Pet Incident Report Template

A dog daycare incident report is a written internal record — filled out by staff, not shown to the public — that documents exactly what happened during a scratch, a scuffle, a bite, or any other unplanned event during a stay or appointment: who was involved, what staff observed, what action was taken, and who was notified. It exists to protect your record of events and your ability to communicate clearly with the owner, not to serve as a public statement about fault. Every pet business that has animals in its care without the owner present — daycare, boarding, grooming, training — eventually has an incident, no matter how careful the staff and facility are. What separates a business that handles this well from one that doesn't isn't whether an incident happens; it's whether there's a consistent, written process for documenting it before anyone has to improvise an explanation under pressure. A solid internal process is how you handle incidents before they become reviews — most incident reviews happen because the owner felt informed too late or too vaguely, not because of the incident itself. Why a written incident report matters Without a written record, what actually happened during an incident tends to depend on whoever's retelling it, and details shift — understandably, not maliciously — the more times a story gets repeated secondhand. A written report completed close to the time of the incident captures what staff actually observed while it's fresh, which matters enormously if the incident is later disputed, discussed with an insurer, or escalated by the owner. . This documentation habit is separate from, and should never be confused with, what you say publicly. The report itself — names, specific observations, internal assessment of what went wrong — stays internal. What you communicate to the owner, and what you might eventually need to address in a public review reply, draws on the report but is a different, much more limited document built for a different audience. What to include in a pet care incident report A usable incident report form covers, at minimum: the date, time, and specific location of the incident; the pet(s) involved, identified by name and owner internally; a factual, observation-based description of what happened, written in plain language rather than a conclusion about fault ("Dog A approached Dog B during outdoor play; Dog B turned and bit Dog A on the ear" rather than "Dog B is aggressive and caused an unprovoked attack"); which staff member(s) witnessed or responded; what immediate action was taken (separated the dogs, applied first aid, called the owner); whether veterinary care was recommended or sought; and who was notified and when. Pet incident report form: a usable internal template Use this as a starting structure for a form your own staff fills out by hand or digitally immediately after any incident, however minor it seems at the time: Date and time of incident: Location (play area, bathing station, kennel, grooming table, etc.): Pet(s) involved (internal record — name, owner, any relevant history): Staff member(s) present or who responded: Factual description of what happened (observations only — what was seen, not a conclusion about cause or fault): Immediate action taken (separated animals, administered first aid, contacted a veterinarian, etc.): Was veterinary care recommended or sought? By whom, and when? Owner notified? Date, time, method (call, text, in person), and who made contact: Any visible injury documented with a photo? (internal records only, never shared publicly without the owner's explicit consent) Follow-up required (a callback, a policy review, additional staff training): Report completed by: (name and signature or digital equivalent, same day if possible) What happens after the report is filed Notify the owner the same day, by phone when possible rather than only a text or app message, especially for anything beyond a very minor scrape — an owner who hears about an injury from your team before they notice it themselves is far less likely to escalate than one who discovers it later and feels the business tried to hide it. A same-day call, even brief, does more to prevent a negative review than almost any after-the-fact gesture once trust has already been damaged. Set a clear internal threshold for when an incident needs to be reported to your insurance carrier — generally anything involving a veterinary visit, a visible injury beyond the most superficial scratch, or any incident where a claim seems plausible — and document that notification as part of the same record . Waiting to loop in insurance until an owner has already raised the possibility of a claim puts you in a weaker position than notifying proactively once an incident clears your own threshold. Keep completed reports on file for a defined retention period consistent with your insurance carrier's and attorney's recommendations, since a pattern of incidents — even unrelated ones — can matter later in ways a single report doesn't reveal on its own . What not to put in a public review reply The incident report is detailed and factual because it's internal. A public reply to a review about the same incident needs to be almost the opposite: general, calm, and careful not to concede fault or disclose details about another client's pet. Never admit fault publicly, even if your internal review suggests staff could have done something differently — that's a conversation for the owner directly and, if relevant, your insurance carrier, not a public comment thread. A workable public reply stays procedural: "We take this seriously and have been in direct contact with the family about what happened. For anything involving an injury, we also follow up with our insurance carrier as part of our standard process." That sentence shows the next reader you have a real process without describing what happened, who was involved, or who was at fault. Our guides on handling dog daycare and boarding reviews and responding to negative grooming reviews cover this same discipline in more depth — stick to your own process in public, move specifics to a private call, and never name or describe another client's pet. Grooming, daycare, and training: adapting the template The core template above works across service types with small adjustments: a grooming incident report should note the specific tool or step involved (clipper, nail trim, dryer) and the coat or handling condition at the time; a daycare or boarding report should note which other animals were in the same group or area, recorded internally only, never for public sharing; a training incident report should note the specific exercise or situation underway when the incident occurred, since training incidents often relate directly to a particular technique or trigger that's useful to document for future sessions with the same dog. Who should fill out the incident report? Whoever witnessed or directly responded to the incident, completed as close to the event as possible — ideally the same day — rather than reconstructed from memory later once details have started to blur. Should the owner see the actual incident report? Generally no, not the internal form itself — communicate the relevant facts to the owner directly in conversation, but the written report with internal notes and any staff assessment stays an internal business record . Does filing an incident report mean admitting fault? No — a well-written report documents observations, not conclusions about liability. Keeping the report factual and observation-based, rather than assigning blame internally in writing, protects the business regardless of how a later dispute or claim resolves. Every review from Google, Yelp, Rover and Nextdoor in one inbox → Try Tailwind free. 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