Do not create a group programme as a Regular service on Services. A service is one appointment: a groom, daycare, a stay or 1:1 training. Your team enrols pets in a course from Courses, not from the Appointments New Appointment form.
Start here: Creating your first course template.
Where to find Courses
Courses is in the sidebar under What you sell, and moves up beside Appointments once your business has an upcoming course. Its New menu holds every course action:
Action | What it does |
New Course Template | Creates a reusable blueprint for your programmes |
Publish New Course | Schedules a dated course from an existing template |
Enrol pet(s) | Adds pets to a published course |
Enrol in Rolling Course | Sells or books rolling class lessons, and shows while you run rolling classes |
If your plan does not include courses, Publish New Course and Enrol Now carry a lock, and selecting them offers an upgrade.
Courses and services
A course is a multi-lesson programme with a schedule, a capacity, a location and an instructor, and several pets enrol in the same published run.
Use this | For this |
Courses and a course template | Puppy school, scentwork, obedience, agility, or any fixed group programme |
A Regular service on Services | One appointment, including 1:1 training, a groom, or daycare |
Creating the template creates the lesson service. Do not add a Lesson or Regular service by hand for the group class. Services does not list the lesson service: you manage it through the template's own tabs.
How a course is built
A course has three levels:
Level | What it is | What it holds |
Course template | Your course catalogue: a programme you offer again and again | The course name, Maximum Capacity (1 to 50 pets), how often the lessons repeat, the number of lessons, the session duration, the Course Price for the whole course, and who can book |
Course | One scheduled class with real dates and enrolled pets | Its dates, the team member who teaches it, the location, the enrolled pets and its status: Upcoming, In Progress or completed |
Lesson | One class meeting, also called a session | Its lesson number, date and time, duration and status: Completed, In Progress, Upcoming or Up Later |
Each enrolment takes one place across every lesson, so Maximum Capacity is your class size.
Create a course template
Create the template once, from Courses, then refine it at any time.
Open Courses, select New, then New Course Template.
On Basic Information, enter the Course Name, choose the Service Category, and set the Course Price and Session Duration. Description is optional. Select Next.
On Course Structure, set the Maximum Capacity and the Number of Occurrences, and choose how often the course repeats.
Optional: under Name Your Sessions, give each session a title. Select Next.
On Booking & Team, choose whether to Enable Self-Service Booking, and select the Team Members who can teach it.
Select Create Course Template.
To change the template later, select Manage on its card on Courses, then Manage Template.
Tip: Name the template so it is clear what it is, include its length, such as "6-Week Puppy School", and mention the level if it has one, such as "Advanced Obedience".
Set the class size and the lessons
Change the capacity, the pattern or the number of lessons on the template's Course Structure tab.
Open Courses, select Manage on the course template, then Manage Template.
Choose Course Structure.
Set the Maximum Capacity, choose the Recurrence Pattern (Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly or Custom), and set the Number of Occurrences.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
Size the class to your space, your instructor's experience and safety:
Class size | Pets | Suits |
Small | 4 to 6 | Personal attention |
Medium | 8 to 10 | A good balance |
Large | 12 and more | Basic programmes |
Tip: Enrolment stops at the template's Maximum Capacity, but the room you hold the class in should take the whole group at once. Set the resource's Pets at a Time, on its Capacity tab, to at least your class size. See Creating Your First Course Template.
When you plan the days and times, keep them consistent for your customers, allow for your customers' own week, account for holidays and closures, and leave time between sessions to clean up. Lesson buffer time is on the template's Duration & Timing tab.
Set who can enrol
Age, breed and other rules decide which pets can join the course. They sit on the template's Who Can Book tab.
Open Courses, select Manage on the course template, then Manage Template.
Choose Who Can Book.
To limit by age, switch on Age Restrictions and set the Minimum Age and the Maximum Age.
Optional: to limit by breed, select Edit Breeds beside Included Breeds or Excluded Breeds.
Optional: to require an earlier course or assessment first, switch on Require Prerequisite Service under Course Prerequisite.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
The same tab holds Eligible Animal Types, Weight Restrictions (kg) and the badges a pet must have or must not have. See Service prerequisites for how a prerequisite works. Vaccination requirements are on the template's Policies & Paperwork tab, under Health & Safety Requirements, as Require vaccination certificate.
When a course has a minimum or maximum age, a customer booking it on your self-service form is asked for their pet's birthday if it is not on file. Petboost needs the birthday to check the age before the booking goes ahead.
Let pet owners enrol online
Your team can always enrol pets from Courses. Pet owners can enrol themselves only when the template allows online booking.
Open Courses, select Manage on the course template, then Manage Template.
Choose Booking Settings.
Under Self-Service Booking, switch on Online booking.
Optional: switch on Team member selection to let customers choose their preferred instructor.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
On your public booking form, pet owners tap Courses, not Services, to find the course.
Publish your first course
Open Courses, select New, then Publish New Course.
On Course Setup, choose the Course Template, the Team Member and the Location, then select Next.
On Scheduling, set the Start Date and Start Time, and check the lesson dates. Select Next.
On Review & Publish, select Publish New Course.
The link Create New Course opens Publish a New Course directly, so you can bookmark it or share it with your team. Follow Publishing Courses for availability checks, then Managing Enrollments to enrol pets, and Course Lifecycle to track attendance and plan future courses.
Related articles
Creating Your First Course Template: step-by-step first-time setup
Publishing Courses: create courses from templates
Managing Enrollments: enrol pets and manage class capacity
Course Lifecycle: track progress and manage active courses
Course FAQ: common questions and troubleshooting
Instructors are set up on Team Members, where their availability and capacity live, and course locations on Resources. Enrolled customers and their pets are on Customers & Pets, and course lessons show as appointments on Appointments. Your business-wide Booking Settings, Notifications and Automatic Actions are in Settings, and each course template has its own tabs of the same names.
Need help? Contact support or select Get Help in your dashboard to chat with our team.