About Us
About Bounce & Bella
No grain. No vague derivatives. Ever.
Every ingredient clearly named.
Peace of mind for you.
That’s the Bounce & Bella rule.
It doesn’t apply to a special range or a handful of selected products.
It applies to everything we sell.
If we can’t be clear about what’s in it, we don’t want it in our shop.
Two lads from Lancaster
Bounce & Bella was started by childhood friends Darren Clunie and Andy Irvine.
We grew up together in Lancaster, North Lancashire, spending most of our time playing football, roaming around outside and generally having dogs as hairy, unpredictable members of the gang.
No Xbox. No internet. Football, dogs and some exceptionally fine nettle-whacking sticks.
Dogs have always felt less like pets to us and more like part of the family.
Which eventually led us to ask a fairly basic question:
Why is it so difficult to know exactly what we’re feeding them?
We didn’t start out trying to change anything
When we first started selling dog treats, we did what most new pet businesses probably do.
We looked at what was already being sold and sold much the same sort of thing.
Then Darren developed problems eating grain himself and began paying far more attention to ingredient labels.
That made him look again at what he was feeding his own dog, Sorrel.
Sorrel had suffered for years with itching and digestive problems. There had been vet visits, changes of food and plenty of wondering what might be causing it.
We can’t honestly say food, grain or any particular ingredient was responsible for Sorrel’s problems.
But looking closely at dog-food labels revealed something else that bothered us.
Sometimes you simply couldn’t tell precisely what was in the packet.
“Cereals.”
“Meat and animal derivatives.”
“Derivatives of vegetable origin.”
Perfectly legal descriptions, but not much help if you actually want to know what you’re feeding your dog.
That was the bit we could do something about.
The Bounce & Bella Rule
We decided Bounce & Bella should be a shop where you don’t have to inspect every packet looking for surprises.
So we set ourselves some simple rules.
No grain
Everything we sell is grain-free.
Not our “grain-free range”.
Everything.
No vague derivatives
We don’t want ingredient lists hiding behind broad descriptions that leave you wondering what the actual ingredient is.
If it’s beef, say beef.
If it’s chicken, say chicken.
Simple.
Every ingredient clearly named
We want you to be able to turn over the packet, read the ingredients and understand what you’re giving your dog.
No decoder ring required.
Why does that matter?
Because buying something for your dog shouldn’t involve standing in the kitchen wondering:
What’s actually in this?
For most dogs, lots of different foods and ingredients can be perfectly fine.
But if your dog has a sensitive stomach, itchy skin, troublesome ears or you’re simply trying to understand what suits them best, clear ingredients become even more useful.
You can’t easily work out what you’re feeding if the label doesn’t clearly tell you.
And even if your dog can happily eat almost anything, we still think you deserve to know what’s in their food and treats.
They’re your dog.
It’s your choice.
The least we can do is give you the information to make it.
That’s where the peace of mind comes from
Lots of companies can promise “peace of mind”.
We’d rather explain why we think we can give you some.
We’ve already made the first decision for you.
If something doesn’t meet the Bounce & Bella rule, we don’t stock it.
So when you shop with us you know:
No grain. No vague derivatives. Ever.
Every ingredient clearly named.
And hopefully that means a little less label-reading, second-guessing and wondering what’s hiding inside the packet.
Peace of mind for you.
Simple treats. Properly tasty dogs.
None of this matters much if your dog takes one sniff and wanders off looking offended.
So we’re not interested in healthy-sounding treats dogs don’t actually want.
Some of our treats have only a handful of ingredients.
Some have just one.
What matters is that the ingredients are clear, the recipe meets our rules and, most importantly, dogs think they’re worth getting out of bed for.
Because dogs remain stubbornly uninterested in positioning statements.
They know what they like.
Still a small family business
Bounce & Bella is still run by Darren and Andy with a small team here in Lancashire.
We’re not trying to become another enormous anonymous pet-food corporation.
We’re trying to build the sort of dog shop we’d want to buy from ourselves.
One where the ingredients are clear.
One where the rules don’t quietly change from product to product.
And one where, if we wouldn’t be comfortable giving something to our own dogs, we won’t ask you to give it to yours.
That’s Bounce & Bella.
No grain. No vague derivatives. Ever.
Every ingredient clearly named.
Peace of mind for you.