When man's best friend can order his own hand-baked, heart-shaped Valentine's dish for the one he loves, that is really taking the biscuit.

Valerie and Matthew May gave up their photographic jobs in London to set up The Dawg's Biscuits in Norman Road, St Leonards.

They have nosed ahead in the pet snack business and created a range of hand-baked, additive-free tasty bites for pets, which they sell from their doggy takeaway shop.

And they have just dished up their latest dog snack menu - a Valentine bite, made from sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds and garlic.

So on Friday discerning dog owners can show their affection to the ones they love the most - their four-legged friends.

Since The Dawg's Biscuits opened last year, it has really bitten into the pet trade.

The couple came up with the idea after Valerie gave her husband a dog biscuit recipe book.

She said: "I gave it to him one Christmas for a joke. But he tried making some of them and we began experimenting. We decided we wanted to leave our jobs in London and do something completely different."

The couple tried out their recipes on their two Bouvier des Flandres dogs, Brendan 15, and Blanche, five.

Valerie, who has been married to Matthew for 11 years, said: "We took a look at what was in dog biscuits and discovered there were a lot of additives and preservatives in them and they aren't good for dogs. We wanted to give them something healthy."

The couple experimented with recipes and have come up six snacks, including the Pizza Leonardo, a circular treat containing sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and parsley; Biscotti Tropicana, a tutti-frutti, low sugar, exotic fruit laced treat containing dried fruit and peanuts; Old Sea Dawg, containing peas, carrots, pumpkin seeds, which helps the worming process; Diamond Dawg Breath, with mint, parsley, fennel seeds and vanilla, which act as a mouthwash; Fab Fangs, containing bulgar, maize, oats and wholemeal to help clean teeth and Flea Away, a treat containing brewer's yeast and garlic to help rid pooches of fleas.

Dogs cannot quite order a takeaway over the phone yet but the couple, who sell the biscuits from their shop also sell over the internet and at farmers' markets in Sussex.

They are now working on a range of snacks for cats.

The packets of dog snacks are £2 each, or £2.50 for the Valentine heart-shaped snacks, and can be ordered from the web site www.dog-treat.co.uk