Straight answers. No sugar-coating.

No. Most of our franchisees had never worked with animals professionally before joining. Your training gives you the Level 2 Canine Care Award, the We Love Pets Certification™ in Dog Care, Cat Care and Small Animal Care, and pet first aid from our sister company, Dog First Aid Training. What matters far more is a genuine love of animals and a reliable, caring nature.

No. Plenty of our franchisees had never run a business before. Your training covers pricing, winning customers, recruiting a team and managing your finances, and the systems, policies and templates are already built for you. Our support team and a network of 115+ franchisees help you with every decision after that.

People who are passionate about animal welfare, reliable and professional, good with people, willing to learn and motivated to build something of their own. Our franchisees have come from nursing, teaching, banking, retail, logistics, sales and the music industry, so there's no single background that works best.

Many people do. Some go full-time from day one, while others build their business gradually alongside existing work or family commitments before switching over completely. We'll talk through what's realistic for you when we chat.

It depends on your circumstances, including your funding and any notice period. Most people move across over a few weeks or months rather than overnight, and there's no pressure from us to rush. The people who do best are usually the ones who took their time deciding.

The franchise fee is £12,995 + VAT. It covers your exclusive territory, full pre-launch training, business set-up and launch support, a marketing launch pack, and access to all our systems, policies and resources. See our Investment & Funding page for the full breakdown.

There's a management fee of 10% of turnover, which pays for ongoing support calls, Business Reviews and Planning, training and your CPD programme, marketing and lead generation, the 24/7 veterinary advice line, the resource and support hub and the franchisee community. WLP Connect, our business software, costs a discounted £30 a month for franchisees.

You'll want working capital to cover business insurance, uniform and equipment, and your living costs while you build your client base. The exact amount depends on your circumstances, and we'll help you work out a realistic figure before you commit to anything.

Yes. We Love Pets is pre-approved for a government-backed Start Up Loan. Eligible applicants may be able to fund the full franchise fee from around £313 a month and borrow up to £25,000 to cover working capital, with the option to draw down more later if you choose to invest further in your business. Approval is subject to eligibility, credit and affordability checks. Many franchisees also use savings or a redundancy payment.

It's a fair question. Going it alone usually costs less to start, but it means building a brand, finding every customer, and working out pricing, systems, insurance and compliance yourself, usually by trial and error. A franchise gives you all of that ready-made, plus training and support, so you can launch faster with less risk. Our honest comparison sets out both routes.

It depends on your territory, the services you offer, the hours you put in and whether you build a team. Across the network, average monthly turnover is around £6,500, and our highest-performing franchisee has turned over more than £21,500 in a month. Tina in North Somerset turned over £70,000 in her first 12 months.

Turnover is business revenue, not salary or profit. Individual results vary, and these figures are not a projection or guarantee of what any other franchisee will achieve.

That depends on your territory, your time commitment and how quickly you build your client base. Many franchisees start earning within their first few weeks of trading, and some replace their previous salary within their first year. The most useful thing you can do is ask existing franchisees how long it took them, and we'll introduce you so you can.

Yes, and many of our most successful franchisees do. Employing walkers, sitters and hosts lets you serve more customers and grow beyond what you could do alone. We support you with recruitment, onboarding and HR, and WLP Connect handles rotas, staff pay and visit check-ins.

Yes. Our high-potential programmes support franchisees who want to build a larger business and grow beyond the VAT threshold, and many franchisees go on to run more than one territory. WLP Connect's dashboard and AI-suggested profitable routes and services help you see where to grow next.

Before you launch, you'll complete business training and animal care training, including the Level 2 Canine Care Award, the We Love Pets Certification™ in Dog Care, Cat Care and Small Animal Care, and pet first aid from our sister company, Dog First Aid Training. You'll also get free, unlimited online training with our sister company, Animal Ed, including a suite of courses created specifically for We Love Pets. After that, every franchisee has a personal CPD programme, with live training sessions, webinars and a yearly first aid refresher at our annual conference. See Training & Support for more.

Regular support calls throughout your first year, Business Reviews and Planning, buddies and mentors who have run their own branches, marketing and lead generation, and someone at the end of the phone whenever you need help.

No. Your resource and support hub has health and safety policies and procedures, contract templates, terms and conditions and insurance details ready to use, so you're not starting from a blank page.

There's a 24/7 veterinary advice line, and franchisees can also use a 24/7 HR and health and safety support line at massively discounted rates.

Our own business software. It gives you a dashboard to manage your business, AI-suggested profitable routes and services, and handles bookings, rotas, automatic invoicing, staff pay and your customer pipeline in one app. Franchisees get it at a discounted rate of £30 a month.

We have territories available across many parts of the UK, and availability changes as branches launch and resales come up. Every territory is exclusive and mapped around household density, demographics and demand for pet care. See our Territories page for the areas we're looking to fill, or ask us about a specific place.

Please get in touch anyway. We'll look at neighbouring territories, resale opportunities and areas likely to become available in the future to find the right option for you.

That depends on the business you want to build. In the early stages you'll spend time delivering services, marketing and talking to clients. As you grow, many franchisees employ staff so they can focus on managing and growing the business rather than doing every visit themselves.

That's one of the main reasons people join. Because the business is local and you decide how your week is structured, many franchisees build it around school runs and family life. Weekends and school holidays can be busy in pet care, so it's worth planning for those.