Before getting to the news of the day we thought we would re-post one of our most popular posts - The Rennie Adoption Manual:
Congratulations on your decision to adopt a Rennie!
Many of these
fasci
natin
g creat
ures are in need of good homes
where
they will be loved
and cared
for. While
keepi
ng a Renni
e can be expen
sive,
time-
consu
ming,
and somet
imes confu
sing,
the resul
ts can be well worth
all the effor
t. A well turne
d out Renni
e who is happy
and healt
hy is amazi
ng to watch
in actio
n. The guide
lines
below
will help you care for your new charg
e, but they are only guide
lines
. Every
Renni
e is quite
uniqu
e and you shoul
d get to know your Renni
e's perso
nal quirk
s, prefe
rence
s and skill
s.
Introduction
The most impor
tant step in carin
g for your Renni
e is selec
ting the right
one. Renni
es come in many varie
ties.
You will find them of both sexes
, and in every
imagi
nable
size,
color
, age, healt
h and pluma
ge. But, far more impor
tant than their
physi
cal diffe
rence
s are the diffe
rence
s in their
perso
nalit
ies. Every
Renni
e has a very uniqu
e set of skill
s, prefe
rence
s and attit
udes,
and you need to take these
into consi
derat
ion as you make your choic
e.
If you have a nervo
us condi
tion,
a Dared
evil Renni
e is not for you. Likew
ise, do not adopt
a Fight
er Renni
e unles
s you have a large
yard in which
he or she can chase
aroun
d other
Renni
es with a sword
. If you have small
child
ren in the house
, you might
prefe
r to adopt
a Renni
e other
than the Arms Colle
ctor,
and if you like your night
s silen
t, keep in mind that Stitc
hing Renni
es are known
to stay up quite
late,
whirr
ing away at their
machi
nes, punct
uated
by occas
ional
loud bouts
of cursi
ng.
Food & Drink
Once you have selec
ted a Renni
e and broug
ht him or her home,
your first
conce
rn may be, "
What do I feed this stran
ge creat
ure?
" Lucki
ly, most Renni
es are not picky
about
what they eat, and indee
d, will consu
me with relis
h most anyth
ing you offer
them.
Do not be afrai
d to offer
your Renni
e exoti
c or stran
ge foods
. They have a highl
y evol
ved sense
of adven
ture and will likel
y at least
try whate
ver it is. Keep in mind,
that throu
gh some stran
ge quirk
, your Renni
e will enjoy
almos
t any food more if it is prese
nted on a stick
.
Your Renni
e requi
res large
quant
ities
of water
. Your Renni
e will want large
quant
ities
of liquo
r. There
is a very fine balan
ce betwe
en the two that you must find to keep your Renni
e (and in cases
of more belli
geren
t Renni
es, yours
elf) happy
and healt
hy.
Renni
es are very affec
tiona
te creat
ures,
and will often
cuddl
e and love on you for treat
s. Favor
ite treat
s tend towar
ds choco
late or nice liquo
r, thoug
h your Renni
e may have diffe
rent favor
ites.
Recen
tly, sever
al varie
ties of Renni
e have devol
ved a taste
for Sushi
, so you may wish to try that as well.
Sleep
While
your Renni
e may seem to have inexh
austi
ble suppl
ies of energ
y, they need a good night
s sleep
like any other
creat
ure. When they are havin
g fun, but are exhau
sted,
usual
ly at the end of a faire
day, they may behav
e much like a 4-
year-
old, insis
ting on stayi
ng up and playi
ng, "
just a few more minut
es." It is advis
ed that you be firm with your Renni
e and insis
t that they come home and go to bed. It is also advis
ed that this will almos
t never
work,
and when it does,
Renni
e goodb
yes have been know to take upwar
ds to two hours
at a large
gathe
ring.
Sit down near the door and have anoth
er drink
.
Grooming
Renni
es take great
joy in groom
ing both thems
elves
and other
s and can take hours
to prepa
re in the morni
ng. Renni
e femal
es, in parti
cular
will often
need the help of other
s in prepa
ring for the day. While
they may seem incon
seque
ntial
or frivo
lous to you, each pin, knot,
and acces
sory is very impor
tant to your Renni
e. When your Renni
e is being
slow in the morni
ng, exhor
tatio
ns of "
Hurry
up!" will not speed
matte
rs along
. "
What can I hold/
tie/
pin/
pull/
lace?
" will work much more effic
ientl
y.
That being
said,
by the end of that self-
same day, your Renni
e may be unrec
ogniz
ably dirty
, dishe
veled
and grung
y, thoug
h likel
y quite
happy
. While
Renni
es appre
ciate
and enjoy
a showe
r or bath every
day, like sleep
, this is not alway
s somet
hing they feel is requi
red. If your Renni
e shows
no incli
natio
n to bathe
after
a long day, helpi
ng them undre
ss and drawi
ng a bath or start
ing the showe
r for them may encou
rage them to get clean
.
Pleas
e note that your Renni
e will take great
joy in all their
cloth
ing and acces
sorie
s, and will const
antly
want to be addin
g to the horde
. Every
once in a while
, pleas
e go throu
gh all your Renni
es "
garb"
with them and help them to let go of piece
s they no longe
r wear.
Promi
sing to donat
e the piece
s to anoth
er Renni
e will help ease the pain of separ
ation
, as will offer
ing to repla
ce it with somet
hing the Renni
e likes
bette
r. New garb can work as a treat
even bette
r than choco
late or liquo
r.
Under
no circu
mstan
ces get rid of anyth
ing from a Renni
es garb witho
ut their
knowl
edge and permi
ssion
unles
s you want your sweet
happy
Renni
e to insta
ntly trans
form into Furio
us Rabid
Fight
er Renni
e and attem
pt to take of your head.
Communicating with Your Rennie
Renni
es are extre
mely intel
ligen
t, and will likel
y under
stand
every
thing
you say, possi
bly in sever
al langu
ages.
It is far more likel
y that you will not under
stand
your Renni
e when they are speak
ing in BFA, Gaeli
c, Roman
y or some other
obscu
re or not so obscu
re langu
age. Also,
they can get quite
anima
ted when speak
ing about
their
favor
ite hobbi
es or most histo
ry. The corre
ct respo
nse to almos
t anyth
ing from,
"I can'
t do Frenc
h seams
in the gusse
ts in that camic
a becau
se the twill
is too thick
to turn twice
," to "
Henry
VIII and Cardi
nal Riche
lieu weren
't even alive
at the same time,
and Franc
e and Engla
nd were at war in 1620!
They can'
t put the Muske
teers
in Engla
nd!
!!!" is a noddi
ng of the head and sayin
g, "
Yes, yes, of cours
e.
There
are two terms
your Renni
e may use frequ
ently
that you will need to be famil
iar with right
off. The first
is a loud excla
matio
n of "
HUZZA
H!" This is a Renni
e sound
of joy and excit
ement
, somet
hing you wish to hear often
. The secon
d is "
privy
." Your Renni
e is askin
g where
the bathr
oom is, and you'
d best show them quick
ly unles
s you want to be clean
ing up Renni
e messe
s. Elimi
natin
g in garb can be a diffi
cult and time consu
ming proce
ss.
All other
terms
can usual
ly be picke
d up with famil
iarit
y.
Your Rennie and Play
Renni
es have a highl
y devol
oped sense
of play and will often
play any oppor
tunit
y they get. The idea of what is play varie
s great
ly from one Renni
e to the next,
thoug
h they will almos
t alway
s be happi
er to play in group
s. Some may enjoy
conta
ct juggl
ing, some fenci
ng, some eques
trian
pursu
its, some compu
ter games
. Howev
er nearl
y all Renni
es, wheth
er or not they are skill
ed, thoro
ughly
enjoy
the arts of Music
and Flirt
ing. Given
a good tune and the oppor
tunit
y to sing,
stomp
or clap along
, most Renni
es will be quite
happy
. Likew
ise, what may seem to the untra
ined obser
ver as heavy
duty sexua
l haras
sment
is usual
ly two Renni
es who have misse
d each other
's compa
ny greet
ing one anoth
er. Unles
s your Renni
e looks
truly
upset
, it is bette
r to leave
him or her alone
in these
situa
tions
. See more under
the
Breeding secti
on.
Your Renni
e also loves
toys.
Among
st Renni
es, favor
ed toys may be sharp
, shiny
, point
y, spark
ly, made of wood,
leath
er, metal
, potte
ry or fur. Get to know your Renni
e to disco
ver his or her parti
cular
prefe
rence
s.
Illness, Injury, and Keeping Your Rennie Healthy
For some reaso
n not yet deter
mined
by moder
n scien
ce, Renni
es seem to have a sligh
tly great
er conce
ntrat
ion of disea
ses, which
range
from irrit
ating
to debil
itati
ng, than those
not of the breed
. Commo
n ailme
nts can inclu
de hypog
lycem
ia, fibro
myalg
ia, MS, diabe
tes, osteo
poros
is and a range
of bum knees
, trick
elbow
s and the like.
These
will likel
y only slow your Renni
e down,
not stop them compl
etely
. Your Renni
e and other
s aroun
d him or her are usual
ly well advis
ed on the malad
ies in the group
and will band toget
her to take care of one of their
numbe
r that is ill or injur
ed, so that they can all retur
n to the fun as soon as possi
ble.
An injur
ed Renni
e is for some reaso
n fairl
y happy
. They do like to show off grues
ome scars
and talk about
their
gory wound
s. Shoul
d your Renni
e becom
e injur
ed, your best cours
e of actio
n is to simpl
y dress
the wound
, give them a drink
of water
and then your Renni
e will go back to whate
ver it was doing
. Excep
t in the cases
of extre
me injur
y, they tend to be a hardy
breed
.
To keep your Renni
e as healt
hy as possi
ble, make sure that he or she drink
s plent
y of water
, gets lots of rest and exerc
ise and limit
their
consu
mptio
n of fried
food on a stick
. Keep the suppl
ies for deali
ng with heat strok
e, sunbu
rn, dehyd
ratio
n and hypot
hermi
a on hand,
as these
are the most frequ
ent compl
aints
. Make your Renni
e wear sunsc
reen.
He or she will prote
st this.
Make them do it anywa
y. Make them reapp
ly frequ
ently
and when they get burne
d anywa
y, make them put on Aloe gel. They will prote
st this as well.
Insis
t. While
Renni
es are extre
mely intel
ligen
t, somet
imes they'
re not very smart
.
Breeding your Rennie
Nearl
y all Renni
es love child
ren, wheth
er or not they have one of their
own. They like to play with child
ren, talk to child
ren and show child
ren thing
s that inter
est them as adult
s. The adult
Renni
es overd
evelo
ped sense
of play makes
them perfe
ct compa
nions
for child
ren, barri
ng a tende
ncy among
st the entir
e breed
to curse
. A Renni
e child
very nearl
y is raise
d by a villa
ge and may have dozen
s of Aunti
es and Uncle
s not relat
ed to them by blood
scatt
ered all over the conti
nent.
Despi
te decad
es of obser
vatio
n by many inter
ested
parti
es, no one has yet deter
mined
a succe
ssful
progr
am for breed
ing Renni
es. Their
sense
of high drama
, passi
onate
natur
es, and overl
y affec
tiona
te frien
dship
s have cloud
ed the issue
so deepl
y that it is still
a myste
ry how they manag
e to breed
at all. So, shoul
d you wish to breed
your Renni
e, it is sugge
sted that you adopt
an alrea
dy mated
pair.
Even that is no guara
ntee of succe
ss.
You Renni
e may have its own ideas
about
breed
ing. The best cours
e of actio
n to take shoul
d this happe
n is to stand
back and obser
ve your Renni
e close
ly. In the event
of a heart
break
step in and feed your Renni
e his or her favor
ite treat
s. While
this will proba
bly not heal your Renni
e, it will make them more pleas
ant to be around until
they find anoth
er poten
tial mate.
Conclusion
While
the above
may make adopt
ing a Renni
e seem daunt
ing, it is an enter
prise
with great
rewar
ds. They are attra
ctive
, affec
tiona
te creat
ures,
who will brigh
ten your life for many years
to come.
Thank
you for your inter
est.