Bacon-flavoured ice cream made especially for your dog exists and it's made by a Kiwi company

Oh my dog. Bacon-flavoured ice cream, made especially for canines - who would have thought.

Actually, Aleisha and Jono Kennedy thought of it, and it has dogs around the country jumping through hoops to get their tongues around it.

The Dunedin husband and wife came up with the idea of Scoop Dog ice cream when their vet told them their dogs were not in the best of health because the couple kept sharing their human food with their pets.

''We're constantly getting told off by our vet for feeding our dogs human food. They get a bit chunky," said Aleisha Kennedy.

Dog flavoured ice cream made by Dunedin company Scoop Dog. Photo / Peter McIntosh

"There's so many meat treats and biscuit treats on the market for dogs, and we just thought, what's something different that nobody's doing, that's good for them."

She said they chose ice cream because it was a great way to help pets cool down on hot days.

Unlike humans, dogs cannot sweat through their skin, so they rely on panting and releasing heat through their paw pads and nose to regulate their body temperature and keep cool.

"It's made with goat's milk which is quite good for dogs. It's easy for them to digest.

"It's not like human ice cream which is packed with sugar. It's got powdered honey to sweeten it, organic beef gelatin to help it set, and flavouring.

"Bacon flavour is the most popular by far. We also have gingerbread flavour for Christmas, and vanilla, banana and carob flavours."

She said there had been requests for "road kill" flavoured ice cream, but she was not sure if that was possible at this stage.

Kennedy said the ice cream was sold as a powder, to which dog owners could add water and then freeze.

It was made to a level that could be consumed by humans, but she did not recommend it.

Having said that, this reporter can confirm it is actually quite tasty - particularly the banana flavour.

It went on the market two weeks ago and it was flying off the shelves of pet stores, Kennedy said.

''We haven't met a dog yet that doesn't like it. It's been a huge hit."

They were now trying to sell it in the pet food section of supermarkets.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.