It’s well known that the staff at Fish4Dogs not only love our jobs, but we’re dog lovers too and some of us even breed beautiful puppies.

Maria Massey, Sales Ledger Controller at Fish4Dogs, has been a Labrador fanatic for more than 40 years and has been breeding litters since they had their first lab, Sophie in 1995. Our Breeder Club Manager, Jill Aston, has been to visit Maria to talk all things “dog” and sneak in a few puppy cuddles!

“You do learn a lot along the way” Maria says “We certainly do things a bit differently as we know a lot more now than we did then. We’ve had a total of 5 litters now and we’ve enjoyed each and every one!”

Present day Maria stands in her countryside kitchen on a sunny day in May with three adult labradors including Willow who is mother to her current litter of seven puppies – Tavish, Winston, Tilly, Posie, Olive, Tilly-Rose and Daphne – all named by their new families and ready to leave within a few days.

“We do so much to prepare puppies for their new lives these days, my husband says I do almost too much but I think it’s important. This is the foundation that sets them up to be happy, healthy puppies and become confident family pets. We have many enquiries for prospective new owners, but a gut instinct tells us who really want their pet forever, I am not shy of turning people away either, it is a massive responsibility.”

“Our puppies are weaned onto Fish4Dogs puppy food and we spend plenty of time explaining the benefits of the food to their new families. The head start these puppies get because they have such excellent gut health really shows - they are so much more capable of dealing with new situations and learning effectively because their cognitive ability is driven by their positive gut health.”

The Fish4Dogs puppy packs that we received as part of the Breeder Club scheme are invaluable because they not only have a 1.5kg bag of puppy food inside but they also contain discount codes for the new families to use on their first order as well as booklets explaining the benefits of Omega 3 and how to feed their puppies for success”

“I think my top tips for puppy raising are to plan in advance and be prepared to give everything else up for 8 weeks! I buy bits and pieces for our puppies through the year like bulk buying puppy toys when they’re on sale to send with them to their new homes and I do my own puppy blankets too so I have to get those done in advance. Accepting that you can’t get a lot done for 8 weeks is key too – if you try to keep on top of everything you’ll be exhausted so for me, it’s puppies first and gardening later! I can spend all summer gardening when I’ve got more time”