An interview with The Innocent Hound - Luxury Dog Treats

Welcome to our interview with our new dog treat brand The Innocent Hound! We are talking to Chloe the Managing Director who is going to give us the inside scoop of these delicious dog treats and the team behind them.

Before we delve into our interview we wanted to let you know why these dog treats appealed to the Aurora Pets team so much. As well as them being such a yummy treat for dogs(not to mention that they have a dog cake mix for your dog's birthday or gotcha day celebrations), we also know as owners of a dog that suffers from allergies how difficult it can be to source healthy dog treats that are suitable and finding a brand that is aware of our struggle. 

Could you tell us about The Innocent Hound team?
We are lucky to have a fantastic team who are dedicated to making high-quality treats for our pets. Most of us are pet owners, so we all care about what we feed our animals, just like we would feed our children. There are 10 of us in the team which makes us more like a family, than just colleagues. Everyone is always happy to lend a hand across the factory – any excuse to put on a hairnet!

Are your treats suitable for raw fed dogs?
Yes, The Innocent Hound treats are suitable for raw fed dogs, because of our unique drying process. We don’t rely on heat, instead, they are gently air-dried to retain their nutrients and flavour.

Could you tell us what you can (without giving away any trade secrets) how your dog treats are made?
Our fantastic team make Innocent treats by hand, right here in our Yorkshire factory. We use a bespoke air – drying process to make the perfect semi-moist treats, keeping all of the key nutrients and delicious flavours in our products.

What can you tell us about your ingredients?
We use sustainable, British meat that has been ethically sourced for our luxury treats. Our meat is either wild or from Red Tractor accredited farms, and our fish is from MSC accredited suppliers which are important to us.

What is the aim of your Innocent Hound brand?
The aim of The Innocent Hound is to create quality, luxury treats that we know your hounds will adore. We use fresh ingredients to offer a range of sumptuous treats for spoiling, training and also to provide a treat with a difference. Our Functional range of sausages have all been designed to be more than just a treat, with ingredients to help maintain joint, skin and dental health.

Why did you choose to make your dog treat range grain free?
The Innocent Pet treats are hypoallergenic; we don’t use grains in our products simply because they don’t need to be there. Many of our customers’ pets struggle with allergies and intolerances, so find that our single protein sausages are perfect for their sensitive tummies.

How do you test your treats?
We have our Chief product tester and Head of quality control, always ready to lend a paw when it comes to testing new products! We have a great idea for which flavours our pets enjoy, so when we are looking at new recipes, both Bongo and Mash are first in the queue.

We also have a brilliant mix of pets in the team too who all have different palettes, so when we create something that gets all tails wagging, we know it’s perfect.

Now for the really hard question! What would you say are Mash and Bongo’s favourite treats to eat out of your range?
It would have to be either venison and chopped apple sausages or venison slices…they’d probably go for sausages as they are bigger! They have a strong (but not unpleasant) smell which always helps when you want to keep their attention during training.

Where do Mash and Bongo enjoy going for their walks?
Bongo and Mash have a number of favourite walkies spots! Being a lurcher and a greyhound mix, the boys love to really stretch their legs and zoom off into the distance. We live close to Wetherby race course so early morning runs on the track before a day in the office is one of their favourites.

Which 3 words would you choose to describe The Innocent Hound treats?
Worth every penny.

We hope that you have enjoyed getting to know one of our brands at Aurora Pets! To check out their tasty dog treats please click here.

Love from the Aurora Pets family x