Shared Dog Care: Choose Co-Owner, Team, or Helper Access
Author: Elliott Garber, DVM · Published
Two people caring for a dog do not always need the same permissions. A co-owner may need to maintain the profile, a trainer may need to add records, and a short-term sitter may only need to see eligible care tasks. Choosing access by the job makes the handoff clearer.
Creatures separates animal membership roles from limited Care helper access. Start with co-owners and team members and the dog hub. The role labels describe product permissions; they are not a substitute for your separate ownership agreements or care arrangements.
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| Owner | Manages the animal’s team and ownership |
|---|---|
| Co-owner | Profile, records, listings and transfers; not the member list |
| Team member | Photos and records, not ownership management |
| Care helper | Eligible tasks across the selected account or organization |
| Before handoff | Test the actual account and tasks |
| After handoff | Review access and unfinished work |
Write down the work before choosing a role
List what the person must actually do: view today’s feeding, record a completed walk, add a professional report, change the dog’s main details, or manage who else has access. Do not choose the broadest role simply because it is familiar.
Keep private records in mind. Someone helping with dinner does not automatically need insurance documents or the full medical history. Conversely, a person responsible for a task requiring a detailed record needs an appropriate workflow, not a simple checkbox that hides the details.
- Maintain the dog’s profile and records with the owner. Access to consider: Co-owner. Boundary to check: Co-owner can also list the dog for sale, start a transfer and invite their own Care helper, but cannot manage the member list. Use Team for photos and records only.
- Add photos and records for ongoing work. Access to consider: Team member. Boundary to check: No main-profile or ownership-management powers.
- Help with eligible simple Care tasks. Access to consider: Care helper. Boundary to check: Some tasks stay with the owner and are not visible to the helper.
- Manage membership and ownership. Access to consider: Owner. Boundary to check: Broader authority than routine task completion.
The animal’s Owner has full control, including membership and ownership changes. Co-owners can edit profile details, add photos and records, list the animal for sale, start a transfer and invite their own Care helpers, but cannot manage the animal’s member list. Team members can add photos and records without those broader profile and ownership powers.
Add animal access from the correct profile
The owner can use the pencil beside Team on the animal profile to add a person and choose a role. An existing Creatures user may receive access immediately; an invitation to someone new remains pending until accepted. Check the person’s identity before adding them, and cancel an incorrect pending invitation rather than sending more versions.
Animal access does not automatically make that person a member of an organization. If a kennel or rescue owns the animal, keep organization responsibilities separate from this animal’s team. Do not infer access from a person merely following a profile or receiving a link.
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Use helper access for the tasks it actually covers
On a new account, set up the dog’s Care plan first, then open Today and Who can help to manage Care helpers. It shows coverage, including how many of today’s tasks the helper can see and which work stays with you. Eligible simple feeding, place tasks and reminders can differ from tasks needing a complete animal record.
Helper coverage is account-wide or organization-wide, not per dog. It can expose eligible tasks across all animals, groups and places belonging to each selected owner, including animal names and photos needed for those tasks. Owner checkboxes start selected, so uncheck any account or organization you do not intend to share. Check the “They’ll see N of your M tasks today” coverage line before inviting.
The owner choices are your personal account and organizations you own. Animal tasks in that scope include animals for which the selected account is owner or co-owner. A previous owner or a boarding provider can appear on the animal’s team automatically during a sale handover or active boarding stay. Review the animal team and helper roster separately; automatic team access is not the same as a manually invited Care helper.
A helper arrangement also needs clear instructions. Use pet sitter instructions to prepare the daily routine, contacts and exception handling. Access tells the app who can act; instructions tell the person what successful care looks like.
Test the handoff with a real task
Before leaving the dog in someone else’s care, have that person use their own account and open the intended task. Confirm the dog’s identity, task instructions and completion action together. Do not share the owner’s password to work around an access problem.
Review the first week of any Care plan, including its timing and alerts. A saved plan is not evidence that another person can see every task. A notification is also not evidence that care happened.
For work that needs a full record, confirm who will enter the actual details. If a task is held back from the helper, assign it to someone with the right access rather than asking the helper to mark an unrelated task complete. The reminder guide explains how reminders and completed records relate.
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Troubleshoot visibility without broadening everything
If the person cannot see the dog, check the signed-in account, invitation status, animal membership and profile visibility. A private profile is still available to authorized members; making it public is not a substitute for correct access. See public and private animals.
If they can see the dog but cannot perform one action, compare the action with the role. If they can see only some Care tasks, review helper coverage and the record requirements for the missing task. Grant broader access only when their actual responsibility warrants it.
At the end of temporary care, review pending tasks, completed records and continuing access. Remove access that is no longer needed through the relevant membership or helper controls. Keep the accurate care history. The successful handoff leaves both people clear about what happened and who is responsible next.
For an overnight arrangement, use the dog boarding cost guide to compare service types and what the fee includes. The puppy vaccination guide covers a history the caregiver may need to see, but seeing a record is different from receiving ownership powers.
Do this next on Creatures
Start with the information and responsibility you already have. Choose the action that fits your role today.
- Keep an animal’s history together: Add your dog with the identity details you know. You can start while signed out and complete the free account steps in the flow.
- Record a real event: Add a record, choose the correct animal and check visibility. The form opens for visitors; a free account is needed to save.
- Follow availability: Save a dog listing alert. Visitors can enter an email and complete signup; an alert does not guarantee a match.
- Represent your work: If you manage a kennel or rescue, create its organization profile. Guest signup is available in that flow.
- Compare current listings: Browse dogs on the marketplace, then confirm the individual animal’s identity, history and suitability with the seller.
- Find organizations to contact: Explore the breeder directory and discuss records and ongoing support directly with the relevant organization.
