For Carly Patryluk, founder of House of Paws Pet Boutique, being a pet store owner was never part of the plan. “I didn’t even know it was a dream I had,” she says. After 25 years in the corporate world, she realized that this wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. “I’ve always loved animals, and have always done things to try to help them.” Her ventures into the pet world began with her starting a non-registered organization called Feeding Fur Babes, which raised funds to help animals in need. “It was being in that setting that really made me realize how much I love the pet industry,” she explains. Realizing that opening her own independent pet store was a viable option, the idea for House of Paws was born and they opened for the first time in October 2019 in Regina, SK.
From the very beginning, product curation was one of the most important things for Carly in her business. “We only carry the best of the best in every line of food,” Carly explains. “Our mission is to extend the lives of pets through nutrition, and we know that the only way to do that is through quality premium nutrition. So we try to do what we can naturally, and holistically.” She and her team, who are all certified in pet nutrition and raw nutrition, pride themselves on the education that they can offer their customers and their reputation as a trustworthy source of information. Carly believes in creating transparency around pet nutrition for the pet owners that come into her store (“If we left it up to all of the big pet food manufacturers, they would be convincing us that dried pellets are the best nutrition for our dogs, but we know that that’s not true.”). She looks for that same transparency in the manufacturers that she partners with. “We’re looking for manufacturers who can respect the fact that they have been brought into the best of the best line up,” she says. “We believe in all of our foods wholeheartedly, and we’re looking for partners. We’re looking for our food manufacturers to be partners and work with us.”
When it comes to Smack, Carly values the fact that they’re Canadian made, and the only five star rated raw food in the country. “I love the clean ingredient deck of Smack,” says Carly. “The animals are always addicted - they love it.” For Carly, being able to show customers the back of the bag and have them immediately understand what’s inside is also a big selling feature, and a huge part of the transparency that House of Paws embraces. “We do so much education and we are always flipping those bags over to show the customer what’s inside. When I flip that Smack bag over and show people, their mouths drop. They’re like - that’s pet food? Yes!”
Read more at https://houseofpawsboutique.com/