Helloooooo Humans! Dizzy here!

It's winter! Have you noticed?! I love the snow! Diva, not so much.. but she doesn't have as warm a coat as my long Golden fur (even with her fancy Ren's jackets on)!

Mom and her friends play ball with me outside until their ears and noses go red. It's great fun for us all, though I don't quite understand why we have to stop after only a couple hours. Most of our new backyard is snow, but the walk to the front door becomes this awesome mud puddle. Mom and Diva jump over it, but I think it's more fun to run right through it! I am all about the fun of course!

So, after all this playing, Mom made me wait outside while she went and got a towel.. Apparently I was something called “muddy and soaked” (that must mean awesome!). Mom towelled me off a lot, but my bottom half still looked like a Chocolate Labrador, so when she finally let me bound into the house I immediately got locked in the bathroom. Even whining as loud and as frantically as I could didn't bring anyone back to me for what seemed like forever!

Mom did come back though and had a whole bunch of stuff that looked strangely like the items we see during bath time at Ren's... Then she picked me up and put me into our bathtub...

Sure enough, it was bath time for me – at home! Suds and soap and a lot of attempted escapes later, Mom finally said I was clean and smelled good. I got lots more towelling, with special drying attention to all those spots that can get itchy hot spots like behind my ears, my underarms and my belly. Next, my ears and whiskers got a good trim, and then my feet. Mom calls them “slipper feet” because I slip everywhere in the house when the hair between them is too long, but now I have Show Dog feet! I THOUGHT I was almost done when Mom brought out those scary toenail trimmers and did all my toes. Nothing bad or painful has ever happened, but I'm convinced that some day, something will. Mom calls me a worrier!

The last thing Mom did was bring out this noisy thing that buzzed on my skin. Since it's getting close to that time of year where mud puddles melt from the snow, Mom said she was going to try and make later cleanups quicker with this “clipper”. She buzzed this thing down along my belly a couple times and took off a lot of the hair there – it all happened really quickly too! I now have a nice and cool shaved belly that Mom says will be much easier to keep clean!

Mom let me free then, and gave me a brand new antler from Ren's to chew on for being such a good girl! I promptly “frog dogged” my belly on our cool kitchen floor and chewed away happily while Diva looked on all jealous-like. 

So now, the best joke EVER!

Why must you be careful when it rains cats and dogs?
Because you might step in a poodle!

Mom's Notes: Dizzy was actually a very good girl during her at-home bathing session! If you'd like to get started doing your own bathing at home, check out Ren's featured sale bundle of a Wahl Pro Ion Rechargeable Clipper with free 17oz Wahl Pure n' Clean Shampoo, on from February 23 until March 1!

Hello Humans, Miss Diva here!

We've been busy these last weeks! With all the packing for the new house, Christmas dinners and New Years events with family and friends, we haven't had a chance to relax! Our Human has been the busiest, but I've been the most stressed by far... Unlike Dizzy, I don't like change. I like routine and knowing what to expect, and all these life changes have been making me so nervous! Dizzy is just excited and oblivious to what all this means, but she -IS- blonde for a reason!

My nerves are getting the best of me, and I haven't been wanting to eat at some meals. Mom's been talking to me all concerned, and trying all sorts of tricks try and help.

Yesterday though, she decided to take Dizzy and me to Ren's to try and get some suggestions. I could have told her just to stop this whole "moving" thing and take me back to the "old" house, but we love going to Ren's (so I let her take us)!

Well, it was a good thing I did! This whole month of January is filled to the brim with different deals every week! Treats, Toys, Beds, Grooming stuff, Coats, Cleaners, Bird stuff and Cat stuff to name a few! Mom got a bunch of coupons to walk around the store with, and one of the sale things she picked up were Benny Bully's Liver Chops. She talked with the wonderful Treat Lady for a long time about them (Dizzy and I got a bunch of freebie treats and pets out of it!) before we went home.

So last night at dinner in our new house, Mom gave me a piece of this Benny Bully treat in my bowl. It was SO good, and smelled amazing too! I didn't want to miss any of the crumbled pieces Mom also scattered in my bowl, so I made sure to eat every piece of kibble too. She gave me more treats in my bowl this morning when I got too distracted by my world changing to eat... and I can't resist those yummy Liver Chops! I'll always eat my meals if that stuff is in it!

Our human says we'll be going back to Ren's again this month to take advantage of more great deals. I'd love to hear what great things your humans picked up this January, so feel free to leave a comment here!

Of course, Dizzy has a joke sparked from what she's calling my "spoiled catering service".

What did the Dalmatian say after his meal?

"Ahhh.. That hit the spots!"

Hi Humans - Dizzy here!

So, OH MY DOG! What a week we had camping! There were happy humans and food everywhere, little humans needing walks all over the park, and... OH! Swimming at the never-ending beach! I had a GREAT time, and I think Diva did too, though she was boring and spent most of her time sun-bathing or making faces at the “cold” water.

My favourite part was the beach! There were noisy birds to chase, sinking balls to find, and all kinds of friends to make! And, Mom got us a couple toys by a company called “Chuck It” that totally rock...or rather, float! It was the BEST DAY EVER!

We got home and unpacked, and Mom kept saying how she needed to give us whatever a “bath” is. She kept sniffing me.. It must have been because I smelled like the GREAT dead fish I found to roll in! Well, Mom got excited about a big sale on renspets.com a couple days after we got home... Something about a Buy-One-Get-One deal that made her too busy to throw my ball.

Anyway, Mom was so excited to get free stuff and free shipping she let me and Diva take her for the longest walk ever! That reminds me! Have you humans heard the joke about a squirrel crossing the road? OH! It’s great. SO, There’s this big fat squirrel and he go--- What? OH! Right, about the Ren’s stuff! Well one day a human with a box showed up and Mom started pulling all kinds of cool stuff from the box... Treats! Toys! And then there were these funny-smelling bottles with a big “Q” on them...

Diva warned me about these bottles, but we quickly forgot when Mom took us for a car ride to the Guelph Ren's! Well, Mom tricked us. Turns out, that “bath” word, these bottles and a little back room of the store go together in a terrible event where I get soaked, then soapy, then soaked again, and finally dried with this scary, noisy, blowing thing. OH! How Diva and I hate baths!

I’ll admit though, while I didn’t like the whole “bath” thing, Mom’s attention afterward was GREAT! She kept saying how clean Diva and I smelled, and she got us some treats for being such GOOD girls! I keep teasing Diva about how blinding white she looks now, but of course she already knows she looks good! OH! And I look AWESOME too, and my skin isn’t as itchy either with what Mom calls my “special shampoo”! My bath bottle is called “Q Hypo” and Diva’s is “Q Bright”. Diva and I can’t wait to take Mom for a walk now and show off to the neighbours!

OH! Diva just reminded me about my joke!

Okay so... What did Mom call me while I was covered in suds?

A Shampoodle!

Dizzy

Hamsters are a great low maintenance furry pet to get any pet lover started with responsibilities. These are easy enough to manage for the younger children as well.

A few things you should know before getting one of these pets.

• They have poor sight, are only near sighted and are colour blind, this makes getting around in new area's tough to do. Toys for outside the cage that are able to completely contain your furry friend are best.
• They store food in their cheeks much like the chipmunk.
• It is best to keep these types of animals separate from one another since they are solitary creatures and housing them together can cause chronic stress issues.
• They do not have a very long life and tend to only live 2-4 years. So be prepared to explain to little one's about this.

Now that you've purchased (or rescued) your pet, make sure you pick up a proper cage as they can escape cages that were not meant to house them. We recommend either the Ware Critter Universe or the Ware Home Sweet Home Hamster Cage. Oxbow's Timothy Line, the Timothy Tunnel specifically, is a great addition to have, too!

You will also require bedding, like Carefresh Natural Pet Bedding. It's easy to clean and to dispose of. It is also flushable in small quantities!

They should have fresh water and be fed daily.

Keep your pets happy and they will be happy additions to your family.

Last month, I oo-ed and aw-ed at the marvels of crystal litter. But, I gotta one-up myself - I've discovered something even more amazing.

The kitten has become a cat (so horray, it poops even more), but then we found ourselves dealing with all this...hair. It's funny. I found that I refer many times to cat fur as hair...but it's not hair. I'm the one losing my hair and going bald. These little...balls of fur...shed and shed and shed and I can't see their skin anywhere. Maybe if it was hair, I could use it as a weave. Though, it'd be pretty funny if I was also creating hair balls under the furniture, big enough to hide the remote control!

I digress.

So, being the caring father that I am, I see a need to fix this fur issue for my family.  It was once again the time to consult the staff at Ren's about what device is best for shedding cats.  The unanimous choice was the FURminator for cats and, to help with hairball control, the waterless spray. There are two kinds of FURminator brushes for cats. One for short fur and another for long. We grabbed the short one, as it's meant for cats with fur that's shorter than 2 inches.

At first my children, and to a little extent myself, thought we were hurting our cat. But really, if you've tried this thing, you'd think so too when you see bag loads of fur falling off your cat. But, they don't make any sound that they're in pain, and their coat begins to look pretty amazing relatively quickly.

Due to the overwhelming balls of fur coming off our pet, we decided it's best to take the cat outside on the deck and "furminate" (it's verb now).  We found to get the best result, we should use one of the sprays. Not only does it help de-tangle, but it really made the coat shine. The added bonus was that it keeps the dust down and stops the hair from flying all over the place. This FURminator is amazing. It's a brush no cat owner should be without. And it's easy to use.

My wife is happy that the carpets are clean. The kids are happy because their job is fun.

And, I'm happy because I no longer lose my remote control.

What the heck was that noise?

I leaned over my bed to see what that odd, ruffling-fluffing sound was, never having heard it before. It was dark, so after grabbing my cell phone for minor illumination, I peered down at my beloved Border Collie/GSD, who was nestled comfortably in her bed. Low and behold, she had crumpled her blanket between her paws and was kneading it like dough. What most intrigued me was the fact she wasn't ripping it apart like a toy, she was suckling it.

*_* <--- That, friends, was my bewildered face.

I've had three dogs in my life and it wasn't until adopting my dear Leia that I witnessed the behavioural phenomenon of "object-sucking". I wondered if it was related to the same behaviour found in human children, blanket/thumb/finger sucking for comfort related reasons. I wasn't really sure of this, until I saw her doing it again later the next day around the time she takes an afternoon snooze.

What I hadn't seen in the dark was the expression coming out of her adorable face - it was timid and tired looking. Her eyes were almost half closed as if she was falling asleep and her furry expression was one of pure calm. That had to be it, I thought. It had to be a self-comforting mechanism.

She had quite a bit of anxiety when I first took her home and I knew little about her previous life. I was worried this might be a behaviour indicative of stress or some illness, so I took to the web. There wasn't much concrete evidence available to explain the behaviour, but what little information I did find, the consensus seemed to be that dogs do this to help them relax and eventually fall asleep. They also all seem to paw or "kneed" the blanket, as if they once did when suckling from their mother.

Do your dogs do this, too? Let me share what I discovered:

The more gentle your dog is, there is increased likelihood that this habit may develop

Dogs that are extremely loving and sweet-natured, those who seem to be more dependent on their owners companionship/those who show distress when parted from them, are more likely to exhibit this behaviour. This made much sense for my sweet Leia - of all my dogs, she is the most gentle-natured and least temperamental. She was also surrendered, and thus forced to leave the family that reared her before I became her lucky owner.

The habit doesn't go away in adulthood. It will last throughout their life.

Though this habit can begin in puppyhood, there doesn't seem to be any detriment to it continuing in adulthood. However, some owners make the mistake of thinking by removing the object, the habit will cease. This is not the case. Your dog will simply find another object suitable enough for his/her liking and continue on. Removing it may also needlessly cause anxiety in your pet, thus furthering the need for them to replace it (and ultimately, the dependency).

Scent of the object seems to play a role

I noticed Leia had chosen fabrics and blankets that I would use more than her own blankets, which suggests that cuddling with something that smells of her "pack leader" was more comforting than her own scent, but there is only anecdotal information to support this theory. I was concerned that if I washed them, she might not wish to use them anymore or that it would cause her stress, but she seemed to be fine and continued using them after I would launder whatever item was of interest.

Does your dog suck on objects? If so, we wanna hear about it and we'll feature you in our Part II blog!

If you think your dog is suffering from acute anxiety and they're not self-soothing, check out HomeoPet's Anxiety and Separation Relief Solution.

Eastern Painted Turtle

Last month, I chatted quite a bit about the Red Ear Slider as a great alternative pet. They live a long time, they're relatively self-sufficient and they're absolutely breath-taking! Like conventional pets, turtles can also be found outside of pet stores. So, when you are looking for a turtle for the family, have you considered a rescue? We all think of animal rescues dealing with just the furry pets, but there are animal rescues set up all over the place for all types of animals.

One website I'd reccomend for finding rescues all over North America is redearslider.com
They have great information about this particular species of turtle in general, but also an entire page dedicated to different organizations that will take them in.

If you're on the other end of the spectrum, and need to surrender your turtle, a rescue again is a great alternative. Yes, you could release your turtle into the wild, but please consider the following before doing so:

Is your pet "alien" to the area (that is, not a native species)? What kind of survival can be expected for them? In Southern Ontario, we get winter and obviously, most of our aquarium pets can't stand up to the cold temperatures that we have.

Also, you should ask if your pet is an "invasive" species, like the Red Ear Slider. If so, how might their release affect your local eco-system? For example, the Red Ear Slider is an adaptable species, bu because of it's adaptability, it has taken over many of our lakes and gone-so-far as to endanger our local Painted Turtle population.

Whether you're looking for a furry or non-furry addition to your family, or needing to surrender your pet, a rescues is always a good idea. While many of them are over-run, it only makes more sense to adopt from them. Every pet deserves a second chance at a forever home, so why not give your local humane society or turtle rescue a try!

I wanted to take some time to highlight a really new & exciting program we're launching soon, both in our retail stores and online at renspets.com.

Our #1 goal at Ren's is to provide our customers with the best service possible - it's why we make sure our staff are the most knowledgable in the industry and why we still provide carry-out service at all of our stores. However, early this year we realized something important was missing - a loyalty program meant to reward our customers for shopping with us.

That being said, we're extremely proud to announce Ren's Rewards, launching this month!

Shop, Earn & Save with Ren's Rewards by earning points on all your purchases, including food! We've also incorporated our Frequent Buyer program into Ren's Rewards so you can still enjoy a free bag of food with every 10 or 12 purchased (varies by brand). Existing customers on our Frequent Buyer program with a valid email address will be automatically signed up when the program launches and all of your existing purchase counts will carry over.

We're also making it easier than ever to check your Frequent Buyer status and points balance from anywhere with an internet connection. Simply login to your account at renspets.com to see all your past purchases, Frequent Buyer counts and points balance.

Can't do the drive out to one of our stores?

No problem! We're introducing a new Quick Reorder function on renspets.com where you can quickly and easily place an order for any past products you've purchased in-store or online and have it shipped out to you at no charge (some exceptions do apply*).

Stay tuned for more information as we roll out this program to all of our stores over the coming weeks!

Free shipping information: Valid on orders over $60. Excludes remote areas and oversize products. See our shipping & returns page for more information.

Hear that, residents of Waterdown, Hamilton and, dare we say, Niagara region? Ren's Pets heeded your suggestions for the location of a new store and, voila - here we are!

We opened our Waterdown depot (har har) on September 7th, 2012 at 100 Dundas Road East in the Walmart plaza, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Clappisons Corners.

"We're so excited to open this new location," says our V.P of Sales and Operations, Scott Arsenault. "Ren's has grown exponentially in the last few years, and we're taking it to the next level. We listened to our customers and chose scenic Waterdown for our next store".

Both long-term and new customers of Ren's knows that we offer something special that sets us apart from our biggest competitors - We're 100% homegrown. We've sprouted from humble beginnings as a feed mill in Oakville, opening in 1974, to Canada's largest independent pet retailer. With the addition of Waterdown, our company has grown to well over 100 employees, 4 stores, an impressive head office in Guelph and a truly phenomenal ecommerce business that spans the Atlantic to the Pacific. It's something owner Colin Job dreamed of. "Everyone has a legacy", says Colin, son of founders Ren and Sharon. "I'm proud to continue what my father started in 1974. My goal is to continue that legacy by offering the best prices and best selection, guaranteed".

The new location is a bit different than the other 3 stores, as it's found in a plaza building. But customers can expect exactly what they're used to - 6,500 square foot facility with every type of food, toy and treat imaginable, as well as our usual display of groomer and breeder necessities.

"It's funny," continues Colin, "the bigger we get, the smaller we act. Carry-outs and other old-fashioned perks add a touch of class to the experience our customers have when they shop with us".

So, come check our new location out! We'll greet you with a smile, give your pet a treat (should you bring them) and shower you with the upper class service you deserve. But really, did you expect anything else? Of course not, you know us & we know you!

We're Ren's - no one can copy our culture.

Stay tuned - we'll have details for our Grand Opening in the coming weeks!