diff --git a/lib/core.js b/lib/core.js
index 08a2f17..2765ed2 100644
--- a/lib/core.js
+++ b/lib/core.js
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+var React = require('react');
+var ReactDOM = require('react-dom');
+
 module.exports = {
   createClass: function(chartType, methodNames, dataKey) {
     var classData = {
@@ -50,7 +53,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
     classData.initializeChart = function(nextProps) {
       var Chart = require('chart.js');
-      var el = this.getDOMNode();
+      var el = ReactDOM.findDOMNode(this);
       var ctx = el.getContext("2d");
       var chart = new Chart(ctx)[chartType](nextProps.data, nextProps.options || {});
       this.state.chart = chart;
@@ -63,7 +66,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
     // return the canvass element that contains the chart
     classData.getCanvass = function() {
-      return this.refs.canvass.getDOMNode();
+      return this.refs.canvass;
     };
 
     classData.getCanvas = classData.getCanvass;
@@ -76,7 +79,6 @@ module.exports = {
       extra(methodNames[i]);
     }
 
-    var React = require('react');
     return React.createClass(classData);
   }
 };
@@ -121,4 +123,3 @@ var addData = function(nextProps, chart, setIndex, pointIndex) {
   });
   chart.addData(values, nextProps.data.labels[setIndex]);
 };
-
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 46273a1..ac3f75c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
   "homepage": "https://github.com/jhudson8/react-chartjs",
   "peerDependencies": {
     "react": "*",
+    "react-dom": "*",
     "chart.js": "*"
   },
   "devDependencies": {