When we first started out Angell Pets I had a picture in my head (trying to avoid the management jargon “vision” here) of what i wanted the business to look like. I summed it up on the homepage of this site. I looked around for a professional association that shared the same aims and landed on the Pet Care Trust, who even had a very similar tag line of “promoting responsible pet ownership” (ours being “promoting responsible and ethical pet ownership”). This organisation also offered excellent training courses that suited our business exactly. Some of the courses staff have under taken with the federation include “Pet Store Management” and “First aid for animals”.
Since then the Pet Care Trust has changed name to the Pet Care Trading Association (keeping the Pet Care Trust as their charitable arm) and more recently to the Pet Industry Federation (still funding and administering the Pet Care Trust). Within the federation are a number of trade associations, the Pet Retail Association being the one appropriate to our busniness. Throughout they have remained active in representing the trade in all areas (regulation, government consultation, legal representation, standardisation, training, care advice, publications etc. ) and have now produced a charter that all members must adhere to. They have also recently been instrumental in producing enhanced model licence conditions for local authorities to apply when reviewing what are now stringent licences.
I am please to say that this charter matches exactly with what we at Angell Pets have been trying to do over the past four years and will continue to do in the future. The charter is attached here and is on view in the shop. Have a look and ask yourself “Would I be comfortable buying an animal from someone that DIDN’T aspire to these standards?” Look for the federation and association logos before you buy. There is an awful lot going on behind the scenes to ensure they mean you can buy with confidence and a clear concience (can you do that if you buy on Facebook or a forum from someone you know nothing about?)
