AS A member of the board of Wagg Foods of Thirsk, Preston the dog has made a huge impact on the firm's latest record-breaking results.

Preston, who was formally appointed to the position of chief product tester in June has found himself tailwagging among the boardroom chinwagging, contributing the occasional bow-wow to the pow-wow.

But his unerring ability to accept or reject the complete dry dog food formulae has helped Wagg Foods to announce an overall sales increase of around 60 per cent, in a market that is estimated to have grown by less than two per cent in the past 12 months.

Sales of the Wagg branded products - which are tried and tested by Preston, sold across the UK through Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Pets At Home and Wilkinsons and a range of independent stores and garden centres - have increased by 40 per cent.

Now, the two-year-old flatcoat retriever owned by managing director Bill Page, is to get a "bone-us".

Under his regular contract, he gets five dog days' holiday per year - the equivalent of 35 human days.

This year, he will get an extra dog day - equal to a human week.

"He deserves it," said Tom Page, sales and marketing director and son of the managing director at Wagg Foods.

"The fantastic figures are the result of a team effort. As chief taster, Preston takes a pivotal role on the board"

The good result comes midway through Wagg Food's biggest-ever marketing push. The seven-figure campaign includes its first ever television advert, which recently aired in the Yorkshire, Granada, Tyne Tees and Border regions.

In the last three years, Wagg Foods has invested £4.5 million in establishing a state-of-the-art pet food factory at Dalton airfield, near Thirsk, boosting capacity by 35,000 tonnes a year. The factory is being continually developed in order to meet demand, with two new packing lines added in recent weeks.

Updated: 11:10 Friday, September 09, 2005