensation claim and potentially a negligence claim against the business. A boarding facility where one dog injures another in a playgroup, with no intake documentation about either dog’s aggression history, faces liability from both owners. A trainer whose client’s dog bites a neighbor’s child during an outdoor training session has an exposure that could end the business.

Your intake form is your first line of defense. It establishes that you asked the right questions. It documents what the owner disclosed — and what they did not. It creates a record that your staff used the owner’s disclosures to make informed handling decisions. And it provides the basis for refusing service to animals that present an unacceptable risk.

The behavioral section of your intake form is not a formality. It is a legal document. Treat it accordingly. Every well-designed intake form includes the fields that protect the business when a service goes sideways — and in pet services, behavioral disclosure is the field that matters most.

Why the intake + questionnaire split works for pet services

The distinction between an intake form and a client questionnaire is particularly valuable in pet services. The intake form is the internal document your staff completes: pet condition at drop-off, staff observations, behavioral notes during the service, any incidents or concerns. The questionnaire is what the owner fills out: medical history, behavioral disclosures, emergency contacts, service preferences, and signed authorizations.

This split matters because it creates two independent records. The owner states on the questionnaire that the dog “has never shown aggression.” Your groomer notes on the intake form that the dog lunged and snapped during nail trimming. Those two documents together tell a complete story that neither document tells alone. The owner’s disclosure (or failure to disclose) is documented. Your staff’s professional observations are documented. If an incident occurs later, you have both the owner-reported history and your own contemporaneous record. For a deeper look at how these two documents work together across industries, see the 15 fields every intake form needs.

The questionnaire is also where authorizations, acknowledgments, and signatures belong. The owner’s signature on the questionnaire confirms that they disclosed known behavioral issues, authorized emergency veterinary care, acknowledged the risk of matting removal or dematting, consented to the recurring service agreement terms, and accepted the cancellation and no-show policy. These authorizations do not belong on the staff-facing intake form. They belong on the client-facing questionnaire, signed by the owner, filed for reference.

Pet services that skip intake and should not

The businesses most likely to skip formal intake are the ones with the most to lose from doing so.

Mobile groomers. A mobile groomer working alone in a van, at the client’s home, with no backup staff and no facility to retreat to if an animal becomes aggressive. Mobile groomers face every risk that salon groomers face, plus isolation. An intake form is not optional for mobile grooming — it is a critical safety document.

Dog walkers and pet sitters. A dog walker entering a client’s home to leash a dog they have never met, then walking that dog in a public space around other dogs and people. Without an intake form covering behavioral triggers, leash reactivity, recall reliability, and escape tendencies, the walker is operating blind. Pet sitters face the additional complexity of overnight stays, medication administration, and emergency decision-making — all without the infrastructure of a boarding facility.

Doggy daycares. Some daycares rely on a “temperament test” as their only intake process. A temperament test is valuable, but it is a snapshot of behavior in a controlled setting. It does not capture the owner’s knowledge of the dog’s history: previous fights, resource guarding at home, escape behavior, medical conditions that affect group play. The temperament test should be the second step. The intake form is the first.

Pet boarding in home settings. The rise of platforms connecting pet owners with in-home boarding hosts has created a large population of small-scale boarding operators with no formal intake process at all. A host accepting a dog into their home — alongside their own pets, their children, their furniture — without documenting vaccinations, behavioral history, feeding requirements, and emergency contacts is absorbing risk they may not even recognize until something goes wrong.

Building intake into the pet service workflow

The best pet service intake process captures information at three points: before the first appointment (questionnaire sent to the owner), at drop-off (staff observations on the intake form), and after the service (notes on behavior, condition, and any incidents). This three-touch approach creates a documented record that protects the business, informs the staff, and builds the service history that makes every subsequent visit smoother.

A fillable PDF intake form makes this process practical for businesses of any size. The owner completes the questionnaire at home, where they can check vaccination dates and think through behavioral questions without the pressure of a busy lobby. Your staff completes the intake form at drop-off, adding their own observations to the owner’s disclosures. The filed set — questionnaire plus intake — becomes that pet’s permanent record.

Pet owners spend thousands of dollars a year on their animals. They choose providers they trust. A professional intake process signals that you take their pet’s care as seriously as they do — and it gives you the documentation to back that up when it matters.