Lancashire-based pet accessory start-up company Accidents Happen launched a new carpet protector at PATS Telford, which caught the interest of visitors to their stand including one of the major pet wholesalers.

The product was the inspiration of John Blezard, who is a project manager in the banking industry and painting contractor, Chris Clayton, his business partner and brother-in-law. 

John had just bought his first home and had spent a fortune on new furniture and carpets for it.  At the same time he had bought an energetic cocker spaniel puppy called Johnson which despite all efforts to try and train him with puppy pads, he often ignored them or left his rear end hanging over the edge of the pad leaving lots of wet patches and little presents hidden for John to find. Johnson is immortalised as the cartoon dog in the company logo.

With Johnson consistently weeing on the new carpet, John decided to use a carpet protection film from a major DIY brand but he was not happy with how it made his home look. Chris and John then realised that there was a niche in the market for a puppy carpet protector film that was more pet focussed. The pair found a manufacturer and with the help of a local designer, came up with a paw print film that was easy to lay and would protect a carpet from little accidents. The company started trading in December 2021 and within a short space of time received rave reviews.

Chris said: “Dog breeders seem to like us from both a usage and resale perspective. Our Amazon page outsells our website 4:1 and since we paid to have our page professionally optimised we have seen an increase in sales. We are now embarking on a PR campaign to increase awareness and we want to focus more on the trade. We are the only pet focussed carpet protector film on the market and the beauty of it is that you can protect your whole carpet and not just a small patch. We are also more environmentally friendly than having to throw away and replace a whole carpet which is both expensive and disruptive.

Chris and John have ambitious plans for the product aiming at the major pet retailers and wholesalers.

“We would like people to think ‘Accidents Happen’ when accidents happen.” says Chris. “Pets at Home and chains such as Jolleyes are obviously the golden geese as far as we can think because our product only targets consumers with a particular need at a particular time. If we were available at a base where people became familiar with our availability they would know to go there to buy the film, or they would go there not knowing what to get and after advice from the store would be directed to our product. We would love it if the use of our product just became part of the puppy training experience like buying nappies for a baby.”

Both Chris and John hope to develop the range in the future and to expand the use of the product into other areas and industries. In time they are also hoping to look at the export market for the product.

If you are interested in becoming at stockist or to find out more visit:  www.accidents-happen.co.uk