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How to get vaccine records before the dog arrives

Where to start this week, how owners can send a record in a minute, how to keep records tidy in Gmail and Google Drive with no portal, and what it looks like when it all runs on its own.

From Thor at Boldwright

Time
20 minutes to start, an hour for the Gmail setup
Cost
Free from your phone
Works with
7 grooming apps, or just your phone
Skill
Copy, paste and one setting
A groomer walking a curly-coated dog in from the back door on an orange leash at drop-off.
Drop-off should be about the dog. When the records came in yesterday, there's nothing to look for at the door.

Glad the post brought you here. If drop-off sometimes turns into a hunt through an owner's phone for a vet PDF, you're in good company. You're grooming, answering the phone and keeping the schedule on time, all at once. Chasing paperwork at the door is one more job you didn't sign up for.

Most of it can move earlier. You ask when they book, you make it easy for owners to send, and you keep the expiry date so you only ask again when it runs out.

One honest note. Nobody has published a study on asking for records ahead of time, and no national rule says what a groomer has to collect. Rabies is covered by state and local law, and which other vaccines you require is your call. What's below is a sensible routine plus the exact settings in the tools you already use, checked against each tool's own help pages.

There are three levels. Start wherever you are. Each one makes drop-off calmer, and none of them is the wrong place to be.

  1. GoodAsk by text when they bookOwners reply with a photo of the certificate. You save it and note the expiry date.Your part: about a minute per booking.Start here
  2. GreatRecords file themselvesWith a grooming app, records go on the pet profile and the app flags what's missing. With no portal, Gmail and Google Drive sort them into one folder and a sheet shows what's expiring.Your part: an hour or so to set up, then a quick weekly look.Set it up
  3. BestIt runs on its ownThe ask, the nudge and the expiry reminder go out by themselves, records land on the dog's file, and you only hear about the ones that need a person.Your part: the exceptions. Getting here takes real setup work.See what that looks like

Rather we set it up for you?

This is part of the Boldwright starter package. We set up the records request, the nudge and the expiry reminders to go out on their own, from your number, in your words, in a week or less.

Have Boldwright set it up

$297 setup, then $70 a month once you've seen it work. No contract. Cancel by text.

Step 1

Before you start

Four decisions, made once. After that, every booking follows the same routine.

  • Decide your list. Rabies, plus whatever else you require for grooming, such as Bordetella or DHPP. Check your state, county and city rules for rabies, then write your list down and use it for every dog.
  • Pick your cutoff. Some shops ask for records 48 hours before. Some cancel if proof isn't in 24 hours before. Pick one, say it when they book, and keep it.
  • Decide what happens when records are missing. Reschedule, or groom only with the vet's confirmation by phone. Decide now so you're not deciding at the door with a dog on a leash.
  • Pick one place records live. The pet profile in your app, or one folder on your phone with the dog's name on each photo. Wherever it is, write the expiry date next to it.

Step 2

Write your texts

Fill in your details once and the texts below update. Nothing here leaves your browser. A photo of the vet certificate is the easiest thing for an owner to send, so ask for exactly that.

When they book

The request comes with the good news, not as a surprise later. Offering the vet as a route helps owners who never kept the paperwork.

Two days before, only if nothing came in

Once is enough. If they still don't send it, call or decide by your rule from Step 1.

If they're not sure how to send it

Some owners have the record but no idea how to get it off their phone. This gives them three easy routes in one text.

When the records arrive

Owners like knowing it's done, and that you'll remind them. Now write the expiry date down.

30 days before a record expires

A month's notice gives them time to book the vet. Change "rabies" to whichever record is expiring.

Step 3

Make it easy for owners to send

Owners want to help. Often they just don't know where the record is or how to get it to you. Here are the routes that work for almost everyone, so you can point them to the easiest one.

  • A photo of the paper certificate. Ask them to lay it flat in good light so the dates and the vet's signature are readable. Any owner with a phone can do this.
  • A PDF the vet emailed them. They can forward that email straight to your records address.
  • A PDF saved on an iPhone. Open it, tap the Share button, then choose Message or Mail and send it to you.
  • A pet health app from their vet. Apps such as PetDesk show vaccine records in the app. A screenshot of the record screen works, as long as the dates and clinic name show.
  • Straight from the vet. Some owners find it easiest to call the clinic and ask them to email the record to you. Give them your records email to pass on.

What a current rabies record shows. The standard US form (NASPHV Form 51) has the dog's name and description, the owner, the vaccine product and lot number, whether it's a 1-year or 3-year vaccine, the date given, a Next Vaccination Due By date, the rabies tag number and the vet's name and signature. Check that the dog matches and that the due-by date is after the appointment. Write that date down. It's the one you'll remind them about.

Good

Ask by text and keep it on your phone

This is a great place to start, and plenty of excellent groomers run this way for years. It takes about a minute per booking.

  • Save the texts as shortcuts. On iPhone: Settings, General, Keyboard, Text Replacement, tap +, paste the text and give it a shortcut like ;vax. Android keyboards have a similar feature in their dictionary settings.
  • Send the booking text when you book. Ask for a photo reply.
  • When the photo comes in, save it to a Records album and name it with the dog's name. Put the expiry date in the dog's contact card, or in a simple Google Sheet: owner, dog, record, expiry.
  • Add a calendar reminder 30 days before each expiry date. When it pops up, send the 30-day text.
  • Prefer a form? A Google Form with a File upload question works, but Google makes the owner sign in to a Google account to upload. A text or email reply skips that step.
A mobile groomer clipping a schnauzer on the table inside his van, with clippers hung on the wall behind him.
Mobile groomers have no front desk at all. A photo in the thread is the front desk.

Great, with no portal

Gmail and Google Drive as your records desk

No grooming app with a client portal? You can still have records filing themselves using a free Gmail account and Google Drive. It takes about an hour to set up on a computer. After that, records arrive in one place, get saved to one folder, and a sheet shows you what's expiring.

Tip: use one email address just for records, such as a new Gmail address, so nothing gets lost in your main inbox.

  • Sort incoming records automatically. In Gmail on your computer, click the Show search options icon in the search box. Enter words records usually contain, such as rabies OR vaccine OR certificate, and click Search to check what matches. Then click Create filter, choose to apply a label such as "Vaccine records", and click Create filter again. New records now land under that label. Google's help describes this on a computer.
  • Save your booking ask as a template. In Gmail on your computer, go to Settings, See all settings, the Advanced tab, and click Enable next to Templates, then Save Changes. Write the booking text from Step 2 as an email, click More options, Templates, Save draft as template. Next time, insert it from the same menu. Templates only work in Gmail on a computer, not the phone app.
  • Save each record to one Drive folder. Create a folder in Google Drive called "Vaccine records". When a record arrives, open the email, hover over the attachment and click Add to Drive. Rename it so you can find it later, for example "Biscuit - Chris L - rabies - due 2027-03-14".
  • Keep a simple sheet of expiry dates. In Google Sheets, make columns for owner, dog, record, due-by date and phone. Select the due-by column, go to Format, Conditional formatting, choose Custom formula is, and enter =AND(D2<>"",D2<=TODAY()+30) if your due-by dates are in column D starting at row 2. Pick a colour. Any record due within 30 days, or already past, lights up.
  • Share it with your team. In Drive, select the folder, click Share, add a teammate's email and choose Editor, so they can add new records too. Do the same for the sheet.
  • Once a week, look at the sheet. Text the owners whose rows are lit up, using the 30-day text from Step 2.

Great, with a grooming app

Set it up in your grooming app

If you already use one of these apps, it can do a lot of this for you. Built in means the app collects records itself, by upload or on the pet profile, and can hold bookings until they're in. Partly built in means you can add the request to its messages or forms, but some steps stay manual. Each set of steps comes from that app's own help pages.

A groomer brushing a small terrier on a grooming table, with a brush and spray bottle beside him.
Set it once in your app, and records are waiting on the pet profile before the dog is on the table.

Jump to your app

MoeGoGingrDaySmart PetPetLinxVagaroSquare AppointmentsBooksy
MoeGoBuilt in

Online Booking settings are on desktop only. Automated client reminders about expiring records (Workflows) need the Growth or Ultimate plan.

  1. Go to Settings, Clients & Pets, Pet Vaccines. Edit each vaccine and set it to Required. Use Care type restriction to apply it to grooming.
  2. Go to Online Booking, Settings, Questions. Under Pet, click Add Question and pick Vaccine.
  3. Edit the Vaccine row and choose Based on Vaccine Settings. Set Vaccine Expiration Date and Vaccine Document Upload to required.
  4. Turn on Required to Answer for the whole question. Without it, clients can skip the section.
  5. To add your request to the booking message, go to Settings, Auto Message. Open Appointment Booked and use Edit SMS / Email Content.

On each appointment, a syringe icon turns red when a required vaccine is missing or expired, and yellow when one expires within 30 days.

On desktop, Appointment Booked isn't sent automatically. MoeGo asks whether to send it after you create the appointment.

Checked against MoeGo help docs, October 2026.

GingrBuilt in

No plan requirement is listed for uploads or immunization settings. Text messages are a separate add-on with its own fees.

  1. Go to Admin, Immunizations. Under Immunization Types, click +Add for each vaccine, mark it required, pick the species and click Save.
  2. Go to Admin, Reservation and Appointment Requests. Under System-Wide Settings, set Require Valid Immunizations Records before customers can request reservations to yes.
  3. Clients upload records in the Customer Portal: the paw-print Account button, then Upload Records. They can also email them to your @shots.pet address.
  4. To email owners before records expire, go to Admin, System Email and turn on Send Vaccination Reminder Email. It goes out 30 days before a required vaccine expires.

Careful: Gingr warns that turning on the vaccination reminder emails every customer whose pet already has an expired record. Clean up old records first.

To edit the booking text, go to Admin, System SMS and edit New Reservation SMS. The body is limited to 145 characters, so use a short version of the first text.

Checked against Gingr help docs, October 2026.

DaySmart PetPartly built in

Client uploads work through Digital Forms, which are on the Deluxe plan and up, not Basic. Texts send only once your Twilio registration is verified.

  1. Set required vaccines under More, Vaccinations. Click +, add the vaccine and check This Vaccination is Required for your grooming services.
  2. For uploads: in the Appointment Book, go to More, Forms, click +, and add a File Upload field and a Date/Time field for the expiry. Set the form to be required each time an appointment is booked, then Activate Form.
  3. Under Forms, Settings, set Required Form Notifications to Text Message or Both.
  4. To add your line to the booking message: More, Settings, E-mail & Texting, Reminders And Notifications. Edit the message and click Save Message.

DaySmart shows alerts to your team from 3 months before a vaccine expires. Its help pages don't describe a notice to the owner, so send the 30-day text yourself.

Checked against DaySmart Pet help docs, October 2026.

PetLinxPartly built in

The online portal needs an Online Portal Subscription. Texts need a PetLinx Online Sending account with prepaid credits and a registered number.

  1. In each pet's Vaccinations grid, tick the vaccine and set the Vaccinated and Expires dates. Attach the certificate with the + button.
  2. For a warning when you book, tick Prompt about expired or missing compulsory vaccinations in Form Settings.
  3. To remind owners automatically, open the Messaging Center and turn on Vaccination Expiring with a template.
  4. Add your records request to the Grooming Booking template in the SMS Template Editor, then turn on Groom Booking Confirmations in the Messaging Center.

Clients can enter vaccination details in the BookMy.Pet portal. PetLinx's help pages don't describe clients uploading a certificate file there, so ask for a photo by text.

Checked against PetLinx help docs, October 2026.

VagaroPartly built in

Forms is a paid feature at $10 a month, and file uploads also need Vagaro Drive from $10 a month. Vagaro has no vaccine tracking, so expiry dates stay manual.

  1. Activate Forms, and activate Vagaro Drive under Settings.
  2. In Forms, create a form and drag in File Upload. Turn on Required Field.
  3. In the form's Settings, turn on Form is Mandatory When Booking for your grooming services and Require Vagaro Login, then Publish.
  4. To ask in the booking email too: Settings, Booking, Email & Text Notifications. Type your request under Include this message in appointment emails and click Save.

You can only add a message to Vagaro's emails, not its texts. Send the nudge and the 30-day text from your phone.

Checked against Vagaro help docs, October 2026.

Square AppointmentsPartly built in

Custom notifications and automatic forms need Appointments Plus or Premium, or the advanced bookings add-on. Square doesn't track vaccines.

  1. Go to Appointments, Settings, Communications. Under Customize Notifications, pick the booking confirmation and add your records request. Click Save.
  2. Optional: under Calendar & Booking, Online Booking Preferences, choose Business must accept or decline all appointment requests, so you can accept once records are in.
  3. When an owner texts a photo, save it to their profile: Customers, Customer directory, the profile, Notes and files, Add file.

Square only allows reminder-style wording in notifications, not promotions. A records request is fine.

Checked against Square Appointments help docs, October 2026.

BooksyNot built in

Booksy's help center doesn't describe uploads, vaccine tracking or editing its confirmation text.

  1. Add a note to each grooming service: Services Setup, Services & Combo Services, pick the service, and under For Client write a Message to Client such as "Please send your dog's vaccine records before the visit."
  2. Send the booking text from Step 2 yourself, and keep records on your phone as in the next section.

Checked against Booksy help docs, October 2026.

Best

It runs on its own

This is the version that asks the least of you: you groom, and the paperwork turns up before the dog does. It's within reach for a small shop. It isn't one setting, though. It means connecting your booking tool, your texting number and your records, and watching the first few weeks closely.

Here's what the fully automatic version does:

  • The ask goes out the moment someone books, with your list of records and your cutoff.
  • Records land on the dog's file whether they come in by text, email or upload, with the due-by date saved.
  • A gentle nudge goes out two days before only if nothing came in. Owners who already sent theirs hear nothing more.
  • A reminder goes out a month before a record runs out, so owners can book their vet in time.
  • You hear only about the exceptions: a record that's expired, unreadable, or for the wrong dog. Everything else is handled.

How small shops get there: MoeGo and Gingr cover a good part of this inside the app. Joining up the rest, such as texts from your own number and records sent by email, is the work. We build this kind of loop for small businesses: it checks the booking system on a schedule, drafts each message, holds it for a quick approval, and sends a weekly summary. It's what the Boldwright starter package sets up for you.

Step 4

Check it worked

  • Book a test appointment under your own name and mobile number, with a pretend dog.
  • Check that the booking text arrives, names the right records, and gives the right cutoff.
  • Forward a test PDF to your records address and check the Gmail label is applied. Then save it to Drive and add its date to the sheet. A date within 30 days should light up.
  • Reply with a photo, or upload one through your app. Make sure you can find it again in under ten seconds.
  • Check that the expiry date is saved where you'll see it when you book the dog next time.
  • Read every text out loud. If something sounds stiff, change it now.

If something's off

Common snags

"My vet has it, can't you just call them?"

Sometimes, yes. Ask the owner to have the vet email it to you, which saves you the hold music. Some shops accept a vet's confirmation by phone. Decide your rule once and keep it.

The record they sent is expired

Thank them, say which record has run out and when, and point back to your rule from Step 1. Two days' notice leaves time to sort it out, which is kinder for everyone than finding out at the door.

New clients don't know they need records

Put your list on your booking page and in the first text. The point is that nobody finds out at drop-off.

Isn't this a hassle for owners?

A photo from their phone takes less time than hunting through emails at your door.

Is it okay to text owners about this?

A text about their own appointment, from the groomer they booked, is about as welcome as a text gets. Get their OK at booking, keep texts about the appointment, and stop if they ask you to. Promotional texts to a list have stricter rules in the US. This isn't legal advice.

Want the records chasing to happen on its own?

We're a small, new shop in Denver, and this is the kind of thing we set up for people: the records request when they book, the nudge if nothing came in, and the expiry reminder a month out, from your number, in your words. You keep grooming. The paperwork turns up before the dog does.

Talk to Boldwright

Starter package: set up in a week or less. $297 setup, then $70 a month once you've seen it work. No contract. Cancel by text.