If you’re a dog owner in Niverville or the surrounding area, take note that RuffMutts has both moved and expanded its services this month. But they haven’t gone far—just across the parking lot from their old location, to 290 Main Street, Unit D.

The business started out primarily as a home-based dog-grooming operation, then expanded into retail a year and a half ago. Husband-and-wife owners Guy Britten and Amanda MacLean also added a self-serve pet-washing station in early 2019.

Britten says the most recent move has been planned since January, and the retail side of their business, including a large selection of dog foods and pet accessories, has been up and running in their new space for the last two weeks.

“We had the move planned in January to allow for the expansion into boarding and dog daycare,” Britten says. “We also have more room for retail, which we needed.”

Their new dog daycare and boarding services will be open for business in the next couple of weeks, and the self-washing station will be ready to go by early next week.

“Our daycare and boarding is not typical of many other pet businesses you see in the city,” Britten explains. “We will maintain a low number of dogs onsite and have stringent assessments and requirements for dogs to be accepted. Our ratio of dogs to attendants will be very low, typically 1:7, with a maximum of 10 dogs. This allows us to ensure the safety of all the dogs we have onsite and make the experience a positive and fun one. Our goal is to have an intimate, safe, and well-balanced pack that looks to us as their home away home.”

Like so many other small businesses, they’ve had a challenging spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“RuffMutts has been luckier than many businesses,” Britten says. “We closed grooming services, nail trims, and self-wash for a period of time, but by offering free delivery, curbside pickup, and maintaining in-store sales, our pet food sales remained strong.”

Britten also has a lot to say about the local community and customer base that RuffMutts has built over the last few years.

“The community and our customers have been tremendous,” he says. “We are a family-owned and operated business and have grown a relationship with a lot of our customers… we want to maintain the trust and quality of service we’ve developed with [them]. We look at our customers more as friends and neighbours.”

Although most of the business’s customers come from Niverville, Britten says that they have attracted a lot of dog owners from the neighbouring towns. For grooming, he says people come from as far as Winnipeg.