And as the word 'vet' in the title might give away, by best friend I mean my dog. I mention him a lot and sneak in a photo at any opportunity, but I'm not sure he's ever been formally introduced. So here we go...

Rocky, a.ka The Little Wolf. Not actually that little or wolf -like these days, but it's what I called him when he was wee and it stuck. He's actually 50 kgs- ish of German x Belgian Shepherd. He's hairy, noisy, unruly and over protective. He spends his days either at my feet or under them, and I absolutely adore him.

It's a big deal being a dog owner. They bring a lot of love and companionship to the table and place all their trust in you to keep them right. Happy and healthy, cared for and nourished. Nutrition is a key to the health and wellbeing of our four legged friends.

Let's be honest, The Wolf is not 'just a dog'. He is absolutely one of the family. For better or worse, one of us. I'm a house wife ( or do we say home maker now? ) and I enjoy cooking for and caring for my family. So just like everyone else, I want the wolf to have a quality diet. I want him to have a little treat.

And I'm happy to put a bit of effort in to make that happen. Like spending a morning baking him some lovely heart shaped dog biscuits.

Image via Vet Chef Instagram (@thevetchef)

All of that to say, I was very happy to be sent a Vet Chef treat box to try out with The Wolf. The box is quite similar to the meal and baking boxes we humans can subscribe to. A letter box sized box of loveliness that comes with a recipe card- in this case, Venison and Beetroot Love Hearts- a heart shaped cookie cutter and almost all of the ingredients you'll need, portioned up and ready to go. All I had to add was a couple of fresh eggs.

I like baking. I suspect it's another thing where I have more enthusiasm than talent, but I do enjoy it. Baking for my best friend? Even better. Plus, baking dog biscuits mans no licking the spoon and no over indulging by having 'just one more'. Win.

The recipe is easy to pull together - a good thing, like I said more enthusiasm than talent- and came packed full of things that bring goodness. Seaweed powder, beetroot powder, oats, dried venison. The beetroot powder gave the mixture and the resulting biscuits a pretty pink tint. The Wolf doesn't care much either way as long as they taste good, but this was a shared experience for he and I, and the pretty tint made me happy. Little things.

Bit of a glitch when I couldn't find the rolling pin, but in the spirit of adapt-and-overcome I used a bottle of champagne instead. Not sure if that's an classy little touch or utterly desperate, but it got the job done. Answers on a postcard if you know where my rolling pin went?

The recipe didn't specify that you should talk your dog through the whole process, but I did and I think everyone should. He wasn't leaving the kitchen once he got a sniff of the ingredients coming together. Best to involve him. I talk to him all the time, actually, whatever I'm up to. He's a good listener.

The eagle eyed among you might have spotted that the image of the box I shared is for ' 'Amber the Cockapoo' not 'Rocky the Naughty Shepherd'. I had to use an image of the complete kit from the lovely people at Vet Chef, because Rocky got to the box before I did. The smell of the ingredients was pure temptation. The recipe might be virtuous, my dog not so much.

Caught in the act and post telling off

I suppose that's what you want as a dog mam owner, isn't it? A dog that is happy and healthy, full of energy and curiosity. Happy and healthy enough to get into a bit of mild mischief here and there.

Ten minutes in the oven and the biscuits are done. Once cooled they'll keep in an airtight container for ten days or in the freezer for up to three months so nothing needs to go to waste. Speaking of which, all the packaging can go into household recycling, even the egg shells went into the compost bin. It felt good that this little box was all love, zero waste.

I was kindly sent the Vet Chef box via Napo Pet Insurance. Rocky's little trick of ripping into his recipe box demonstrated beautifully the need for insurance; pets do silly, unexpected things. Luckily, no harm done beyond some ripped cardboard this time. But you never know what might happen, so it's good to have them covered.

Thanks to Napo Pet Insurance, Rocky and I were able to try the Vet Chef box for free. All opinions are genuine and my own; I'd never review or recommend something I didn't genuinely love.

Having established that my dog is a lovely liability, put me in good company. Tell me the silliest or naughtiest thing your dog has ever done?

Helen x