A COUPLE who have just sold their brand new dry dog food to national outlets say their best sales assistant is their puppy Hope.

The French bulldog, so named as she almost didn’t survive during complications at her birth, melts the hearts of buyers, say her owners Michael and Faith Mateer.

They launched their Mocara natural dog food and supplements this year and say they have seen the brand taking off with sales into Pets at Home online and Hayes garden centres, and through their own website.

“This is really taking off and I have found that if I take Hope with me, she not only charms them, but they can see how healthy she is on the food, which also promotes her calm temperament,” Mr Mateer said.

“We breed French bulldogs and have connected through social media and persistence with other dog and Frenchie owners and we have access to over 50,000.

“It is growing so quickly that we have taken on to more full time staff, which take us up to five.”

The couple, whose office is at Clifton Moor, have their dogs and three children to care for at home, but have launched the Mocara brand, which means My Friend in Gaelic, through word of mouth and contacts initially.

“It began when we canvassed the help of other specialists, breeders and Frenchie owners through Facebook groups, as our breed of dogs have sensitive stomachs and suffered digestive problems with the food available to them.

“We were trying everthing, from commercial to raw foods, but nothing seemed to work,” he said.

“We initially created a range of supplements to help wit this and started the myfrenchbulldog.co.uk business, but then extended it to food for all breeds of dogs.

“We used the knowledge of the people we connected with to come up with the solution.”

The dry kibbled food contains sweet potato, which Mr Mateer says is a superfood for dogs, that calms and nourishes.

The vegetable and apple ingredients are teamed up with venison, salmon, pork or chicken varieties.