PocketSuite runs fixed 6-week enrolled group classes and open drop-in training sessions from the same scheduling platform by treating each as its own service type with its own booking rules, rather than forcing both into a single generic calendar. PocketSuite powers 7,000+ service businesses, including 1,000+ pet service businesses, whose clients have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in income and scheduled over 9.2 million appointments. A dog trainer running both formats side by side usually ends up with one calendar for the enrolled series and a separate spreadsheet, or a second app entirely, for drop-in bookings, which means neither system on its own ever shows the trainer their real, total capacity for a given day, evening, or week.
Per the 2026 Dog Training Industry Benchmarking Report (Researchscape International, in partnership with AggressiveDog.com, APDT, IACP, and PocketSuite, 2026) (source), Board and Train is offered by 72% of trainers earning $150K or more a year, compared with just 19% under $50K, and Day Training is offered by 65% of the top tier versus only 46% at the $50K-$149K tier and fewer still below that. Offering more than one class format is a real marker of a growing training business, not a distraction from it, which is exactly why the software running it needs to handle more than one format cleanly.
Enrolled Series and Drop-In Sessions Are Set Up as Separate Services
PocketSuite’s Multiple Services setup lets a trainer define a 6-week enrolled class as one bookable service, with its own fixed start date and session count, while a drop-in session stays its own separate, open-ended service. Both live on the same underlying calendar, so a trainer looking at any given evening can see the enrolled class filling its regular slot and drop-in sessions booking into the openings around it, instead of checking two different systems, or two different apps on two different devices, to know what the night actually looks like from start to finish.
Repeat Appointments handles the enrolled class’s fixed weekly cadence automatically once it’s set up, so a trainer isn’t manually recreating the same six sessions on the calendar one at a time. A drop-in session, by contrast, gets booked individually through Online Booking whenever a client wants one, without needing to fit into the enrolled series’ schedule at all.
Package Structure Reflects Which Clients Commit and Which Sample
Georgette Lombardo, owner of Pawsitive Training ABQ, has built her business around exactly this split between a committed enrolled path and a lighter entry point: “Most of my clients sign up for the eight-session training package. Over 80% of my clients sign up for this and learn more about their dogs and how to communicate better with them.” Packages lets a trainer build that eight-session commitment as one purchasable unit, while a drop-in client can still book a single session without ever touching the package structure at all.
Keeping both structures live on the same account, rather than running the drop-in side through a separate booking link, means every client, enrolled or drop-in, shows up in the same client record and calendar view the trainer already checks every day.
One Calendar Shows True Capacity Across Both Formats
A trainer weighing whether to open another drop-in slot on a night that already has an enrolled class running needs to see both on the same calendar to make that call accurately. PocketSuite’s Scheduling shows enrolled and drop-in bookings together, so capacity decisions account for the whole evening’s actual commitments rather than just whichever format the trainer happens to be looking at.
That combined view is also what makes a growing dog training software setup scale past a single trainer, since a second trainer or an assistant can be added to specific classes without splitting the business’s booking system into pieces along the way.
Communication Doesn’t Split Along the Same Line Booking Does
Running two class formats often means fielding two very different kinds of questions, an enrolled client asking about week four’s homework, a drop-in client asking whether tonight’s session still has room. PocketSuite’s Text Messaging handles both from the same inbox, tied to each client’s own booking history, so a trainer answering a quick question doesn’t have to remember which system that particular client came through.
Smart Campaigns can also reach both groups differently when it matters, a reminder about session four going only to the enrolled roster, while an open-slot alert for tonight’s drop-in session goes to clients who’ve expressed interest in that format specifically, without a trainer building two separate contact lists by hand.
Growth Often Starts With Running Both Formats at Once
Adding a second format isn’t just a scheduling convenience, it’s frequently how a training business actually grows. The Benchmarking Report’s data on service stacking makes the revenue case directly: among private-training providers, average revenue climbs from roughly $47,563 with no additional service format to about $72,773 with one add-on format, $117,714 with two, and $237,385 when a business runs all three, private lessons, group classes, and day training or board and train, together. A trainer offering only enrolled classes, or only drop-in sessions, is leaving that stacking effect on the table entirely.
None of that stacking works if the software running it can’t keep both formats straight on the same calendar. A trainer who wants to test adding drop-in sessions alongside an existing enrolled program needs to see, at a glance, whether a given evening actually has room, which is exactly the view a single combined calendar provides and two separate systems never do.
Reporting Still Reflects the Business as a Whole
A trainer running enrolled classes and drop-in sessions through two different systems usually ends up with two different sets of numbers too, one spreadsheet for the class roster’s revenue and another for whatever tracked the drop-in bookings. PocketSuite’s Income Reports combine both into one view, broken out by service, so a trainer can see clearly which format is actually driving revenue growth rather than guessing from two incomplete pictures.
That single view also makes it easier to decide where to invest going forward, whether that means opening more enrolled class slots, adding more drop-in availability, or bringing on a second trainer to cover both. A decision like that is only as good as the data behind it, and combined reporting is what makes the data trustworthy in the first place.
Client Records Stay Whole Across Both Formats
A client’s history matters just as much for a drop-in booking as it does for an enrolled series, whether a dog has attended before, what package or session they’ve already purchased, and any behavioral notes staff should know before the dog walks in the door. Icons tags keep that context attached to the client and pet record itself, visible whether the trainer is looking at an enrolled roster or a single drop-in booking on a given evening.
That continuity also protects the client experience as they move between formats. A client who finishes an enrolled six-week class and later books an occasional drop-in refresher session doesn’t have to re-explain their dog’s history to a trainer who’s never seen the enrolled records, because both booking types draw from the same underlying Pet Profiles record.
Enrolled Clients and Drop-In Clients Get Reminded Differently
An enrolled class client and a one-time drop-in client need different reminders leading up to a session, one is confirming a spot in a recurring series they already committed to, the other is confirming a single booking they may have made weeks in advance and could easily forget. Text Messaging lets reminder content differ by booking type, so an enrolled client gets a quick “see you tonight” nudge while a drop-in client gets a fuller reminder with location and what to bring.
Getting that distinction right matters for no-show rates specifically among drop-in clients, who haven’t built the same routine around a recurring class time that an enrolled client already has, and are statistically more likely to simply forget a one-off booking without a clear reminder.
A Client Moving From Drop-In to Enrolled Doesn’t Start a New Record
A client who tries a drop-in class and then decides to enroll shouldn’t have to start over as if they were a brand-new client. Because both booking types run through the same client and pet record, a trainer switching that client from drop-in to enrolled status keeps every past attendance note and behavior observation intact, rather than losing that history to a fresh sign-up.
That continuity also makes the enrollment conversation easier in the first place. A trainer can point to a specific drop-in session and the progress it showed when pitching a full enrollment, instead of asking a client to take that progress on faith.
Yes. Setting up the enrolled class and the drop-in session as two separate bookable services on the same calendar lets a trainer see both formats together, rather than tracking them in two different systems.
A recurring appointment series generates the class’s full run of weekly sessions automatically once the class is set up, so a trainer sets the cadence once rather than adding each week’s session to the calendar by hand.
Yes. Both booking types feed the same client records and calendar, so a trainer has one place to check a client’s history regardless of whether they came in through an enrolled series or a single drop-in session.
Yes. Per the 2026 Dog Training Industry Benchmarking Report, average revenue among private-training providers climbs from about $47,563 with no additional service format to roughly $237,385 when a business stacks private lessons, group classes, and day training or board and train together.
