Every grooming, boarding, and daycare business needs two documents working together: a liability waiver that sets expectations and protects the business, and an intake form that captures the information needed to care for an animal safely. Done badly — a vague form, a missing signature, no record of who agreed to what — they protect nothing. Done well, they prevent disputes, keep pets safer, and give you a clear record if something goes wrong. This is general education, not legal advice; have an attorney review your actual documents. But here is what belongs in them.
Acknowledgment of inherent risk
A core function of a liability waiver is to make sure the client understands and accepts that working with animals carries inherent, unavoidable risks even when everyone does everything right — a dog can react unpredictably, an existing condition can flare, animals interacting carries some risk. This is not about excusing negligence; it is about establishing that the client knowingly accepted the normal risks of the service. Clear, honest language here prevents the "I had no idea anything could happen" dispute.
Vaccination and health requirements
Your intake should require and record proof of the vaccinations you mandate — for boarding and daycare that typically means rabies plus core vaccines and Bordetella; for grooming, usually rabies at minimum. Capturing vaccination status protects every animal in your care and is a basic disease-control measure. The waiver should make clear that the client attests their pet is healthy and up to date, and that you can refuse service to an animal that is not.
Emergency medical authorization
One of the most important clauses: what happens if a pet has a medical emergency while in your care and you cannot reach the owner. A good intake authorizes you to seek veterinary care, names the owner’s preferred vet, and clarifies that the owner is responsible for the costs of treatment. Without this, you can be caught between a suffering animal and no authority to act. Capture emergency contacts and a spending threshold the owner is comfortable with.
Behavior, health, and special-needs disclosure
The intake form is where you learn what you are dealing with: bite history, anxiety, aggression, medical conditions, medications, allergies, dietary needs, and any handling quirks. This information keeps your staff safe and lets you care for the animal properly. Make it easy for owners to disclose honestly, and record it where the staff working with the animal will actually see it. An undisclosed bite history that injures a groomer is exactly what a thorough intake prevents.
Capture it digitally with a real signature trail
A waiver scribbled on paper and lost in a drawer does little when you need it. The practical upgrade is digital intake and waivers signed online before the appointment, stored against the client’s record with a timestamp. That gives you a clean, retrievable trail of exactly what each client agreed to and when, ties the disclosures to the pet’s profile so staff see them, and removes the friction of paper forms at check-in. When your operating system handles intake and waivers as part of booking, the protection is automatic instead of something you hope someone remembered to collect.
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