A named walker on every slot, a cap on how many dogs go out together, and owners moving their own days from a link instead of a message at ten at night. On the paid plans a regular walk books as a standing weekly slot, so next week stops being something you rebuild every Sunday evening.
Blu WalksBook online
Group walk1h · Jess$18.00
Solo walk45m · Sam$25.00
Block of ten walksUsed as it suitsBook
Next free8:00 AM11:30 AM2:00 PM
Thursday moved
By the owner
No message at ten at night
Block of ten
$180.00
Paid when it is booked
Key and vet
On the record
With the harness, per dog
Every one of these takes something out of the Sunday-evening rebuild and puts it somewhere both you and the owner can see it.
On the paid plans, Tuesdays and Thursdays at eleven books as a series with an end date, so the week is in the diary before it starts and a block that finishes in December frees its slots up on its own instead of staying claimed.
A group walk has a number, and it is the number of leads you can hold rather than the number of people who ask. Set the cap and the slot stops being offered when it is reached. On the paid plans anybody after that goes on a waiting list instead of being forgotten.
Every walker has their own hours, their own days off and their own list of what they take, so a reactive dog is never offered to the walker who takes groups. An owner books the person their dog already knows, not whoever answered.
On the paid plans, write your own questions and they arrive with the first booking: where the key is, the alarm code, the vet, whether he is fine off lead, what the harness is. It stays on the dog’s record for every walk after that.
The messages that actually cost you time are not new bookings, they are changes: working from home on Thursday, back late on Tuesday, can we do Friday instead. Every walk carries a link to move or cancel that one occurrence, so the owner does it herself and the standing arrangement stays intact. The slot she gives back goes onto the page for somebody else, and you find out when she does it rather than when you are already outside the house.
Chasing money is the other half of a walker’s admin, and it is the half that happens after the work. Take a deposit or the full amount at the point of booking through a payment provider you connect, so a block of walks is paid for before the first one. Invoicing is there for the clients you bill rather than charge, with paid, unpaid and overdue against each one and a reminder you can send without writing an email.
Quarter past eight on a Sunday. You are at the kitchen table writing next week out of a group chat, a notebook and about forty unread messages, because that is how every week starts. Two of the messages arrived while you were out on Friday and neither of them has an answer yet.
Wednesday at eleven has been agreed with two different people, four days apart, because there is no single place that knows what Wednesday already contains. The same evening happens every Sunday and it is not walking dogs.
Picktime caps the group at the number of leads you can actually hold and lets owners move their own days from a link, and on the paid plans it puts every standing walk in the diary as a series. Sunday evening stops being a rebuild.
A solo walk, a group walk, a half-hour puppy visit, and on the paid plans a block of ten, each with its real length and price. Set the cap on the group so the page can never sell more places than you have leads for.
Each walker’s hours, their days off and the dogs they take: groups, small dogs, reactive dogs, puppies. On the paid plans, put the key, alarm, vet and harness questions on the booking form so they arrive answered.
The booking page is a link, so it goes to the clients you already have, on your Facebook page and on your Google Business profile. From then on a change of day is something they do rather than something they message you about.
A walker is unreachable for exactly the hours people ring, because those are the hours you are out. Picktime’s AI receptionist answers around the clock, asks what days and what the dog needs, captures the owner’s details and turns the call into a confirmed booking, against the same availability your page uses, so it cannot put a fifth dog on a group walk that caps at four or offer a walker who is off. It handles several calls at once and hands over to a person when it should, and every call is transcribed into your dashboard, so an enquiry taken at eleven in the morning is something you can read at three.
The free plan is a plan, not a trial. There is no date at which it stops, no card to add, and nothing that quietly turns off in a fortnight.
Next week’s walks appear in whichever calendar you already check in the morning, and the paid plans sync it both ways, so a day an owner moves moves there too. PayPal on the free plan, and Stripe or Square on the paid ones, take the money for a block at the point it is bought, so nothing is outstanding.
There are free iOS and Android apps as well as the browser version, and the owner’s side needs nothing installed, which is what turns a group chat of twenty-two people into a link you send once.
It depends what you need it to do. The big pet-care platforms bundle scheduling with staff management and client apps and charge accordingly. If what you actually need is the schedule (a cap on the group, owners moving their own days and getting paid at booking), Picktime does that free, with standing weekly slots on the paid plans.
The best-known names are dedicated pet-care operations platforms. They are built for teams running rounds. A solo walker or a small team whose problem is the diary rather than the round will find a booking system does the job, and Picktime is free for one person.
Picktime’s free plan covers your own booking page, a cap on every group walk, owners booking and moving their own days, and a record per dog, with no card and no end date on the plan. Standing weekly walks and your own questions on the form are on the paid plans.
Yes, on the paid plans. Tuesdays and Thursdays at eleven books as a standing series with a last date, so the week is in the diary before it starts and a block that finishes frees its slots without anybody clearing them out.
Yes. Set the cap and the slot stops being offered once it is full, so the page can never sell more places than you have leads for. On the paid plans, anybody asking after that goes on a waiting list and is offered a place if one comes back.
Yes. Every walk carries a link to move or cancel that one occurrence, so an owner working from home on Thursday moves Thursday and the standing arrangement stays exactly as it was. You find out when she does it rather than on the doorstep.
Yes. Take a deposit or the whole amount at booking through a payment provider you connect, so a walk is paid for before it happens; on the paid plans a block of ten is paid for before the first one. There is invoicing for the clients you bill instead, with paid, unpaid and overdue against each.
That turns on your area and on what the day actually includes, and inventing a national average to answer it would help nobody. Overnight boarding, a full day of daycare and two drop-in visits are three different products at three different prices, and charging one rate across all of them is the commonest way sitters lose money on the longest jobs. Set each one up as its own service here, with its own length and its own price, so the number gets decided once rather than at every booking.
Price it off the walk you are actually selling rather than by doubling the hourly rate. A two hour walk usually means fewer walks fit in the day, and a solo walk and a group walk are different products even at the same duration, so those two facts do more to the number than the clock does. Both can sit on your booking page as separate services with their own price and their own cap on how many dogs come along, which is what stops the rate being worked out on somebody’s doorstep.
Cover A whole week of visits booked in one action, with the feeding notes asked once.
See pet sitting scheduling
Day places A capped number of places a day, sold as a pack and used on standing weekdays.
See doggy daycare scheduling
Classes A six-week course that caps at eight, sold as a course rather than a session.
See dog training schedulingFree forever for a walker working alone. No card, no trial clock, and next week can be in the diary tonight.
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