Existing clients
Add all your existing clients direct from phone or desktop
Add your regulars as manual bookings — straight out of the paper diary, WhatsApp thread or spreadsheet. Their dogs and dates live in one place from day one.
For dog sitters & walkers leaving the marketplaces
The free alternative to Rover.
Rover is a fantastic system for finding clients — but it comes with the downside of significant fees, both for you as a dog sitter or walker and for the dog owners booking.
The alternative to a commission marketplace is to manage your existing clients with your own professional booking app. The DoggyDesk gives you a fully functional booking system for all your existing clients — calendar, requests, client records, invoices and payment options for your clients — free, with every feature included.
And if you want to take card deposits, that’s built in too — paid straight to you, switched on only when you choose.
No card needed to sign upCash & bank bookings always free
You don’t need another marketplace.
Think about your last month of bookings. How many came from clients who already know you? Regulars, referrals, the neighbour’s spaniel. For most established sitters and walkers it’s nearly all of them. A marketplace charges you commission on those bookings anyway.
The DoggyDesk is the other model: your own booking calendar with its own shareable link, your own client list, requests you approve yourself. Your clients book you — not a platform that takes a huge commission.
Marketplace vs your own booking system.
*Rover UK fees per Rover’s UK Help Centre (“What are the service fees?”), checked 2 September 2026: sitters keep 85% of a one-off booking (95% on recurring weekly bookings); dog owners pay a separate 15% service fee on one-off bookings, capped at £49. Rates may vary by account age and country — check your own dashboard for yours. Full breakdown with a fee calculator: Rover fees, explained.
What’s the commission really costing you?
£
Card figure assumes every booking is card-paid — the worst case. Every cash or bank booking costs £0, so your real number sits between the two.
£525 of bookings on a 15% marketplace−£79/mo
Same bookings here, paid cash or bank£0
Same bookings here, all card-paid (5%, or Plus £15 cap)−£15/mo
Worst case, you keep £64 more every month — £768 a year.
Bring your clients with you.
Everything on the free plan, every feature included. These aren't trials or teasers.
Your booking link
One link your clients can book from
thedoggydesk.co.uk/book/your-name. Send it by text, pin it in WhatsApp, put it on a business card. Clients pick dates from your live calendar and you approve every request.
Your own website
Put the calendar on your own site
Already have a website or Facebook page? Embed your live booking calendar with one tag. Clients book without ever leaving your site.
Invoices & records
Invoices, client notes, tax-year export
Send invoices with your own bank details, keep per-dog and per-owner notes, and export a tax-year CSV for your Self Assessment.
Full feature tours: dog sitting & boarding · dog walking
And if you want card payments, they’re built in.
Strictly optional — the system is fully functional without it. Switch it on and new bookings take a card deposit at the moment of booking: held when the request comes in, collected when you accept, paid into your own Stripe account. Not platform escrow — your account, your money.
- →No more chasing deposits or holding dates on a promise
- →5% only on money that goes through a card — cash and bank stay £0 always
- →Plus at £15/month drops the card fee to 0% — it pays for itself once card takings pass about £300/month
- →One-tap balance charge when the stay or walk ends
