Software for pet sitters and dog walkers

Pet sitting runs on trust and keys. Before you walk anyone's dog or stay in their home over Thanksgiving, you need to know the pets, have a signed agreement, hold permission to take the dog to a vet, and agree on how the key comes back. Then the billing: five walks a week for one client, a 10-night holiday stay for another. SoloWOS handles the agreements and the invoices. Daily walk scheduling and GPS reports belong to a pet-care app.

From the meet-and-greet to the first walk

1. A neighbor books a free 30-minute meet-and-greet at their home on your booking page. The booking asks for the address and the pets' names.
2. Before you go, a pet info form: feeding, medications, walking quirks, the vet's name and phone, an emergency contact.
3. At the meet-and-greet you pick up the key or learn the lockbox. The service agreement goes through E-Signatures: services, cancellation policy, what happens if the pet is sick, how keys are kept and returned.
4. Send the vet release in the same envelope: the owner authorizes you to take the pet to their vet and sets a spending limit for emergencies (for example $500; the amount is yours to agree).
5. For regular walks, set a weekly invoice to repeat with five 30-minute walks as one line. It goes out every Monday with the pay link.
6. For a holiday stay, send a proposal with nights, drop-in visits and a holiday rate, plus a 50% deposit to hold the dates (example terms).

A typical week in November

• Monday: weekly walk invoices go out on their own for your six regular clients.
• Tuesday: three meet-and-greets booked for Thanksgiving stays. Each family fills out the pet info form first.
• Wednesday: two Thanksgiving proposals accepted; the deposits are paid by card and those dates are yours.
• Thursday: a new client signs the agreement and vet release before Saturday's first visit.
• Friday: one regular pays by Venmo using the details on the invoice; you mark it paid by hand.

All 13 tools, one by one

How a pet sitter or dog walker uses each tool:

• Link in Bio: A page on Nextdoor and Instagram with the meet-and-greet booking, your rates and the holiday stay request form, with a holiday block you show only in November and December.
• Short Links: The QR code on the business card you leave after each visit and on the flyer at the dog park, with clicks counted per card.
• Forms: The pet info sheet: food, meds and times, leash and door behavior, the vet, an emergency contact. Answers land on the client's contact for every visit.
• Scheduling: Free meet-and-greets at the client's home, with the address asked in the booking and a reminder email. No recurring bookings, so daily walks stay on your calendar.
• Proposals: Quotes for holiday and multi-night stays with nights, drop-ins, a holiday rate and a deposit, accepted online before you block the dates.
• E-Signatures: The service agreement with your key and lockbox policy and the vet release with an emergency spending limit, both signed before the first visit.
• Document Tracking: Your policies and a welcome packet as a tracked PDF, so you see whether the client read the cancellation rules before the holidays.
• Screen Recording: No use on walks. Useful for showing a backup sitter, on screen, how you book clients and send invoices.
• Notes & Boards: A page per pet with routines and vet details, and a board for the holiday season: requested, quoted, deposit paid, done. Keep door and alarm codes in a password manager.
• Time Tracking: Barely needed when you charge per walk or per night. Helps if a stay turns into hours of extra care, such as a pet recovering from surgery.
• Invoicing: A weekly invoice that repeats for regular walks, deposit and balance invoices for stays, and your Venmo or Zelle details printed for clients who pay that way.
• Expenses: Treats, poop bags, leashes, pet sitter insurance, background check fees and mileage between visits, with receipts.
• Automations: Email the pet info form when someone books a meet-and-greet, and send a thank-you with a review link after a holiday stay's invoice is paid.

Licenses, insurance and hiring walkers

• Business licenses: the SBA notes that cities and counties set their own licensing and permitting rules. If pets stay in your home, check local rules on boarding or kennels too.
• Hiring help: if you add walkers, the IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the relationship to decide whether they're employees or independent contractors. Behavioral control covers whether you direct how, when and where the work is done.
• Many clients ask about insurance and bonding. If you carry coverage, say so in the agreement.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Acuity: which fits

Pet-care apps such as Time To Pet, and marketplaces such as Rover, are built around pet sitting; we couldn't confirm their current prices and features for this page, so check their sites. Many independent sitters start with a general booking tool instead.

Choose Acuity or a pet-care app if:

• Clients book walks themselves on a schedule and you want text reminders.
• You need walk reports, photos or GPS for each visit, which SoloWOS doesn't have.

Choose SoloWOS if:

• You set the walk schedule with each client, and what you need is the signed agreement, the vet release, holiday quotes with deposits and invoices that repeat.
• You'd rather keep your own clients than pay a marketplace for each booking.

Acuity's price and plans were checked on October 17, 2026 on its own site; check their site before you decide. See Acuity Scheduling vs SoloWOS.

Start with these three

E-Signatures with your service agreement and vet release, Invoicing with a weekly repeating invoice for each regular client, and Forms for the pet info sheet.

Free tools that help

• Mileage deduction calculator for the drives between visits.
• Freelance rate calculator to set a per-walk rate.
• Business days calculator to count the weekdays in a month of walks.
• Receipt generator for a client who pays cash.

What SoloWOS won't do for a pet sitter

• No recurring bookings and no bookings longer than 8 hours, so overnight stays are quoted and invoiced, not booked.
• No GPS walk tracking, visit reports with photos, or client app.
• No automatic card charging and no text reminders.
• No marketplace: SoloWOS won't send you new clients.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.