There are plenty of ways to start a pet care business. You could go it alone, you could join a low-cost franchise, or you could build your business with the UK's most established full-service pet care franchise, and this article explains why so many people choose the last of those.
At We Love Pets, we believe success comes from doing things properly: putting animal welfare first, supporting our franchisees well, and building businesses that are designed to last rather than to grow quickly and burn out.
That approach has helped us become the largest full-service pet care franchise in the UK, with a nationwide network of more than 115 franchisees running 180 branches.
We are not trying to be the cheapest option you look at. What we are focused on is helping you build something you can be genuinely proud of, with the right standards and the right support behind you from the very first day.
Being the biggest matters for reasons that go well beyond the numbers, because scale brings advantages that a new business would otherwise take years to build for itself:
When someone searches for trusted pet care in your area, We Love Pets is already a name they are likely to recognise, which gives a new franchisee a real head start.
This is one of the things that sets us apart most clearly. A lot of pet care businesses are built around volume, fitting as many dogs into a walk or as many visits into a day as possible, and we have deliberately chosen not to work that way. Our whole model is built around doing what is best for the pet, which in practice means:
We have chosen to grow responsibly, even when that has meant turning down shortcuts that would have been easier or more profitable in the short term, and that commitment is a large part of why pet owners trust the brand.
Many pet care businesses offer a single service, usually dog walking. As a We Love Pets franchisee you can offer the full range of services that pet owners in your area need:
This matters because it spreads your risk. If one service is quieter at a particular time of year, others often stay busy, and customers who start with one service tend to stay with you for longer and use more of what you offer as their needs change.
Pet care is rarely a one-off purchase. Dog walking customers often book several times every week, cat care customers come back each time they travel, and home boarding customers tend to book repeatedly throughout the year.
That gives you something every business owner values, which is predictable, recurring income from a loyal customer base, so that instead of constantly chasing new customers you spend more of your time looking after the ones you already have.
Starting a business can feel overwhelming, and that is exactly why none of our franchisees build alone. When you join We Love Pets you gain access to one of the most comprehensive support packages in UK pet care franchising, including:
Whether you need help winning customers, recruiting your first team members or solving an operational problem at seven o'clock on a Sunday morning, there is always someone to turn to. You are in business for yourself, but never by yourself.
Many franchises provide business training and leave the specialist knowledge to you. We go further, because your training includes the Level 2 Canine Care Award, the We Love Pets Certification™ in Dog Care, Cat Care and Small Animal Care, and ongoing professional animal care education through Animal Ed, which gives you practical knowledge in:
That builds your confidence and credibility from the start, and it gives your customers something they value enormously: the reassurance that their pets are in properly qualified hands. It is also why you don't need any previous pet care experience to join.
This is one of the questions we hear most often, and it is a fair one. You could start a pet care business independently, and some people do it successfully, but most independent businesses face the same set of challenges in their early years:
Building alone can mean years of trial and error. Franchising lets you shorten that learning curve considerably: you still build your own business, but you do it with proven systems, a trusted brand and experienced people behind you. If you want to weigh the two routes up properly, our honest comparison of franchising and starting your own pet business sets out the pros and cons of each, including where going it alone makes more sense.
The best measure of a franchise is what the people running it think. Across our network, franchisee satisfaction stands at 96%, and every franchisee whose agreement has come up for renewal has chosen to renew.
Bryan, who runs the We Love Pets branch in Livingston after six years managing a Lidl store, put it simply:
"Starting alone can feel overwhelming. Making the leap into franchising was one of the biggest decisions I've ever made, but it's also been one of the best."
Bryan, We Love Pets Livingston
You can read more stories like Bryan's in Real Career-Change Stories: Classroom, Hospital & Office.
We don't just sell territories. We help people build businesses that give them more freedom, more flexibility and a long-term income, and for many of our franchisees joining We Love Pets has meant leaving a corporate career, replacing their employment income, taking back control of their own schedule and working every day in an industry they genuinely love.
It is about more than pets. It is about building a business you love and creating a life you choose.
Download our free Franchise Information Pack to read about the model, the investment and the support in your own time, or book a relaxed chat to talk through what owning a We Love Pets franchise could look like for you.
We Love Pets is the largest full-service pet care franchise in the UK, with more than 115 franchisees running 180 branches across the country.
No. Your training includes the Level 2 Canine Care Award, the We Love Pets Certification™ in Dog Care, Cat Care and Small Animal Care, and professional animal care education through Animal Ed, alongside full business training, so a genuine love of animals and a willingness to learn matter far more than previous experience.
Franchisees can offer dog walking, puppy care, pet sitting, cat care, home boarding, house sitting, small animal care, horse care, pet taxi and wedding pet chaperone services, which gives you several ways to earn and helps even out seasonal changes in demand.
A maximum of four. We don't do pack walking, and dogs are carefully matched by temperament before they are walked together.
Support includes a dedicated franchise support team with regular calls in your first year, launch support, marketing and lead generation, Meta and Google advertising, Business Reviews and Planning, a resource and support hub, a peer community and a 24/7 veterinary advice line. Franchisees can also use a 24/7 HR and health and safety support line at massively discounted rates.
The easiest first step is to download the free Franchise Information Pack or book a chat, both of which are completely free of pressure or obligation.