January is chock full of holidays that pair perfectly with Astro Offers, Sharing the Love Adoption Programs, and My Promotions. We have added new Astro Templates and Astro Images to your Marketing Suite that you can use to showcase your store's special promotions for the month. Our Knowledge Base is also full of helpful Social Media Tips.

Are you on etailpet? We have started adding Holiday Banners to the Astro Image Library that you can use to decorate your online store. There are two new Astro Image Filters, "etailpet Shop Now Banners" and etailpet Secondary Banners". Show Now Banners are 1350x350px and Secondary Banners are 1350x290px.

January's Month Long Holidays: National Train Your Dog Month, Walk Your Dog Month, Adopt a Rescued Bird Month, and Unchain a Dog Month.

January's Month-Long Holidays

January: Walk Your Dog Month is a great opportunity to highlight the leashes, collars, and other dog walking accessories that you carry at your store. Do you have a leash or harness system that you swear by that can assist a pet owner with a dog that tends to pull or tug a lot when walked? Do you offer any training classes for dog walking? Do you have any favorite walking or hiking spots in your area to recommend? Are you featuring any Treat Offers this month that would work nicely on either short (training treats) or long walks (larger treat to replenish spent energy)? If your shop is located in a neighborhood or downtown encourage your customers to stop by for a treat (for the dog lol) while they are out walking their dog. All of these topics are great conversation starters when engaging with your customers this month. January is also National Train Your Dog Month which relates very well to this holiday.

Marketing Materials: Astro Holiday Template with Offer Elements. Astro Images under Holiday, Facebook, Instagram, Banner, and the etailpet Banner categories in the Astro Image Library.

My Promotion Ideas: $/% Off Leashes, Harnesses, Poop-Bags, Water Bottles, and any other walking supplies you carry. $/% Off Training Services.

Astro Offers Pairings: January has Offers for Treats to reward them on their journey and Joint Supplements to keep them limber.

January: National Train Your Dog Month is a great holiday to showcase any Training Servies you may offer customers. If you do not officially offer any training classes you can use this holiday to share training advice that has worked for you or refer your customers to a dog trainer, or trainers, that you respect in your community. If you are able to hold a social-distance acceptable mini-event you can invite a local trainer to come by to give a demonstration on how to properly walk a dog (which you can tie in with the Walk Your Dog Month Holiday!). If it's not possible to host a mini-event you can still host a digital event via Zoom. You and a local Dog Trainer can conduct a fun interview and the trainer can give some demos, maybe you could even feature a harness or training treat you carry at your store! Or finally, you could simply share a post of a training video that helped you and your dog.

A fantastic resource for National Train Your Dog Month is the National Train Your Dog Month Website and their corresponding Facebook Page. These pages are run by The Association of Professional Dog Trainers. Under the Promote section, you can find handouts to share with your customers and posters to print and hang in your store.

The training practice that has interested me the most as of late is that taught by Hunger for Words, started by Christina Hunger, a speech-language pathologist, and her pup Stella. They are dedicated to the idea that everyone, including our pets, has something to say! These trainers are able to teach their pets the human language using recordable-customizable buttons. Each button speaks one word when pressed. Check out Bunny and what she and her humans can do with speech buttons!

There are so many cool things that we can train our dogs to do in order to enrich both of our lives. We can start with the simple and advance to the more complex, every step of the way reminding ourselves that consistency and patience are key.

Marketing Materials: Astro Holiday Template with Offers Elements to showcase the training treats you have on special and to add any My Promotions you wish to share, as well as a link to training tips. Astro Images under Holiday, Facebook, Instagram, Banners, and etailpet Shop Now / Secondary Banners.

My Promotion Ideas: $/% Off Training Supplies like clickers, treat pouches, etc. $/% Off Training Services. %/$ Off a Training Session if they commit to multiple sessions.

Digital Event Idea: Host a local Dog Trainer on Zoom and interview them, asking them some of the most common questions that you hear from your customers. See if the trainer will offer any first-time customer discounts to anyone who attends.

January: Adopt a Rescued Bird Month brings awareness to the number of birds needing adoption.

This holiday brings about the opportunity to have multiple conversations with your customers. If you are familiar with a local bird rescue, or rescues, in your area be sure to give them a shout-out and let your customers know where to find them. If one doesn't ring a bell, petfinder.com is a great resource for finding local birds available for adoption.

The Avian Welfare Coalition provides resources for those looking to adopt a bird, or for those who need to surrender a bird responsibly.

The Association of Avian Veterinarians provides a lot of information relating to bird care and they also may have a list of adoptable birds.

If your customers are not ready to adopt a bird, or a bird roommate does not match their lifestyle, many organizations such as The Gabriel Foundation offer ways to sponsor birds they are currently fostering.

Are you a bird expert? Then now is the time to educate your customers and community. While all of us would love to see a bunch of birds get adopted we also want to ensure that these new bird parents fully understand the commitment that they have taken on. Sharing articles and videos that demonstrate caregiving can be very helpful for those considering bird adoption or who currently own a bird and need some help.

If your pet shop provides bird feed and supplies then now is the perfect time to remind your customers of this. Is there a particular food, treat, or toy that you are excited about? Share this with your customers!

[At this time, Bird Adoption is not a part of Astro Sharing the Love, the only reason for this being that a Bird Supply/Food Brand has not approached us with the desire to join the platform. If you know a bird brand that you feel would be the perfect candidate for Sharing the Love you are more than welcome to share www.astroloyalty.com/adopt with them or send us their info via sales@astroloytalty.com so we can reach out and hopefully get them on board. By the way, this goes for any brand serving any adoptable pet from snakes to horses!]

Marketing Materials: Astro Holiday Template with Links about Bird Adoption and other resources. Feel free to add any additional links or info to share! Astro Images under Holiday, Facebook, Instagram, Banners, and etailpet Shop Now / Secondary Banners.

My Promotion Idea: $/% Off any/specific Bird Supplies. $/% Off any purchase to those who have donated to a bird rescue or welfare organization.

Digital Event Idea: Host an educational video via Facebook Live or a live streaming social site of your choice with your bird as the guest host. Together you can answer the public's questions.

January: Unchain a Dog Month is dedicated to bringing awareness to dogs who spend the majority of their lives at the end of a chain. There are awareness and activist groups that have sprouted up such as Beyond Fences (formerly the Coalition to Unchain Dogs) whose goal is to help as many dogs and their owners as possible.

Many under-served neighborhoods lack access to basic pet care resources. Beyond Fences works to fill that gap. We honor people’s love for their pets and proactively reach out to the community to build trusting relationships with families and make connections to keep people and pets happy, healthy and together. We believe that a lack of financial means does not equate to a lack of love for a pet, and we seek to spread this principle through a philosophy of understanding and non-judgment. ~ Beyond Fences

The key to this awareness holiday is compassion, understanding, and non-judgment. Beyond Fences has followed these ideals and have successfully unchained 2,200 dogs to date through their Fence Program.

The Humane Society of the United States also has plenty of info relating to this awareness holiday such as the following video that gently tugs at your heartstrings.

The website www.unchainyourdog.org is also full of resources to help you and your customers become more proactive in your community. There are so many ways to get involved!

This awareness holiday ties in very nicely with National Train Your Dog Month and Walk Your Dog Month since some of the most common reasons for a dog to be tethered outside is due to behavior issues that can be solved with training, and escape issues that can be related to lack of exercise.

Marketing Materials: Astro Holiday Template with Links to Awareness Sites. Astro Images under Holiday, Facebook, and Instagram to help bring awareness.

My Promotion Idea: $/% Off Training Services related to Behavior. $/% Off Training Services related to Walking on a Leash. $/% Off Doggie Daycare Services and Membership Packages so dogs have a fun place to hang out during the day! $/% Off Self Washes or Grooming - it's so simple, but in some cases, a dog may not be welcomed inside because they smell or they're very dirty. All of these promotions are ways that you can help be part of the solution in your community!