Horsham dad and son's business goes viral after appearance on TV's Dragon's Den

Father and son Peter and Chris Maxted entered the Den seeking investment for their company Dog-G8 which manufactures unique ‘concertina-style’ dog safety gates designed to prevent dog escapes and combat the risk of dogs attacking postmen and delivery workers.

And in the Den, Dragon Deborah Meaden jumped at the chance of investing, telling Peter and Chris that she loved their product. “I think it’s brilliant,” she said, adding: “and I really like you as well.”

And since the programme was aired last night (Thursday), Peter – who lives in Horsham with wife Julie – said: “We’ve been inundated with orders.”

And Peter and Chris have also gone viral on Tik Tok and Facebook clocking up more than 100 million views.

Dog-G8 already has customers in the US, Canada and Europe as well as the UK. “America is really sitting up and taking notice of us and the motor home/camper van industry love us. It’s exciting times,” said Peter.

The Dog-G8 gate was the inspiration of Peter, a former firefighter, founder of a pet-sitter company and a dog owner for around 20 years.

He says he was very aware of the risks associated with dogs at front doors, for example escapes, attacks and thefts and, although there were other gates on the market, he felt they were inadequate and ineffective for all breeds.

He therefore decided to design and sell his own version so he could keep his own and his clients’ dogs safer at the front door. He spent around a year on its design before launching the product.

Peter’s son Chris is a director in the business and has been working alongside Merseyside Dog Safety Partnership and the University of Liverpool to raise awareness of dog attacks and their impact on delivery workers.

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And now the family are celebrating their success. They came together, along with friends, in Horsham on Thursday to watch the airing on Dragon’s Den.

“We cracked open the Champagne,” said Peter. “It coincided with my wife’s birthday so we had friends and neighbours in and had a bit of a party until midnight. Then I watched the show again before I went to bed.”