Staff Onboarding: the full procedure

Onboard a new hire by verifying required licensing, training safe handling, sanitation, and emergencies first, then teaching every task SOP, shadowing, and signing off before solo work with animals.

• Applies to: Experienced lead / kennel manager acting as trainer.
• Frequency: As needed, for each new hire.
• Scope: Covers training a new staff member to facility standard. The other SOPs in this manual are the training curriculum — the trainer hands them over, teaches each one, and signs off when the new hire can do it your way. Licensing requirements defer to state/local kennel licensing.

What you need

• This operating manual (the SOPs)
• Onboarding / sign-off checklist
• Licensing / certification records
• Sanitation supplies
• Emergency & evacuation plan

The procedure, step by step

1. Verify licensing & records — Confirm any state/local kennel licensing or certifications required for the role are in place before the hire works with animals.
2. Teach safe handling first — Train canine body language, fear/anxiety/stress signs, and bite-prevention so the new hire can read animals and ask for backup — this comes before any solo task.
3. Teach sanitation — Walk through how to truly sanitize (not just wipe) and the clean-to-dirty order: healthy to sick, young to old, isolation areas last.
4. Teach emergency response — Review the evacuation plan, where every animal goes, and first-aid/CPR expectations so the hire is ready before an incident, not during one.
5. Hand over the SOPs as curriculum — Give the new hire each task SOP in this manual, teach it, and confirm they understand the steps and the standard.
6. Shadow on each task — Have the new hire shadow you on opening/closing, feeding, cleaning, and handling, then do each task with you watching and coaching.
7. Sign off before solo — Only after the hire performs each SOP to standard does the trainer sign the checklist authorizing solo work with animals.
8. Check in after solo — Follow up in the first solo shifts to catch drift and reinforce the way the facility does it.

Quality check before you finish

• Required licensing/certifications verified before animal contact.
• Safe handling and bite-prevention taught before any solo task.
• Sanitation order (clean-to-dirty) demonstrated correctly.
• Emergency and evacuation plan reviewed.
• Each manual SOP taught and understood.
• New hire shadowed and then performed each task observed.
• Trainer signed off before any solo work with animals.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Pet Boarding & Daycare business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• Best Friends Animal Society — Onboarding Animal-Care Staff (bestfriends.org)
• Fear Free — Boarding & Daycare Certification (fearfree.com)
• Gingr — Kennel Staff Onboarding (gingrapp.com)