Liverpool modelling agency for cats & dogs gets set to appear on BBC

A Liverpool model agency for animals has seen business soar since the growth of social media photographs of cute pets.

Images of pets posted on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook can attract tens of thousands of followers, making them very attractive to advertisers.

Urban Paws surf social media on the lookout for pets that could fit the bill which means your pet could end up famous.

In a special report for BBC Inside Out North West due to air tonight (Monday 24^th September) owner Layla Flaherty explains how she launched the agency after not wanting to leave her own dog Buttons at home alone all day. And the business has grown rapidly with the agency supplying animals for TV adverts including the Gucci advert with Harry Styles.

Layla Said: “We’ve worked with really big names….So every day we come in here we never know what jobs we are going to get in so it’s always really fun. It’s fun working with animals and not knowing what you are going to get asked to work for next.”

…Oh yes, Harry Styles – oooh! And Gucci. Yes that’s probably our biggest one to-date. We didn’t know at the time who the client actually was, they kept it top secret, even though we had signed all the NDAs and everything, they still didn’t let us know. And it wasn’t until ….the owner rang – obviously we would ring to find out how everything went if we’re not present on set – and she was referring to Harry all the time, so we thought ‘I wonder who Harry is?’ And she said ‘Oh, Harry Styles,’ and we were like ‘Oh my God!’

Layla and her team work alongside advertisers to find the best pets for their TV, print and online campaigns.

One of the dogs on the books is cockapoo Marley who has over 31,000 followers in Instagram making him a social media superstar.

To find out more about Urban Paws head to their website here.

See the full report on BBC Inside Out North West on Monday 24^th September at 7.30pm on BBC One or on iPlayer.

Tag us in any photos of your pets modelling and we will send them on to Urban Paws on your behalf, get us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.