A north-east couple’s dream to tour the world with their dog on the back of a motorbike has led to the creation of a new app for pet lovers around the world.
Stephanie Thomas and her partner Didier Smith saw a gap in the market when they took off on a trip to the Highlands.
Having arrived in Skye on their bike, with nowhere booked to stay, they struggled to find accommodation that would cater for them and their Australian kelpie, Harley.
So the tech-savvy pair embarked upon creating a new mobile app called petlas which allows users to see all pet-friendly facilities nearby.
It currently has around 100,000 pet-related locations worldwide on a map including vets, pet-friendly hotels, camping grounds, restaurants, parks and beaches, as well as pet services and supplies. They hope that this will continue growing as users keep adding locations themselves.
The pair are currently taking apart in Elevator’s Accelerator programme aimed at helping them turn their product into a viable business.
Miss Thomas said: “My partner and I have a dog here in Aberdeen, and we spent a good amount of the summer this year travelling around Scotland with our dog on the back of our motorbikes.
“This app arose with the challenges we face travelling with a dog. We believe pets are members of the family and so we want to make travelling and moving with pets easier for anyone, anywhere.
“The dream is to eventually sell my bike and buy one we can all travel the world on together, so not only will this help others it will help us on our journey.”
The app will be completely free to download. She added: “We are strong believers in putting as little friction as possible between users and getting value. They only need to create an account if they want to add a location or leave a comment.”