A service is one appointment: a groom, daycare, a stay, or a 1:1 training session. You create those on Services with Add New then New Service, and staff book them from Appointments with Create then New Appointment.

A course is a multi-lesson group programme with a class list, capacity, and attendance: puppy school, scentwork, obedience, agility. You create those on Courses. Do not create a Regular service for a group course.

Rolling classes also live on Courses. Use Enrol in Rolling Course, not a Regular service.

No. Go to Courses and select New then New Course Template. After the template exists, select New then Publish New Course.

Creating a Regular service (or a Lesson service) for a group class puts it in the wrong place. Staff will not find it in the way courses are enrolled, and the New Appointment Services list still will not treat it as a course.

Use a Regular service only for a single appointment, including 1:1 training. See Creating your first course template.

The staff New Appointment form lists Regular, Initial, Add-on, and Stay services. It never lists courses.

To enrol a pet:

If the course is not in that enrol list, publish it first: New then Publish New Course.

Vaccination and other Who Can Book rules can block a specific pet at enrolment. They are not why the course is missing from the New Appointment Services picker.

On the public booking form, pet owners tap Courses, not Services. The course appears there only when the template has Enable Self-Service Booking on (Booking Settings).

Courses is in the main left sidebar navigation. Look for it alongside Appointments, Customers, and Services.

Can't see Courses? The feature may need to be enabled for your account. Contact support.

Start with Creating your first course template. It covers template setup and capacity for group classes.

Courses are multi-lesson group programmes with a fixed schedule, a class list, and attendance. Use them for puppy school, scentwork, obedience, and specialised workshops. Create and enrol them on Courses, not on Services.

Course Template:

Course Instance:

Capacity is determined by your course template and resource settings:

Typical group class sizes:

Consider instructor experience, space size, and training complexity when setting capacity.

This usually means your Resource capacity is lower than your Service resource capacity.

To fix:

See Creating Your First Course Template for detailed capacity setup instructions.

When you create a course template (via Courses → New → New Course Template), set the capacity to your desired class size (not 1).

Your Resource (training room/facility) also needs sufficient capacity. Both values must accommodate your group size. You can adjust the template at any time by clicking "Manage Template".

Go to Courses → "New" → "New Course Template" and follow the prompts. Once created, refine it at any time by clicking "Manage Template".

Go to Courses → "New" → "Publish New Course" and follow the 3-step process:

The course is immediately available for enrollments after publishing.

Before the course starts (Upcoming):

After the course starts (In Progress):

After the course completes:

You have several options:

Yes! You can publish multiple instances of the same template:

Example: "Puppy School" template can become 3 separate Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday classes.

Go to Courses → New → Enrol pet(s), then:

The pet is enrolled for all lessons in the course.

Common reasons:

Yes! Multiple pets from the same customer can enrol in the same course if:

Tracking:

Make-up options:

Define your make-up policy clearly when selling courses.

Yes. On a lesson appointment, select Manage, then Cancel Enrolment. You can also open the pet's attendee menu on the course page and select Cancel Enrolment. See How do I cancel a single enrolment?.

If the first lesson is Payment Declined, void that invoice first, then cancel the remaining lessons. See What if the first lesson payment declined?.

During each lesson:

Attendance tracking helps monitor engagement and follow up on absences.

The Course Notepad is for recording:

These notes help improve future courses and communicate with customers.

Places you hold back by hand on the course's Temporarily Reserved Places tab. They:

Common scenarios:

Indicators:

Best practice: Check your courses dashboard regularly, especially before lesson days.

Yes, though it's better to plan carefully to avoid cancellations:

Before starting:

After starting:

Always communicate clearly and handle any refunds per your policy.

While there isn't a built-in waitlist feature yet:

For upcoming courses:

For in-progress courses:

During course creation:

For existing courses:

Course templates automatically create the underlying service configuration:

Pets must meet the template's eligibility requirements to enrol in the course.

Instructors:

Locations:

Course pricing is:

Example: 6-week course at $300 vs. $60/lesson = $360 (saves customers $60)

Pricing and discount management:

Check:

Verify:

Common causes:

Review:

Depends on demand and capacity:

Monitor enrolment rates to optimise frequency.

Recommended timeline:

This gives customers time to plan and commit while maintaining momentum.

Factors to consider:

Start conservative and adjust based on success.

No. Once a course moves to In Progress status (at least one lesson date has passed), it cannot be deleted outright. This protects attendance records, enrolment history, and any payments already processed.

What you can do instead:

After cancelling:

Tip: If the course has not yet started (still Upcoming), you have full flexibility to cancel or reschedule freely. Plan carefully before the first lesson to avoid complications.

Setting up group classes requires configuring capacity in two places: the course template and the resource (location).

Step 1: Set template capacity

Step 2: Set resource capacity

Capacity rules at a glance:

The lower of the two values always wins. Both must accommodate your intended group size.

Adjusting capacity later:

See Creating Your First Course Template for the full step-by-step setup guide.

Petboost does not have a built-in automated waitlist feature yet, but you can manage demand effectively with these approaches:

Manual waitlist tracking:

Proactive alternatives:

Best practice: Review your waitlist notes regularly. High demand for a specific programme is a strong signal to increase your course frequency or class size.

Petboost does not automatically detect public holidays when generating lesson schedules. You are responsible for reviewing and adjusting the schedule during course creation.

During course creation (recommended):

For an existing course (Upcoming status):

For an existing course (In Progress status):

Tip: Before publishing any course, cross-reference the lesson dates against your local public holiday calendar. A few minutes of checking up front saves significant rescheduling later.

You can remove or reschedule an individual lesson without affecting the rest of the course.

To reschedule a single lesson:

To skip a lesson entirely:

If you need to cancel a single session (e.g., instructor illness, venue unavailable) without rescheduling:

Important considerations:

Yes. Petboost supports transferring an enrolled pet from one course instance to another.

How to move an attendee:

Requirements for the destination course:

Common scenarios:

What happens after the move:

When a pet misses a lesson, there are several steps to take.

Immediate actions:

Make-up options to consider:

Repeated absences:

Best practice: Define your absence and make-up policy clearly before the course starts. Include it in your enrolment confirmation or welcome message so customers know what to expect.

Yes, though make-up sessions are managed outside of the standard course structure. Petboost does not have a dedicated "make-up session" feature, but you have several practical approaches.

Option 1: Join another course instance

If you run multiple instances of the same course template (e.g., Monday and Thursday Puppy School), a student who missed Monday's Lesson 3 can attend Thursday's Lesson 3 instead. Before the lesson, select Move to Another Course on the pet's card and choose Select Sessions to move just that lesson. Lessons that have already passed cannot be moved.

Option 2: Schedule a private catch-up

Book a one-off appointment for the pet through Appointments. This works well for courses where content builds progressively and missing a lesson would leave the pet behind.

Option 3: Provide self-study materials

Share lesson notes, training instructions, or video recordings with the customer. Update the Course Notepad to record that materials were sent.

Option 4: No make-ups offered

If your policy does not include make-up sessions, ensure this is communicated clearly at enrolment. A clear policy avoids misunderstandings and refund requests later.

Tip: Whichever approach you choose, document it in your Course Notepad so you have a record of how each absence was handled.

Yes. When enrolling pets via Courses then New then Enrol pet(s), all pets belonging to the selected owner are displayed and you can select multiple pets at once.

Requirements for multi-pet enrolment:

Practical considerations:

Multi-pet discount: Petboost does not have an automatic multi-pet discount. If you wish to offer one, apply a manual discount during enrolment (contact support for the current process).

Attendance is tracked on a per-lesson basis within each course instance.

Recording attendance for a lesson:

Viewing attendance history:

Using attendance data effectively:

Best practice: Check pets in and out, and update the Course Notepad, immediately after each lesson while details are fresh. This builds a complete picture of each pet's journey through the programme.

This is one of the most common questions for new users. Understanding the distinction is key to managing courses effectively.

Course Template (the blueprint):

Course Instance (the scheduled class):

How they relate:

Key rule: Capacity is read from the template. If you change the template's capacity from 8 to 10, every course published from it, including courses already running, allows 10 pets.

Staff enrol from Courses. Pet owners can enrol themselves only when the template has Enable Self-Service Booking on.

Staff enrolment (every course):

Do not use Appointments → Create → New Appointment. That form does not list courses.

Pet-owner enrolment:

If Enable Self-Service Booking is off, the course does not appear in the public Courses list. Staff still enrol from Courses.

If someone phones or emails to enrol, complete the same staff steps. Do not create a Regular service so it appears on the New Appointment form.

If you can't find the answer to your question here, contact support or click the "Get Help" button in your dashboard to chat with our team.

"Course not appearing in list"

"Can't publish new course"

"Enrollment failing"

"Lesson dates not generating correctly"

Cancel an entire course (all remaining lessons):

What happens:

⚠️ Note: This action cannot be undone. For individual lesson changes, reschedule instead.

You can cancel one pet from a lesson appointment or from the course page. Both open the same form.

From a lesson appointment:

From the course page:

What happens:

Past Paid lessons stay on the roster. Voided lessons also stay, marked Voided. They are not selected again.

If the first lesson is Payment Declined, void that invoice before you cancel the rest. See What if the first lesson payment declined?.

Course payment sits on lesson 1. If that card is declined, you choose whether to write the invoice off or keep chasing it. Writing it off does not take the pet off the remaining lessons. You still cancel the enrolment after the void.

If you want to write the invoice off and remove the pet from the remaining lessons:

If the first lesson is already voided: skip Void Invoice. Select Manage, then Cancel Enrolment, and cancel the remaining lessons. Do not void again.

If you want to collect the declined payment: do not void. Stay on the first lesson invoice and chase the card or take payment there. The pet stays enrolled until you cancel the remaining lessons.

Transfer an enrolled pet to another course:

The destination must be based on the same course template and have at least as many remaining lessons as you are moving. Full and in-progress courses are hidden unless you turn on Show Full Courses or Show In Progress Courses under Options.

What happens:

Common use cases:

Change the dates/times for a course:

What happens:

No. The Service Supporter role cannot:

Service Supporters can:

See Roles & Permissions for full details.

Rolling classes sit on Courses under Rolling Classes. The create form heading is Create Rolling Class and shows a Beta badge.

To enrol a pet later, select Enrol in Rolling Course.

Open the template and select Archive Template. Templates are never hard deleted. Select Unarchive Template to bring one back.

Need help? Contact support or click the "Get Help" button in your dashboard to chat with our team.