idea's please

i have been nipping my managers head ever since i started at pets at home :roll: i only work there weekends so get very little time to plead my case lol and recently she has been listening!!
we made two lids for bunny village to stop the bucks getting to the does and from fighting with each other and we have moved rabbits into the chipmunk enclosure (not selling anymore chipmunks! hopefully stop selling all livestock one day)
sadly they are all in seperate ferplast cages as they are fully developed males :roll: but the plan is once these guys are sold we will use the chipmunk enclosure for the guinea pigs and the bunny village just for bunnys! so i felt like i was getting somewhere! although she promised me no more than four bunnies on sale at a time, so imagine how distraught i was when i walked in today to find nine buns for sale!!
she could see i was upset and invited me through the back to talk, i ran some ideas by her about putting posters up, giving staff regular tests about the animals we sell eg minium housing, diet requirements, compatibility etc then i hit the big one - i suggested working with rescue's in some way so am looking to you guys for help and suggestions!! she has agreed to donate runs, food, toys and have a collection! its a start, but she is leaving all this upto me :roll: :shock:

Well done that sounds great!

In america they have been running a scheme with their large petshop chain. The store stops selling rabbits and instead 'fosters' some for a rescue. The staff are trained in their care by the rescue and the rabbits live in the store. When a member of the public wants to adopt them they are given a pack of information on rabbit care and the contact details of the rescue. They then go home read the info and get intouch with the rescue who have the say on whether they get them or not.

Thats quite abit to organise but there are lots of other things you could do too. If the shop will cover it you can buy leaflets from the RWA at £5 per 100 and they do a good range on neutering, vaccinations etc.

Do you have an instore vet? If so perhaps you could discuss with them arranging a discount on neutering/vaccinations for bunnies brought in store to incourage bunnies getting done.

You might also want to discuss where they get the rabbits from, if its currently from a mass farm style breeder then you might suggest researching a smaller local breeder who can suppliy a smaller number of bunnies but those that are more likely to be healthy (if you check out the breeder and get a good one).

Staff training is a good idea too, that way you can spread the knowledge to the week days too. The RWA may have an outreach officer in the area that could come and do talks for you.

Hope that gives you some ideas, well done!

Tam

Brilliant Debbie, something you can really work on, I'm so impressed! All Tam's ideas are great. Let me know if you need any help.

Wow, well done Debbie thats fantastic!! Wish there were more like you working in these pet stores!! xxxxx

afraid we dont have an instore vet, as we are quite a small store compared to most pets at home! but all the ideas are brilliant thank you i will run all this by her tomorrow and let everyone know, the leaflets wont be a problem to purchase at all!

we used to get our bunnies from previous workers, but now am not too sure as i havent asked or been working when they arrive instore

thank you romy, means alot!!

p.s. darcy is soooooooo gorgeous!!!

Great work Debbie :thumb:

If you don't have an instore vet you might be able to team up with a local practice. They may offer the discount neuter/vacc in exchange for the potential future custom they get for other things as once people have got a vet they usually stick. You could scount out a good bunny vet and it would encourage people to vaccinate/neuter.

Do let us know what you try and how well it works

Tam

Well done Debbie!! Have you been having a word with the store near me, as they have moved the guinea-pigs into the chipmunk enclosure (even though they still have them in with the bunnies), but they never seem to have as many as before which is good! Keep up the good work - we need more like you in those stores! :lol:

that is excellent news Debbie, Its a start and you are doing a grand job educating your Manager :thumb: Maybe you were destined to work there so that you could change things for the better :wink:

A VERY WELL DONE TO YOU

Brill work Debbie - I know how hard it can be chipping away at trying to make changes for the better but your doing a brill job girl - keep at it and let us know how you get on. :wink:

Well done u It's always so much better when you have an inside person, as it were, as you can really pester your manager and make her listen!! I love your ideas, I hope they stick to them and progress forward. I wish they would stop selling animals (chipmunks is def a start!) but if they don't then I'd much rather see them being properly cared for and good advice given to new owners. Perhaps you could have a word in Head Office's ear about rabbits being social animals and that they should stop giving advice to only have 1 bunny!! That did bug me a bit when I went in, as I know that they don't want baby buns but they could inform new owners instead of having notices up saying that more than one rabbit and they will fight! (not sure if this is all Pet's at Home, but the one near me has that notice!).

Keep up the good work for all the buns

Nicola

:shock: luckilly we dont have posters up claiming it better to have just the one bunny, but i feel staff prefer just to sell the one bunny because no one has actually been shown how to sex the rabbits!! i have been there since april and i received no training - i was given a "step one booklet" to be filled in, but no member of management even quized me on this or asked to even see the finished item :shock: :x :shock: which is a joke, luckilly i already knew how to sex buns, gerbils etc. :roll: but always asked for a second opinion as i worry that way lol

Maybe you can get a local breeder to come in and give a demonstration on sexing? The BRC might be able to recommend someone.

Another way you could encourage neuter/vaccinations would be to send each bunny home with a vaccination card and tell people if they take their bunny to the vet and get it vaccinated and their card signed then bring it back to the store they can have £5 of their next purchase.

If you don't already you could suggest having some toys in with the rabbits that way people will see them playing and be encouraged to buy toys for their rabbit = more sales for store and better for bunnies

Tam

thats a brilliant idea!! am sure she will agree with the £5 off per every neutered bunny! meeting her at 4pm so will let every one know the progress lol :wink:

toys wise in bunny village they just have plastic tubes (for the guineas) but in saying that, bumper bunny tubes and fiddle sticks have been taken off sale but not in the enclosures yet - reason unknown :roll: they could do with toys, the poor buns always look so bored

Supreme offer a nice range of jingly toys, they probably stock their products anyway so might be worth mentioning (they make russel rabbit etc.). The jingly balls, jingly dumbels and normal dumbells are all theirs.

Good luck at the meeting, hurry back and let us know

Tam

:lol: yeah i have seen them on ebay! been buying the dumbells for my bunch, but sadly we dont sell that range as yet, the small animal section wont be getting updated til later this year - hopefully have new toys in by then, but in saying that a few weeks ago we got log cabins in for bunnys, seeminly extra large size :shock: :shock: but when i built it, i realised the size is tiny :lol: even smirnoff my netherland dwarf found it a tight fit!! :lol: gucci my angora cross was bewildered by it, slowly approaching it just to sniff and run the opposite direction as fast as she could lol! :lol: :lol:

Very well done debbie your in the best position to do good work, thank you on behalf of the animals you are helping at the store. val

Well done.

Well done debbie...your ideas are great & youv,e put them into action. I,m sure all the bunnies that come into your store will thank you for being so kind & thoughtful...big pat on the back for you.

well done debbie, your amazing!!!! do you fancy moving down this way and going to sort out our store they are a joke!!!!

keep up the good work girly and let us know how you get on. maybe they should make you manager!!!!!