Hello there fellow dog lover.
Tanya & Ollie here – the founders of Happy Hour For Dogs (and K9 Heaven, our Auckland based social daycare and boarding facility).
If you’re new to our brand, we highly encourage you to take the time to read this blog as it’ll help you to get to know us a little better.
We never set out to start a dog food company.
We were just trying to feed our own three dogs — Merc, Cleo, and Elsa — without driving ourselves mad. Merc’s the fussy one who turns his nose up at 90% of what you give him. Cleo’s a walking vacuum cleaner with a stomach of steel. And Elsa… well, she’s our old rescue girl who came to us overweight, anxious, and with a list of sensitivities longer than her tail.
And when we looked at the dog food aisle?
We were honestly shocked.
Even the “premium” stuff was filled crap, weird fillers, and synthetic additives. Things we wouldn’t eat ourselves — let alone feed to the little legends we loved most.
And we weren’t alone.
From 3 Dogs to 1,000+
Running a dog daycare and boarding facility that's been in operation over 20 years, we’ve seen tens of thousands of dogs come through our doors. We’ve dished out over 500,000+ meals to pups of every shape, size, and personality. And we noticed something strange…
Even the so-called “best” kibble brands?
They just weren’t cutting it.
Dogs were leaving food in their bowls. Getting upset tummies and others were itchy, gassy, sluggish, overweight — and their owners were frustrated and confused.
So we thought we NEED to do better. For our K9 heaven boarding dogs and for our own.
We Started Tinkering (Like Mad Scientists… With Fur Everywhere)
We began testing our own formula using premium New Zealand ingredients — grass-fed lamb, green-lipped mussels, prebiotics, taurine. Nothing synthetic, nothing sketchy. Just real food designed to support energy, joint health, digestion, and taste (even for Merc, our diva).
After having it meet AAFCO's standards, we trialled it on our boarding crew first.
Dogs loved it. Like, bowl-licking, tail-wagging, stare-at-you-for-more levels of love.
Soon, the parents were asking:
“Hey… what are you feeding them? Can I buy it?”
That’s how Happy Hour was born.
It’s Not Just About Food
We named it Happy Hour because that’s how we want dogs to feel.
Joyful. Energised. Cared for. Like life is one long tail-wagging celebration.
But Happy Hour’s never just been about what’s in the bowl. It’s about the life that happens around it. The adventures. The cuddles. The goofy zoomies. The long naps after a good walk and a great meal to make it all possible. That’s what we care about most.
And we know food plays a huge part in that — in your dog’s health span, mood, energy, and even behaviour.
So we take it seriously. Without ever trying to take ourselves too seriously.
What Our Dogs Have Taught Us About Life
We thought we were just running a business. But turns out, our dogs have been running the show — and teaching us the whole way through.
They’ve taught us:
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Patience — especially Merc, when he refuses to eat something three days in a row.
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Presence — because nothing reminds you to be in the moment like a dog resting their head on your knee.
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Gratitude — Elsa’s quiet love reminds us daily what second chances mean.
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Joy in the small things — a tail wag, a good walk, a warm sunny spot on the floor.
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That love doesn’t need words — it just needs consistency, care, and maybe a sneaky treat or two.
Building Happy Hour hasn’t just made us better business owners.
It’s made us better humans.
And we hope, in some small way, we can help you feel the same — by making your dog’s life even healthier, happier, and more full of tail-wagging joy.
What We Stand For
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We don’t use crap ingredients. Ever.
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We refund you fully if your dog doesn’t like it (no questions asked).
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We donate 10% of profits to rescue dog charities here in NZ.
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We feed it to our own dogs every single day.
This is food made by real dog parents, for real dog parents.