A pet boarding booking request form that answers the first questions
A boarding request needs more than dates. Whether you can take the booking depends on the pet, its temperament, what care it needs and whether its vaccinations are current. Asking up front saves a phone call and a surprise at drop-off.
What should pet boarding businesses ask first?
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What are the drop-off and pick-up dates, and roughly what times? | Availability comes first, and holiday weeks fill early. |
| What kind of pet, what breed, and how old? | Size and age decide which run or room the pet needs. |
| How does your pet get on with other animals and with strangers? | It decides group play or solo care, and whether you can take the booking at all. |
| Has your pet stayed at a boarding facility before? | A first stay may need a trial day or a meet-and-greet. |
| Does your pet take any medication, or need a special diet? | Staff need to know before drop-off, not at it. |
| Are your pet’s vaccinations up to date? | Many facilities will not accept a pet without current records. |
If an answer would not change what you do next, leave the question out. Each extra question is one more reason for someone to stop before they finish.
Ask whether vaccinations are current and ask for the records at drop-off or through your usual channel. Do not ask for the pet’s full history in the request; it is a booking, not a vet visit.
Which answers come back too vague to use, and what do you ask next?
The answers that cause a phone call are rarely missing. They are present and too loose to act on. A narrower follow-up, asked straight away while the person is still there, usually settles them. Offering likely answers shows the person the level of detail you need.
| What comes back | The follow-up that settles it |
|---|---|
| “She’s friendly.” | Has she spent time with dogs she didn’t know, and how did that go? |
| “Just the usual food.” | Will you bring her food, or would you like us to feed what we use? |
| “Next weekend.” | Which day would you drop off, and which day would you pick up? |
Follow up once per gap, then move on. If an answer is still unclear after one follow-up, flag it for whoever picks the request up rather than pressing.
When is a call or a visit still the right move?
A first-time guest with a nervous or reactive temperament, or a pet with complex medication, is worth a call or a meet-and-greet before you confirm. Everyone else can be confirmed from the request, with staff knowing the pet, its needs and its routine before the owner walks in.
How do you set this up from the Appointment request template?
Acquainto has a Appointment request template to start from. After you sign up, open Browse templates, pick Appointment request, and it lands in the editor as a draft you can change before anything is published.
This template is built for the job. It asks who the appointment is for, an email and a phone number, whether the person has been before, a day and a time of day, and branches on that first-visit answer: a first-time visitor is asked what they would like looked at and what to know before they arrive, a returning one what the visit is about and what has changed. For boarding, make “who it is for” the pet, change the day and time to drop-off and pick-up dates, and add temperament, medication and vaccinations to both branches.
To see it from the other side, answer a demo built from the questions on this page. It is a demo: your answers come to Acquainto, not to a business, so leave out real names and contact details.
Acquainto runs it as a short written conversation instead of a form. It:
- asks a follow-up when an answer is incomplete, and asks for clarification when one is vague;
- uses a structured choice where precision matters and open conversation where detail matters;
- shows the person every answer before it is sent, so they correct their own mistakes;
- hands back one clean value per question, delivered to your own systems by webhook.
The person answering needs no account, and nothing has to be scheduled. Start free trial, see how it works, or compare plans.