For solo home boarders
Home Dog Boarding Software for Solo Boarders: $24/mo, 0% Commission
Updated July 2026
You already know the job: multiple dogs at once, drop-offs and pickups at every hour, a waiver and vet info for each one, owners who want to know their dog is happy, and the month’s money scattered across apps. Most pet-care software is built for walking teams and kennels and makes you scale down to fit. Houndtrust is built the other way, for one person boarding dogs out of their home. I know, because I run that exact business and built this to run it on.
The short version
If you’re a solo home boarder, Houndtrust handles the intake, waiver, calendar, updates, and money in one place for a flat $24/mo, takes 0% of your bookings, and pays you directly to your own accounts. There’s a free-forever tier and no card to start. If you run a multi-sitter walking team, this isn’t your tool, and I’ll say so below.
How it maps to a home-boarding day
A new client wants to book
You send one intake link. It takes the dates, e-signs your liability waiver and emergency-vet authorization, and drops the stay into your calendar, no back-and-forth texting, no chasing a signature the day of drop-off.
Three stays overlap this weekend
The calendarshows who’s here, who’s arriving, and who’s going home, so overlapping boarding stays stop living in your head. Drop-off and pickup times are right there instead of scattered across message threads.
An owner is anxious about their first-timer
Pipturns three words about a dog’s day into a warm update you review and send, delivered as a collectible Stay Cardthe owner actually opens and shares. Calm owners rebook; that’s the whole game in home boarding.
It's the end of the month
The money dashboardshows the month at a glance: what you’ve earned, what’s still outstanding, and who to nudge, without a spreadsheet.
A stay ends and it's time to get paid
You send a payment request and the client pays you directly through your own Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Stripe. Houndtrust never holds the money and takes no cut on the clients you bring, so you keep 100% of the booking.
Who it’s for, and who it isn’t
Built for you if
- You board dogs out of your own home, solo or as a two-person household.
- You want the booking, waiver, calendar, and money handled without a marketplace cut.
- You want clients to pay you directly, to your own accounts, not through the tool.
Look elsewhere if
You run or plan to run a multi-sitter walking team, with staff to schedule and walking routes to assign. Houndtrust doesn’t do staff seats or route optimization, on purpose, and I’d rather point you at a tool that does than sell you half a fit. For that, see how Houndtrust and Scritches compare - Scritches is built for teams and does it well.
Simple pricing, no per-booking cut
Free
$0
Forever. No card.
- Clients & pets, kept forever
- Services & rates
- Price calculator
Solo
$24/mo$49
First 300 pros lock in founding status for life - at today's $24 founding rate. 7-day full-access trial, no card.
- Everything in Free, plus -
- Intake links → bookings, waiver & vet auth
- Calendar & money dashboard
- Pip AI updates & Stay Cards
- Reminders, portal & your own branding
No per-staff seats, no per-booking fee, and no percentage taken on the clients you bring. Payment requests pay out to your own accounts; Houndtrust isn’t a payment processor.
Common questions
What is the best software for a home dog boarding business?
For a solo or two-person home-boarding operation, the best fit is software built for exactly that, not a scaled-down version of team software. Houndtrust is $24/mo (a founding rate the first 300 pros lock in for life; $49 after), with a free-forever tier and no card to start. One intake link handles the booking, the e-signed liability waiver, and the emergency-vet authorization, a calendar tracks overlapping stays, and a dashboard shows the month's money. It takes 0% of your bookings. If you run a multi-sitter walking team instead, a team tool like Scritches is the better fit.
Do I need special software if I only board a few dogs at home?
You don't need it, but the paperwork adds up faster than most home boarders expect: overlapping drop-offs and pickups, a waiver and vet info for every dog, keeping owners updated, and chasing who has paid. Once you're past a handful of clients, a group text and a paper calendar start dropping things. Software that handles the intake, the calendar, and the money in one place is the difference between spending your evening on admin and spending it with the dogs.
Does Houndtrust work for in-home dog boarding specifically?
Yes, that is the exact business it is built for. The founder runs a home-boarding business himself, so the tool is shaped around a home boarder's day: multiple dogs staying at once, drop-offs and pickups at odd hours, a liability waiver and emergency-vet authorization owners e-sign before the first stay, and warm daily updates that keep anxious first-timers calm. It is not a kennel-management system or a walking-team scheduler retrofitted for boarding.
How much does home dog boarding software cost?
Houndtrust has a free-forever tier (clients, pets, services, and the price calculator, no card) and a single paid Solo plan at $24/mo that includes everything: intake links, the waiver flow, the calendar, the money dashboard, Pip AI updates, Stay Cards, reminders, and your own branding. That $24 is a founding price the first 300 pros keep for life before it rises to $49. There are no per-staff seats and no per-booking fees.
Does Houndtrust take a cut of my bookings or process payments?
No on both counts. Houndtrust is software, not a marketplace and not a payment processor, so it charges a flat subscription and takes 0% of your bookings. When you request payment, the client pays you directly through your own Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Stripe, so the money goes straight from your client to you and never routes through us. You keep 100% of every booking.
Is there an app, or is it web-based?
Houndtrust runs in the browser and installs as a PWA, so it works on your phone, tablet, and computer without a separate download, and your clients never install anything either. There is no native iOS or Android app today; the web app is the product. For a solo boarder that means nothing to update and nothing for a client to download before they can book you.
Built for a team of one, priced like it too.
Start free in minutes. No card, no per-booking fee.
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Questions? hello@houndtrust.com · (385) 246-2984