CREDIT: Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist Ron (Deno) DeNoble carries dog food from his vehicle into a local pet food store.

It's a dog-eat-dog out there.

But you don't have to remind Ron DeNoble.

The owner of Happy Paws Pet Food is scratching back from the collapse of a company that once boasted thousands of customers, an elaborate home-delivery system, grand plans for franchising across Canada and the United States -- even an envisioned call centre that would employ 100 people to sell the product.

DeNoble was one of three partners who launched the Happy Paws line of natural dog and cat foods back in 1996, only to watch the whole thing disintegrate in a dog's breakfast of bickering, increasing competition and a skewed business plan.

Today it's just DeNoble.

He took control of the company, tweaked the recipes and is cautiously bringing Happy Paws back on stream via the retail market.

It hasn't been easy.

Never mind the $100,000 mortgage he's taken out on the family home.

Or the fact he's still moonlighting in his original trade as a barber.

In what he calls "ground-level marketing," DeNoble works at least three days a week pitching samples in local grocery and pet stores. He also takes the pet food to trade shows and special events on weekends. The rest of the time he works on marketing and building his supplier base -- and he does it with all the tenacity of a Jack Russell terrier.

To that end, he's secured noted distributor Richardson Foods of Nanaimo to clear his biggest business hurdle -- getting the food to the stores that want it.

And the list of retailers has been growing. Thrifty Foods has carried the dog and cat food for years. Bruce's Grocery in Duncan now has it, as does The Market on Yates, The Red Barn Market on West Saanich Road, Foxglove Farm & Garden Supply on Saltspring Island, Nanaimo's Happy Hound Dogcare Company, Port Hardy's Little Critters and Robin's Pet Supplies at Port McNeill.

Deals are in the works for Buckerfields and Shar-Care outlets, the Co-op on Keating and Woofy's, a Courtenay-based chain of four stores, to carry Happy Paws.

"I really believe in the product," says DeNoble, 59, who runs the business with his office manager and wife of 39 years, Johanne. "I'm Italian and good food has always been a part of my family's heritage. This is good food. It's real food. And, like people, it's a joy for me to watch a pet really enjoy what it's eating."

The food is considered a "premium" product, which means it also carries a premium price tag. Happy Paws dog foods run from $49 for 15 kilograms to $16 for three kgs. The biggest cat food bag at 7.5 kgs runs $39 and goes down to $10.

DeNoble still considers his "holistic" brand superior, and claims pets eat less of the product because "there's more nutritional value in it."

He says Happy Paws food has no artificial colours or flavours and no chemical additives. Among the ingredients are top grade chicken, B.C. herring and free-range lamb meat cooked into meal. It uses brown rice instead of brewer's white, and there is spinach, carrots, garlic for circulation and flea control, yucca extracts, sea salt and cranberries to flush the kidneys of toxins and various vitamins.

"It's human-grade fish, grains, vegetables ... everything is natural," says DeNoble. In other words, "Nothing's in there that we wouldn't eat ourselves,' he says.

Chilliwack-based Taplow Feeds manufactures the food using a vacuum infusion system -- sort of a slow cooker -- that does not diminish vitamin potency or the natural active enzymes as high-temperature cooking does. DeNoble said the process renders the food closer to its natural "raw" state which pets enjoy.

Taplow's infrared monitoring also allows close checks on moisture, protein and fat.

Brad Hicks, a vice-president at Taplow and a veterinarian, helped DeNoble make changes to the formula. Almost everything, save the New Zealand lamb, is produced in B.C.

Some of the changes from the original recipe includes brown rice in place of brewer's white, exchanging beet pulp for carrots and replacing kelp with spinach.

At its peak, Happy Paws foods was bringing in $120,000 a month but when the partnership folded sales slipped to $10,000 monthly -- all through Thrifty Food Stores.

DeNoble said the challenge in relaunching the product has been made easier with Tom Richardson of Nanaimo's Richardson Foods making room in his warehouses and distributing the product.

Sales are climbing, says DeNoble, but he isn't revealing specific numbers. Changes to the packaging are coming. The dark green will stay but get a silver trim.

The Happy Paws web site is packed with testimonials from dog and cat owners.

Victoria's Maureen Garrity said her dog, a cross-breed named Lucy, was always a picky eater. The owner said she'd had a hard time finding good food but was intrigued by the ingredients and the fact that Happy Paws was a local company. But the real test was left to the dog.

"I put Happy Paws in one dish and her regular food in another ... and watched as Lucy enthusiastically ate the Happy Paws, left the other food in the dish and looked to me for more Happy Paws," said Garrity.

On the web: www.happypaws.ca

Profile of Ron Denoble