Running a dog grooming business presents its unique set of challenges. Managing appointments, grooming schedules, and client records takes careful attention. You also need to keep grooming histories and handle payments on time. It's a lot to coordinate.

With the right tools and resources, you can handle these tasks easily. This lets you focus on providing great grooming services for your dog clients.

One such innovative tool in the pet care industry is grooming software.

This article looks at the benefits of dog grooming software. We'll also review the top seven dog grooming software options for 2025. We will explain what grooming software is and how it can enhance the efficiency of your pet care business. We will also point out key features to think about when picking grooming software. Plus, we'll give tips on how to choose the best software for your business.

Dog grooming software helps pet grooming salons and mobile groomers manage their daily tasks easily. It automates tasks such as scheduling appointments, talking to clients, managing staff tasks, accepting deposits, and invoicing.

It often has features similar to other services like doggy daycare, pet sitting (also called dog boarding in a private home), dog training, and other pet care options. These features include:  

These features include:

• Client and pet profiles
• Grooming history tracking
• Mapping for mobile dog grooming
• Cancellation management
• Inventory management

Additionally, dog grooming software is similar to kennel software in that it can help with vaccination tracking and enforcement. The software makes administrative tasks easier, which boosts efficiency and organization. As a result, groomers can focus more on providing quality care to dogs.

Dog grooming software simplifies scheduling and invoicing for dog grooming salons and mobile groomers, streamlining their day-to-day operations.

Automating pet care services reduces human error and saves time, allowing your pet care business to thrive. Key automated tasks include matching a professional groomer with the right skill set, managing client 2-way communication with notifications and reminders, and handling cancellations automatically. These features are typically accessible through a well-designed pet owner portal. The software also organizes important information such as dog size, breed, hair length, disposition, vaccinations, and add-on grooming services.

Modern dog grooming software is web-based and hybrid, meaning it can run on any internet-enabled device, from desktop PCs to tablets and mobile phones. This allows management, staff, and pet owner clients to access the system from anywhere, at any time.

Here's how it works:

It's essential to ensure that software is specialized and well-suited for the specific needs of a dog grooming business. Often, appointments are managed by shifting them around based on the pet in question. The person handling this task must consider the pricing and duration of a full groom for over 100 different breeds, accounting for their hair length, size, and mannerisms. Some software programs claim that stretching, dragging, and dropping appointments on a day calendar is an easy way to manage bookings. But is it really?

The best grooming app eliminates unnecessary administration. When a pet owner wants to book their pets online, the process should involve as few steps as possible. If a vendor highlights an "abandoned booking list" as a key feature, consider how often users find themselves on that list and whether the online booking process is truly efficient. Pet owners don't have all day to figure out a complicated booking system. If it's not simple enough, they'll abandon it and call you instead, which is not ideal at 2 a.m.

A solution that already knows everything about the pet at the time of booking can reduce many steps automatically, including providing accurate pricing quotes, estimating the duration of the service, and determining how much the pet owner needs to pre-pay via a deposit to avoid no-shows and cancellations.  

Once a booking is made, your staff and pet parents can access their individual portals in the system simultaneously, from as many different devices as they require. Each of them is invited to the system, allowing them to access it whenever they need to:

If you want to book or cancel efficiently, it's important to understand that scheduling for dog grooming differs from other types of pet care. Good dog grooming software covers day appointment bookings while managing the availability of professional groomers with the right skills for each dog. 

Deposits made during online booking, special client pricing, and credits from paid packages and memberships should be automatically incorporated into generated bills, ensuring thorough and accurate billing practices.

Also, good dog boarding software creates fun and informative report cards for pet parents with plenty of pictures, videos and notes. Share them via email or SMS. 

A recent study revealed that approximately 75% of consumers prefer to text businesses rather than email or call. For example, a survey by Twilio found that 89% of consumers want to use messaging to communicate with businesses, and a separate study by Zipwhip revealed that 74% of consumers would prefer to text with businesses if a real person is texting back. This indicates a strong consumer preference for text messaging in business communications.

Good grooming software should offer this to effortlessly maintain this preferred method of communication. Usually this comes in a centralized user experience that organizes messages by context, whether it's for appointments, invoices, or other categories, ensuring seamless interactions with your clients on their cell phone.

The best grooming software will automatically calculate prices and appointment durations during online booking and invoicing based on your pet's details. Factors like size, hair length, and breed can be used to determine these calculations, making the process easy and accurate.

With over 160 different breeds potentially visiting a grooming salon, this feature eliminates the need for staff to memorize all the different prices, ensuring the right payment is received and the correct duration for a full groom is booked.

Having a robust reporting feature in dog grooming software is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it provides essential financial reporting and analysis tools, allowing your salon or mobile grooming business to track their finances accurately.

The ability to export data to popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Wave, and Sage streamlines the accounting process, saving time and reducing errors.

Additionally, the reporting feature enables businesses to track their complete transaction history, providing a clear picture of their financial health. It also offers projected revenue estimate based on booked events, because of the deep integration between scheduling and billing. The system can look ahead, helping businesses make informed decisions about future investments and strategies. Furthermore, the in-depth business analytics provided by the reporting feature offer valuable insights into key performance metrics, allowing businesses to identify areas for improvement and growth. The ability to generate revenue or estimated reports by client or service helps businesses tailor their offerings to meet specific customer needs. Overall, the reporting feature is essential for dog grooming businesses looking to optimize their operations and drive profitability.

Moreover, customizable notifications, such as those sent at checkout, allow businesses to provide personalized updates and information to clients, enhancing the overall customer experience. The software's picture and media sharing capabilities enable businesses to share photos and updates with clients, fostering a sense of trust and connection.

Additionally, the software's no-show reduction tools help businesses minimize missed appointments by implementing strategies to encourage clients to keep their scheduled appointments. Message templates further streamline communication by providing pre-written messages for common scenarios, ensuring faster and more consistent communication with clients.

Lastly, group messaging features allow businesses to send messages to multiple clients at once, improving efficiency and ensuring that important information reaches all relevant parties.

Of note, there are a couple of integrated options that can revolutionize the way your dog grooming business operates and markets to pet owners in your area.

EasyBusyPets.com supports these additional revenue streams through its integrated platform.

The list is therefore in alphabetical order. Where applicable, we have also included our Easy Busy Pets platform to showcase the value it offers, providing the functionality of multiple tools for the price of just one. For a full list of top dog grooming software features, click here.

So, what are the best kennel software programs available?

Easy Busy Pets

Groomer.io

GrooMore

GroomProPOS

MoeGo

Pawfinity

Savvy Pet Spa

123 Pet Software (by DaySmart)

Groomer.io

GrooMore

MoeGo

Pawfinity

Grade.us

Podium

Reputation.com ReviewPush ReviewTrackers

TrustSpot

Easy Busy Pets

GoDaddy 
Shopify

Squarespace

Weebly

Wix

WordPress

"Just try out a few and pick one that works with the way your brain works".

Six-Figure Pet Business Academy

• Features: Ensure the software offers the features you need, such as the right scheduling and billing.
• Ease of Use: Look for software that is intuitive and easy to navigate across all devices, including old ones.
• Customer Support: Choose a provider that offers reliable customer support.
• Integration: Check if the software integrates with other tools you use, such as google calendar or payment processors, to streamline your workflow.
• Pricing: Compare pricing plans to find one that fits your budget and offers the best value for your needs.

If you're new to the industry and unsure about setting a budget, it's essential to step back and create a comprehensive business plan for your dog grooming venture. While software is a crucial component, it's just one aspect of developing a successful dog boarding business.

Here at EasyBusyPets.com, we are dedicated to delivering the ultimate dog boarding software experience for business owners like you. If you're looking for an easy to use solution to streamline your dog grooming, kennel, boarding and doggy daycare operations, don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Our team is ready and eager to provide you with more information and help you take your business to the next level. Contact us today!