Dog trainers and behaviourists

Owners book your courses and consults online. At home, they tick off their dog's homework.

Each owner is a contact in Magpie, with their dog's notes and sessions. The dog's training plan is in the owner's own portal.

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Copperbeck Dogs’ calendar for a Monday in Day view: an early walk with Otto, loading the kit, the puppy course’s third week, a recall one-to-one, an owner’s clip to watch and a behaviour consult.

This combination of six Magpie areas fits a dog trainer or behaviourist.

Calendar
Calendar puts your classes on a public calendar, and stops RSVPs when one is full.
Forms
Forms takes the fee for a course, and the behaviour questionnaire before a consult.
Appointments
Appointments gives owners a booking page for consults and one-to-ones, around your classes.
Client Portal
Client Portal gives each owner their dog's plan, with the homework to tick off.
Contacts
Contacts keeps each owner, with their dog's notes and every session.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills a consult or a package of sessions, and owners pay by card.

A reactive dog's case runs from your questionnaire to homework the owner ticks off.

The owner's contact lists the consult, the invoice and every recording you send.

  1. The questionnaire

    The owner describes the dog's reactions on your behaviour questionnaire. Magpie will email you their answers.

  2. The consult

    They book a two-hour consult on your booking page. Only times your classes leave free are offered. The booking will add them to your contacts.

  3. The agreement

    You send your training agreement, linked to the consult invoice. Once the owner signs, the same page will let them pay by card.

  4. The plan

    After the consult, you start the dog's plan from your reactivity starter. You share it in the owner's portal.

  5. The homework

    The owner ticks off each game, and records how near another dog could pass calmly. They upload a clip of a walk.

  6. Your reply

    You record yourself talking over the clip as it plays, and email the recording. Their contact will show when they opened it.

  7. The follow-ups

    The follow-up sessions go on one invoice, which the owner pays in their portal.

Owners find your classes on a public calendar, and RSVPs stop when a class is full.

Calendar holds each class as an event, with its hall or field and a description. A six-week course is six events, one for each week. Classes set to Public calendar are listed on your public calendar.

A puppy social can take RSVPs up to the capacity you set, such as eight puppies. When it is full, its page will say so. Your booking page also leaves out the time of every class.

Copperbeck Dogs’ puppy social in the event drawer: free, at the hall, on the public calendar with full details, taking RSVPs for up to eight puppies with the count shown.

Owners pay for a course on your course form, and describe their dog before a consult.

Forms builds your course form, which charges one fee by card on Stripe's page. It can ask the puppy's name and age. You close it when the course is full.

Your behaviour questionnaire can run over several pages, such as history, triggers and a normal day. A question can appear only when an earlier answer calls for it. Magpie will email you each response.

Owners book consults and one-to-ones on your booking page, at times your classes leave free.

Appointments gives you a booking page, with each session's length, price and place. A behaviour consult can say you come to the owner's home. A buffer keeps time free to drive there.

Owners choose a free time and give their name and email address, without signing up. Each booking will add the session to your calendar and link the owner's contact. Their confirmation email lets them move or cancel until the notice you set.

Each dog's plan sets out the homework, and the owner ticks it off at home.

Client Portal gives each owner a private page for their dog's plan. Stages such as management at home, foundation games and real walks hold the steps. Each step is homework for the owner or a job for you.

A goal can be a number to bring down. For a reactive dog, it can be the distance it needs from other dogs. Owners record that distance after walks, and upload clips of their homework. The portal also lists their invoices and anything to sign.

Laura Whitworth’s portal from Copperbeck Dogs: under For you to do, three homework steps from Moss’s plan, invoice CB-0142 to pay and permission for his clips to sign.

Each owner's contact holds their dog's details, every session and your notes.

Contacts holds a record for each owner. A pinned note keeps the dog's name, age and triggers near the top. Every consult and one-to-one is listed, with cancellations and no-shows.

After each session, you add a dated note. A follow-up reminds you to call, such as two weeks after a consult. Recordings you email are listed with when the owner opened them.

Copperbeck Dogs’ follow-ups, overdue, today and upcoming: owners to ask about loose-lead walks, foundation games and recall homework, and the next stage of a plan to send.

A consult and its follow-up sessions go on one invoice, and owners pay by card.

Invoicing bills a package as lines on one invoice, such as a consult and three follow-ups. The owner pays by card from its email or in their portal. The money goes to your own Stripe account.

Reminders will go out until it is paid. You can record a bank transfer or cash by hand, in part or in full. A part payment leaves the invoice partly paid, with what is left to pay.

Rachel Pennington’s invoice at Copperbeck Dogs: a behaviour consult and three follow-up sessions, in pounds with no tax, due in 14 days.

Seven more areas cover video consults, clips, an online programme and how owners find you.

Meetings
Meetings gives you a meeting page for video consults and check-ins. Each booking can get a Zoom or Google Meet link. Shared in their portal, it has a Join meeting button.
Screen Recorder
Screen Recorder records your screen while an owner's clip plays, with your voice and your camera. You email the recording to the owner from Magpie.
E-Signatures
E-Signatures sends your training agreement to sign as a PDF. Linked to an invoice, its signing page lets the owner pay.
Supporters
Supporters gives owners you never meet a monthly programme of posts and training videos. It has a free tier and paid tiers.
Newsletter
Newsletter emails your list when the next puppy course opens. Owners join from its sign-up page.
Social Media
Social Media posts a new course to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn at the time you choose. For Instagram, Magpie will remind you to post from your phone.
Link-In-Bio List
Link-In-Bio List gives your Instagram bio one page of links. It can hold your booking page, course form and questionnaire.
Copperbeck Dogs’ link page: links to book a one-to-one or a consult, the November puppy course, the behaviour questionnaire, an online puppy programme and the list for next course dates.

Five steps set up your classes, your consults and your plans.

  1. Put your next course on the calendar

    You add each class with the hall's address, set to Public calendar. Help: Create public and private calendar events.

  2. Build the course form

    You connect Stripe, then add the course fee and your questions. Help: Require payment for a Form response.

  3. Write the behaviour questionnaire

    You add the questions you ask before a consult, over as many pages as you need. Help: Build, publish, and share a form.

  4. Publish your booking page

    You add your consult and one-to-one sessions with their places, then your weekly hours. Help: Set up Appointments.

  5. Keep your usual plans as starters

    You build the plans you use most, such as puppy foundations and reactivity. Help: Reuse your process with starter plans.

Plans

A trainer working alone can use Magpie without a team. The Free plan has room for 100 contacts, 5 invoices a month and 100 calendar events. Pro, the paid plan for your own work, raises them and the storage for owners' clips.

In a team, each trainer owners can book takes a member place. A free team has 3 places, and the Team plan 25 at one price. Owners invited to their portal get a free Magpie account, and take no place.

Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. A paid Form's fee is 1%, and Supporters' is 3%. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. Emailing a recording needs a paid plan.

Other pet businesses and trainers have pages of their own.

Questions dog trainers and behaviourists ask

Can owners book and pay for my six-week puppy course online?

Yes. Your course form charges one fee, which owners pay by card on Stripe's page. It can ask for the puppy's name and age, and what they want to work on. Each booking shows whether it was paid. You close the form when the course is full, and the bookings made are kept.

Can I limit a puppy social or a drop-in class to eight dogs?

Yes. The class is an event with RSVPs and a capacity of eight. Owners answer while signed in to Magpie. Once eight are going, RSVPs will stop and its page will say it is full. Someone who changes their answer gives the place back.

Will my booking page leave out the times I'm teaching?

Yes. Your booking page leaves out the times of events you add to your calendar. A Saturday class blocks those hours. It also leaves out your other bookings and the buffers around them. The class's details are never shown on the booking page.

Can owners fill in a behaviour questionnaire before the consult?

Yes. Your questionnaire can have several pages, such as history, triggers and a normal day. A question can show only when an earlier answer calls for it. Owners answer from its link, without signing up first. Magpie will email you each response, and they download as a CSV file.

Can owners send me a video of what their dog does?

Yes, in their portal. Owners upload clips of up to 500 MB each, such as the dog at the front window. Each upload is listed in the portal's activity. On your questionnaire, a file question takes photos and PDFs of up to 10 MB.

Can I hold the consult at the owner's home?

Yes. The consult's location can say that you come to the owner. A buffer before and after it keeps time free to drive there and back. Your questionnaire can ask for the address.

Can I run behaviour consults by video?

Yes. Meetings gives you a meeting page, where owners book a 90-minute video consult. With Zoom connected, each booking will get a Zoom call. Without Zoom, a meeting added to Google Calendar will get a Google Meet link. Shared in the owner's portal, it has a Join meeting button.

Can owners book a one-to-one online without signing up first?

Yes. They choose a session and a free time on your booking page. Then they give their name and email address. Each session shows its length, price and place, such as your field. Their confirmation email has a link to move or cancel, until the notice you set.

Can owners pay for the consult before it happens?

Yes. You can send your training agreement linked to the consult invoice. Once the owner signs, the signing page will offer Pay, and they pay by card. The invoice can also be paid from its email, or in their portal.

Can I give each dog a training plan with homework?

Yes. The owner's portal holds the dog's plan, in stages such as management and foundation games. Each step is homework for the owner or a job for you. A step can have a due date. The owner sees their open steps first, under For you to do.

Can owners tick off their homework as they do it?

Yes. Owners tick their own steps and record numbers on goals, such as a recall distance. They can upload a clip of the session too. Each tick, value and upload is listed under Client activity on the portal's page.

Can I track how near a reactive dog can pass other dogs?

Yes. A goal can be a number to bring down, such as from 30 metres to 5. The owner records the distance after a walk. A bar shows how far the dog has come. Every value is listed on the goal's page, with who recorded it and when.

Can I send owners videos?

Yes. You can share a video of a settle on a mat in the owner's portal. Magpie will email them about it. Screen Recorder can also record you talking over the owner's own clip as it plays. You email that recording from Magpie, and their contact will show when they opened it.

Can I reuse my puppy plan or my reactivity plan for each new dog?

Yes. You keep a plan as a starter, with its goals, stages and steps. A new plan from it gets its own copy. Each step is due a set number of days after the plan starts. Changing the starter later leaves earlier plans as they are.

Where do I keep notes on each dog?

On its owner's contact. A pinned note keeps the dog's name, age and triggers near the top. After each session, you add a dated note. A search for the dog's name finds its owner. The contact also lists every session, invoice and recording you sent.

What about a family with two dogs?

Both dogs go on their owner's contact, with a pinned note for each. Their portal can hold a plan for each dog, with its own goals and homework. The portal's Overview lists each active plan.

Can I remind myself to check in after a consult?

Yes. You set a follow-up on the owner's contact, such as two weeks after the consult. It will become a To-do with the usual reminders. Contacts lists every open follow-up as Overdue, Today, Upcoming or No date.

Can I sell a package of sessions?

Yes. You put the package on one invoice, such as a consult and three follow-up sessions. The owner pays by card from the email or in their portal. A part payment, such as half at the consult, is recorded by hand. Each session they book is then listed on their contact, beside the invoice.

What does Magpie take from my payments?

Magpie adds no fee to invoice payments. On a paid course form, its fee is 1% of each payment. The Supporters fee is 3%. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account.

Can I sell an online puppy programme to owners I never meet?

Yes. Supporters gives you a page with a free tier and monthly paid tiers. You write posts with training videos, and choose which tiers can read each one. Supporters join with a Magpie account and pay by card into your Stripe account.

Can owners hear when my next puppy course opens?

Yes. Newsletter gives you a sign-up page, and each subscriber confirms by email. When the next course has dates, you can email the list now or schedule it.

Can I post my course dates to Instagram?

Yes. On a public class, Share event starts a Social Media post that names it. For Instagram, Magpie will email you a reminder at the time you choose. On a phone, it copies the text and opens the share sheet. Posts to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn will be published at the time you choose.

Can another trainer take some of my classes and one-to-ones?

Yes. You make a team and invite them. Each trainer has their own weekly hours and sessions. Owners can choose a trainer by name. The team's calendar shows everyone's classes and bookings.

Will it work with my Google Calendar?

Yes. Your classes and sessions can be added to your Google calendar. Changes will follow within about a minute. Your Google events can show on your Personal calendar, seen only by you. Times busy in Google are kept off your meeting page.

Open your next puppy course.

Create a Magpie account and put the course's first class on your calendar.

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