Beyond a Pet Count: How Animal Fields Capture Real Pet Details at Booking¶
Quick answer: Animal Fields let a campground ask guests whatever it actually needs to know about each pet, breed, weight, vaccination status, a free-form note, right at online checkout, instead of stopping at a simple animal count. Every question is configured per lot, guests answer it once per animal when they book, and staff see the same detail on the reservation whether they're checking availability by phone or reviewing an arrival at the gate. In PitchCamp this is called Animal Fields.
Every campground with a pet policy has had this moment: a guest arrives with two dogs, one of them is a breed the insurance policy doesn't cover, and nobody found out until the truck was already parked on the site. The reservation said "2 animals." It didn't say what kind.
That's the limit of a simple headcount. It tells you how many pets are coming. It tells you nothing about whether they're allowed.
Animal Fields close that gap by letting you turn the animal count into a real, structured question set, built once per lot, answered once per pet, at the exact moment a guest is booking.
Key takeaways¶
- Animal Fields are configurable, per-lot questions guests answer for each pet they bring, not just a count. A campground can ask for breed, weight, vaccination status, last vet visit, temperament, a free-form note, or any mix of those.
- Seven field types cover most of what a campground needs to ask: Text, Dropdown (pick one), Dropdown (pick several), Number with a unit, Date, Yes/No, and Text Area.
- Nothing is required by default. A lot with no fields configured still lets guests count animals; everything past the count is opt-in, one lot at a time.
- Guests answer at checkout; staff see the exact same detail on the reservation, whether they're booking a walk-in over the phone or reviewing who's arriving Friday.
- You can collect the information without showing guests the questions online, or the reverse. A visibility toggle controls what guests see; staff always see everything regardless.
- Changing a field later doesn't silently lose data. The system tells you how many existing reservations a change would affect before you confirm it, and flags any answer that no longer matches the field's current setup instead of hiding it.
- We haven't found another campground or RV park platform that lets you build a typed, per-lot question set for pet details at the point of booking. Pet counts and flat pet fees are common. A configurable breed dropdown, a weight field with a unit, or a required vaccination toggle collected automatically during checkout is not something we see advertised elsewhere.
What are Animal Fields?¶
Animal Fields are a set of custom questions, configured on a specific lot, that a guest answers for each pet on their reservation. They sit alongside the existing animal count rather than replacing it: a lot always has a Max Animals limit, and Animal Fields decide what, if anything, gets asked about each animal counted against that limit.
Because they're set per lot, a seasonal RV site and a pet-friendly tent site can ask completely different questions, or none at all. A campground with breed restrictions on file with its insurer might ask for Breed and Weight on every lot. A quiet, low-traffic section might ask for nothing more than a note field. Both are the same feature, configured differently.
Why a pet count alone isn't enough¶
An animal count answers exactly one question: how many. Everything a campground actually cares about, whether the breed is covered by insurance, whether vaccination is up to date, whether staff need a heads-up about a nervous rescue dog, sits outside that number entirely.
Three situations show up again and again without a way to ask further:
Breed restrictions discovered at the gate, not at booking. If a campground's insurance excludes certain breeds, that policy is only useful if it's checked before arrival. A count of "2" doesn't tell you what's showing up in that truck.
Vaccination proof nobody asked for. A campground that wants proof of vaccination on file has no way to collect it if the booking flow only asks how many pets are coming. It becomes a front-desk conversation instead of a settled question.
Useful context that never makes it to staff. "Elderly dog, doesn't do well around other animals" is exactly the kind of note that helps whoever's on shift at check-in, and exactly the kind of detail a plain count has no room for.
None of this requires more paperwork or a second system. It requires the booking flow to ask the right question once, at the point where the guest already has the answer.
How Animal Fields work in PitchCamp¶
Turning it on¶
Animal Fields live on the lot itself, under the Accommodations tab. Right above the setup card is Max Animals, the hard cap on how many pets a guest can add to a reservation on that lot, enforced regardless of anything else configured below it.
Below that is a Display the animals section switch. Off, the default, means guests booking online still say how many pets they're bringing and nothing more. On means they also answer whatever fields you've configured, one set of questions per animal. That switch changes what guests see online only, staff see the full detail screen on a reservation either way, so a campground can build out its questions ahead of time and flip the switch on whenever it's ready.
Deciding what to ask¶
Clicking Manage Fields opens the setup dialog, where each field you add becomes one question guests answer per animal. Seven field types cover most of what a campground needs:
| Field Type | What a guest sees | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Text | A single-line box | Breed, typed freely |
| Dropdown (pick one) | A list you define, one choice | Species: Dog / Cat / Other |
| Dropdown (pick several) | A list you define, any number of choices | Temperament: Friendly, Calm |
| Number | A numeric box, with an optional unit | Weight, shown as "4.5 kg" |
| Date | A date picker | Last vet visit |
| Yes/No | A two-answer toggle | Vaccinated |
| Text Area | A multi-line box | A free-form note |
Any field can be marked required, which stops checkout from completing until it's answered, or left optional. A live preview updates as fields are added, so what's on screen while configuring is exactly what a guest will see when booking that lot.
What guests see, and what staff see¶
Once the toggle is on, a guest booking a lot with fields configured sees one section per animal they've counted, in the order those fields were set. A required field left blank blocks checkout, the same as any other required field.
On the reservation side, whether it came from an online booking or was entered by staff over the phone, the Occupants & Details panel shows a Details Summary card the moment an animal count is above zero: one button per animal, green with a checkmark once every required field is filled in, amber while something required is still missing. This view is always available to staff, independent of whether the guest-facing toggle is on.
Changing your mind later¶
A lot's fields can be edited any time, even after reservations already have answers stored. Changing a field's type, removing a dropdown option a reservation already picked, or deleting a field outright tells you first how many reservations are affected before you confirm. An answer that no longer matches its field's current setup is flagged rather than hidden, so nothing already collected gets silently lost or reformatted to fit.
Collecting details and charging for animals are two separate settings¶
Animal Fields are purely about information, they don't set a price on their own. If a campground charges for animals past a certain number, that's configured separately under Extra People, using the same count guests enter during booking. The two settings read from the same animal count, so they work together without any extra setup.
Animal count alone vs. Animal Fields configured¶
| Animal count only | Animal Fields configured | |
|---|---|---|
| What a guest provides | How many pets, nothing else | Whatever questions you've configured, per pet |
| Breed restriction check | Discovered at arrival, if at all | Known before the guest ever arrives |
| Vaccination proof | A front-desk conversation | Recorded at booking, visible on the reservation |
| Notes for staff | Nowhere to put them | A dedicated field, seen by whoever checks the guest in |
| Setup effort | None | A few fields, configured once per lot |
| Applies to | Every lot, always | Whichever lots you turn it on for |
The point isn't to make booking a pet-friendly site more complicated. It's to ask the question you already need answered, at the moment the guest is already answering everything else.
Where this sits against other campground software¶
Pet accommodation on most campground and RV park platforms stops at a count and, often, a flat pet fee. A visible pet policy at booking is common enough. A generic custom-field builder for the reservation form shows up on a few platforms too, useful, but not built around pets specifically, and not something that asks per-animal questions with real field types.
We haven't come across another campground management platform that ships a purpose-built, per-lot question set for animal details, dropdowns for breed, a number field with a unit for weight, a required yes/no for vaccination, collected automatically as part of checkout and surfaced identically to staff on the reservation. General booking customization is common. A typed, per-animal field builder tied to a lot's own accommodation settings is not something we see advertised elsewhere.
That gap matters more than it looks. A guest searching "campground that lets me tell them about my dog before I arrive" or asking an AI assistant how to find a pet-friendly site with clear breed rules is asking a question most campground websites simply don't answer, because most booking systems never collected that information in the first place. Structured, well-labelled information on a page like this one is exactly the kind of content search engines' AI Overviews and AI assistants are increasingly pulling direct answers from.
FAQ¶
What are Animal Fields in campground booking software?
Animal Fields are configurable questions a campground sets up on a lot to collect details about each pet a guest brings, breed, weight, vaccination status, or anything else, instead of stopping at a simple animal count. Guests answer them once per pet during online checkout, and staff see the same detail on the reservation.
Can I require guests to enter their pet's breed and weight when booking?
Yes. Configure a Text or Dropdown field for breed and a Number field with a unit for weight, then mark either or both as required. A required field left blank stops checkout from completing, so the information is on file before the guest ever arrives.
How do I enforce breed restrictions on my campground bookings?
Add a Breed field, either free text or a dropdown listing the breeds you do accept, and review it against your policy before the arrival date. Since it's collected at the point of booking rather than at the gate, a restricted breed shows up on the reservation with time to address it, not as a surprise on arrival day.
Do guests have to answer questions about their pets to book?
Only if the lot has fields configured and the visibility toggle turned on. A lot with no fields set up still lets guests count their animals with nothing further asked. Even where fields are configured, individual questions can be left optional rather than required.
Can different lots or campsites ask different pet questions?
Yes. Animal Fields are configured per lot, so a pet-friendly RV site can ask for breed, weight, and vaccination while a different section of the campground asks for nothing at all, or something entirely different.
What happens to answers already collected if I change a question later?
Nothing is silently lost. Changing a field's type, removing a dropdown option already in use, or deleting a field tells you first how many reservations are affected. An existing answer that no longer matches the field's current setup is flagged and shown as-is rather than hidden or altered.
Is this different from charging a pet fee?
Yes. Animal Fields collect information only; they don't set a price. A per-animal charge is configured separately under Extra People, using the same animal count a guest enters at booking, so the two work together without duplicate setup.
Ask the question once, at the right time¶
A pet count was never the problem. It's the questions underneath it, breed, weight, vaccination, a note for whoever's on shift, that campgrounds have had no clean way to ask until now. Animal Fields put that question where the guest already has the answer: right at booking, once per pet, in whatever shape actually matters to your park.
Learn more in the Animal Fields setup guide, the Lot Panel Overview, or Occupants & Details for the full reservation-side view.
Book a free demo at pitchcampmanagement.com or start for free to configure Animal Fields on your own lots. 🍁
Related reading: - How to Set Up Pet-Friendly Campground Rules That Guests Actually Follow - Is Your Campground Legally Protected? The Truth About Waivers Every Park Owner Needs to Hear - Not Every Note About a Guest Is for Every Employee: Confidential, Manager-Only Client Notes
Tags: animal fields campground software · custom pet information fields · collect pet breed and vaccination at booking · campground breed restriction enforcement · pet details online reservation · campground booking custom questions · PitchCamp · Canadian campground management software