WARRINGTON entrepreneur, Felix Robinson together with her son, Tom have set up a business to make the buying of dogs online safer.
The welfare of the public and animals is not the top priority when it comes to purchasing pets and the need for a solution has now become urgent.
Felix, who has previously worked in the skincare industry and prior to this, was a representative for Snowboarding for England, was inspired to set up her business, Pet Trust UK following the puppy boom which was generated by the Covid pandemic.
During the lockdown periods, the collective mental health of the UK population suffered. Around 3.2 million households felt that adding a puppy to their family would have a positive impact on their lives but this came at a cost. There were an untold number of reports of puppies being inhumanely bred, breeders being attacked and their beloved dogs being stolen, and families losing their savings to scammers.
Felix explains: “During the lockdown a Manchester breeder was threatened at knifepoint with machetes. Her dogs and puppies were stolen from her home after a meet and greet with an alleged prospective family. Sadly, she wasn’t the only one as reports of attacks rose.“My family and I knew that no platform supported breeders and prospective dog owners to make connections safely.
“Prospective owners are buying dogs online with no way of checking the breeder’s credibility, health certificates and breeding practices. They were entrusting their fortunes without knowing if there was even a real puppy waiting for them or they were falling in love and finding their puppy cruelly ripped from them six months later due to poor breeding and hidden health conditions.
“We therefore decided to set up Pet Trust UK to make buying animals online safer.
Felix believes that the current system for buying and selling dogs online is broken and leaves users vulnerable with the welfare of the public and animals clearly not the top priority. The Pet Trust UK secure platform provides the following benefits:
• Pet Trust UK will include a dog family tree for all breeds so users can research the heredity of the dogs.
• Pet Trust UK will be doing health certificate checks to reduce the incidence of inherited disorders.
• Pet Trust UK will hold breeders accountable, ensuring the Licences are legitimate.
• All images will have a transparent logo and look at ai technology to recognise when a photo has been copied and if so, will be flagged.
• By introducing the UK’s 1st Mandatory ID bank clearance checks, this new online platform ensures that the breeder and potential buyer know that the person messaging them is genuine, their details accurate and they are traceable.
• All potential dog owners will complete a questionnaire, which will be forwarded to the breeder on enquiry.
• All unlicenced breeders who do not have a licence are to be vetted by zoom with a preset list of questions to ensure the user is not a puppy farmer and is breeding responsibly.
“By ensuring that breeding dogs are healthy, we will contribute to the welfare of all dogs. This will create a trustworthy and safe environment for all users,” says Felix who is the proud owner of a 5 year old rescue Boxer called Sammi.
As well as providing a safe environment to buy pets, Pet Trust UK also intends to give something back by working with rescue centres and giving a percentage of profits to partner centres. They have already partnered up with DNA Protected, and are working closely with Councils, and The Police to make their platform the most secure place to purchase pets. They also hope to link up with the Kennel Club and Laboratories to validate health results, vets, insurance companies, retailers and pet food manufacturers to give added benefits to customers. The business will be launching an Ecommerce site in September and also intends to provide educational courses and qualifications and resource material on various aspects of pet care.
Felix concludes: “I see Pet Trust UK becoming a one stop shop for dog breeders, breeding equipment and new puppy owners as we aim to offer something special to our customers. Our focus will also be on promoting licenced breeders and showcasing their profiles.”
If you are dog breeder and what to register with Pet Trust UK or a potential dog owner who wants to pre register for the service provider database, .then visit our web site: www.pettrustuk.com You can email: felixr@pettrustuk.com You can also follow Pet Trust UK on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin