Clients & Pets
Mark a pet as Do not book
Sometimes you can't take a dog any more, after a bite, a safety issue or an unpaid bill. Turn on Do not book for that pet and Chester blocks it from every booking, keeps your reason private to your team, and shows the pet owner a polite note instead.
The short version
- Open the client, then edit the pet.
- Turn on Do not book and write a reason only your team sees.
- Save, and the pet can't be added to any booking until you turn it off.
On your phone
- On the Clients tab, open the client.
- Tap the ··· button at the top and choose Edit Client.
- On the pet's card, turn on Do not book.
- Add a note under Reason (team only), if you want one.
- Tap Save, and Chester lists the pet's upcoming bookings.
- They stay on the schedule but can no longer be moved.
- Open a booking to cancel it if you need to.
- Tap Done to close the list.
On the web
- Click Clients in the left menu, then click the client.
- On the pet's card, click Edit.
- Scroll to Booking and turn on Do not book.
- Add a note under Reason (team only).
- Chester lists the pet's upcoming bookings, with a link to open each one if you want to cancel it.
- Click Save changes.
What your client gets
- No email or notification. Turning the switch on or off sends nothing.
- When they request a booking, the pet shows greyed out with "Please contact [your business] to book [pet]". They never see the words Do not book, or your reason.
Good to know
- It blocks every way in. New bookings, recurring series, extending a series, duplicating, adding a household to a group walk, scheduling a pack and accepting a request all refuse the pet. When you extend a series, duplicate a booking or accept a request that has other pets on it, Chester offers to go ahead without the blocked pet, for example Extend without Max or Accept without Max. Scheduling a pack leaves the dog off.
- Upcoming bookings stay put. Neither you nor the pet owner can move them, but you can still cancel them.
- Your team sees why. A red Do not book pill shows after the pet's name on the client page, and your client list shows a red line, for example "Max: Do not book".
- On the phone the reason shows on the pet's card. On the web, hover over the pill or open Edit to see it. The edit screen says who turned it on and when.
- Who can change it. Anyone with the Manage client records permission (owners and staff by default). Contractors see the pill and the reason but can't change it.
- The reason is optional, up to 500 characters. Turning Do not book off deletes it.
- It's per pet, not per household. To stop working with a whole household, archive the client instead.
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