Like many great business ideas, a personal experience identified a gap in the market. As an owner of gun dogs, Frank Hopkins was a regular on Lincolnshire’s shooting scene. Back in the 1980s he would transport his spaniels in the boot of his Daihatsu Fourtrak, which was fitted with a metal dog guard. Unfortunately, on one occasion one of the dogs wasn’t content with staying in one place. It managed to dislodge the guard, climbed into the front passenger seat and caused chaos!
This set Frank thinking. He needed a better way of containing the dogs in his car and the genesis of the idea to build a dog box began to form. At the time, he and his wife, Isobel, were running a car body shop. Travelling to Brussels on a business trip, Frank bumped into Larry, an acquaintance who manufactured fibreglass items. They got talking, Frank mooted his idea and discovered that Larry had made exactly what he needed but for a completely different purpose.
With a few modifications to Larry’s box and the addition of a metal grill and door catches, Frank’s very first dog transit box was created. Frank and Isobel took the box to the Lincolnshire Show and showed it to all the gundog trainers they knew. They listened to feedback and suggestions, made a few tweaks and alterations and they had a viable product that they could market.
Lintran, the name a combination of ‘Lincoln’ and ‘transit’, was set up in 1988 and operated from a building behind Frank and Isobel’s house. Over time, the design and manufacture of the LIntran dog box evolved and a whole range of products created. The boxes proved hugely popular amongst the shooting fraternity, and quickly became the preferred method of transporting dogs to shoots, county shows and game fairs. Lintran’s reputation for safe and effective transit boxes that are designed with a ‘dog first’ approach, along with the many styles and sizes available, plus the option for custom-built boxes, filtered through to pet dog owners. But the company also caught the eye of someone who would open up a whole new market.
Another chance meeting and working with the public service sector
Through the shooting community, Frank met a police inspector from the Metropolitan Police’s Dog Training Establishment who saw great potential in using Lintran dog transit boxes for police dogs. He ordered several on the spot and this led to contact with many other services. Lintran has subsequently supplied the Police, the Fire Service, Royal Air Force, SAS, Special Boat Service and even the United States Air Force. Naturally, requirements from one service to another varies wildly. One particular challenge was to design a box big enough for a working cocker spaniel, but small enough to fit in, wait for it, an Audi TT – used by a police bomb squad that preferred to look inconspicuous when working.
Customisation and attention to detail has become synonymous with the Lintran name – something that has attracted charities, such as the RSPCA,Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, Battersea, the Greyhound Trust and the Border Collie Trust, to ask Lintran to fit out their vans and animal ambulances. Flexibility is essential in order to accommodate every possible breed of dog, from a Chihuahua to a Great Dane and everything in between. Some boxes may need to be permanently fixed in a vehicle, while others have to be easy to remove. We’ve even designed a box specifically designed for aggressive dogs, with openings and either end of the box and a guillotine-style door that can be quickly released via a cord, so keeping handlers safe.
Innovation, quality and customer satisfaction
Such is the success of Lintran, the company’s 30th anniversary was marked by a move to bigger premises and a formal opening by HRH The Princess Royal. She was presented with one of Lintran’s dog transit boxes for her Land Rover Discovery, so our customers can feel satisfied that they and their dogs are in very good company!
The Lintran name has even spanned continents! We are specialists in custom builds and satisfying specific requirements, but a commission from a wildlife organisation, where we were asked to design and build custom boxes and drawers for the organisation’s endangered species protection teams in Africa, remains one of our most unusual jobs.
Now under new ownership, we are excited for the future and further innovation in the world of dog transportation. Ensuring that dogs can travel comfortably and safely will always be at the forefront of the business and we will never compromise on that.