Zigzag was launched in 2021 by Lorna Winter and Patrick Luke.
When I ask the co-founders how far they can go with Zigzag, the UK’s leading app dedicated to puppy training and coaching, they unleash a quick response. “Global domination,” the duo reply. “There is no other answer for that.”
Lorna Winter and Patrick Luke have every reason for optimism given that Zigzag has been downloaded globally more than 1 million times and helped over 200,000 puppies since launching in 2021. In that time the founders have also learned that one of the key phrases from stressed consumers with new puppies is “they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
“Sometimes they are at their wits’ end,” says Luke. “Yes, we do all the lessons and teach them skills and teach the human to train the dog. But one of the areas we have done well in is to help people manage expectations.”
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Research from Zigzag last year showed that around six in 10 owners reported that their puppy displayed unwanted behaviours in the early days, while one in four people had considered rehoming or giving up their puppy.
This suggested a “puppy blues” crisis in the UK and backed the co-founder’s belief that there was a gap in the market to launch the app five years previously.
“What we’re trying to solve is the amount of people who are unprepared for raising a dog and not realising what they have taken on,” says Luke, the company’s CEO. “It is a journey and has its ups and downs.”
The premium app, which specialises in the first year of training, is backed by leading dog training and behaviour organisations and uses data and technology to tailor each programme to the breed, age and environment of each puppy.
The co-founders have turned Zigzag into the No.1 app dedicated to puppyhood coaching.
There is information from separation anxiety to eating grass, while the most popular modules are noise socialising lessons for puppies to deal with fireworks and doorbells.
Winter, a dog trainer and behaviour expert, and Luke, a business development specialist, first met when the pair worked at Purina before the global brand moved from pet food to pet care.
They spent five weeks building the app’s first iteration and launched on a lean budget funded by Purina. “It was hard in the early days as we wanted to do everything, but trying to do one thing really well and moving on to the next thing was really important,” says Winter.
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Testing a WhatsApp group for consumers to ask questions proved a key insight as they were quickly forced to bring in more qualified specialists to deal with queries.
“It is a massive upheaval for some people,” said Winter. “When the dogs come through people’s lives and go through the adolescence stage, no one is expecting that. They become horrible again, it can be stressful and hard for families.”
Hearing the case studies on how the app has impacted owners has been hugely rewarding, according to Winter. “We know that if the puppy coaches weren’t here, there would be some occasions where the dogs would have been handed in to a shelter,” she added.
Last year Zigzag launched a free pre-pup school, the UK’s first antenatal-style classes for future puppy owners. Meanwhile, the founders also teamed up with the University of Lincoln, whose subsequent study on the digital app highlighted that education and positive training were key to prevention.
Digital app Zigzag has helped puppy owners manage expectations in the first year. ·Westend61 via Getty Images
Zigzag is currently focused on the English-speaking market while 2026 is set to be an expansion year to all the major European languages. The founders still operate on a lean team, with 16 full-time staff, as they look to revamp its tech set up. Last year it reported an annual revenue increase of 264%.
Zigzag also launched its AI assistant, Ziggy, within six weeks of creation, the technology answering in all languages and adding to its suite of services alongside human trainers.
“We have been amazed at what AI can do,” said Luke. “We have quite a strong tone of voice in our app which has a bit of tongue in cheek and where it’s okay to make light in what is quite a challenging situation.”
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While Zigzag launched alongside a speight of rivals during Covid, the co-founders aim to “to be around for a long time and ultimately that is what will differentiate us.”
As far as the owners’ global domination aims go, India is a market which is growing exponentially when it comes to seeking behavioural advice, while Zigzag’s launch in the US in 2023 has opened up a huge “6x” market for the London-based app.
Winter, a behaviourist since 2009, says that dogs are struggling in the modern world, one where owners are expecting pets “to go everywhere and be okay with everything.”
It is why Winter believes that “every dog that is living in a family as a pet should be using us.”
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