Pam and Brian Trainor, owners of River Dog Bakery, have been baking dog treats for almost 20 years. Their first customer, Nicholas, was a 1-year-old golden retriever with severe allergies. Nicholas was also the Trainor family’s first dog. 

The couple took Nicholas to a veterinarian dermatologist for allergy testing when he was about eight months old because Pam noticed a lot of inordinate itching. “He had these big shaved panels, and then we came to find out that he was allergic to almost everything they injected him with,” she said. So the Trainors started to experiment in their kitchen.

Baking for Nicholas
Pam said the specialty foods out there now weren’t available when they had Nicholas. So they started searching for ways to make treats and foods he wouldn’t react to. “I think we just started out just typical trial and error,” Brian said. “We started trying to eliminate things that tend to cause issues whether it’s flour or products that are harder to digest.”

And they especially tried to eliminate preservatives. It’s not so much what the food is,” she explained. “It’s what it’s preserved with. More times than not, that’s the trigger point on most dogs.”

During these experimentation days, Pam said the Internet provided them with “a huge wealth of information.” She would access certain breed groups, most notably Newfoundland and Mastiff groups because they’re larger breeds. “Those dogs are so big,” she said. “People had no choice but to make their own treats because they needed stuff in such bulk. A lot of those recipes I tweaked to work here in the store.”

The Nicholas Nibble Bones recipe was one of the first Pam created. She and Brian used to make gingerbread houses with their grandchildren, who would get upset because they couldn’t share their treats with Nicholas. So Pam tweaked the gingerbread recipe by removing the sugar ingredient and replacing it with molasses.

Nicholas enjoyed Pam and Brian’s homemade treats for 15 years, but the couple didn’t stop baking after their beloved dog died. On special occasions, they made treats for friends’ pooches. The couple said their treats had become a standard during the holidays for all of their dog friends and family.

Baking for the Public
Pam and Brian opened River Dog Bakery in November 2005, six years after Nicholas had died. Pam said friends and family urged them to do it, and the timing was right. “My children were in middle school at the time,” she said. “And I’d always been involved in the school system, so my duties were kind of slowing down a bit. It just seemed like the right time to make the move.”

Pam and Brian had visited other cities with dog specialty shops, and they thought Knoxville could use one. “There weren’t any stores like [River Dog Bakery] in Knoxville,” Pam said. “There was one that was open in Bearden, but we were in between dogs so I never was in it. But we’d been in other cities that had great little dog stores.”

Brain added that they felt the Knoxville market would support a store like River Dog Bakery. “With downtown growing and a lot of dogs downtown, it just seemed to be the right time,” Pam said.

The Trainors named the store after River, their second golden retriever, who died in an accident before he was a year old. They felt the name was fitting because River never met a treat he didn’t like.

The Goods
Pam and Brian bake 18 different treats, a dozen are arranged on trays by type in a display case at the front of the store. Six are stored in plastic bins in an area known as “Cooper’s MixItUp Coop.” These treats are scooped and sold by their weight.

Pam said they bake at least one to two recipes a day during their slow seasons. “I try to bake in sections as one thing is running out,” she said. “I don’t like to run out of any one thing, but sometimes that happens. Sometimes you don’t anticipate the person that comes in and needs three dozen of one thing because they’re having a dog party.”

Pam said the Cheese Hound Rounds and Peanut Butter Pups treats are their most popular. “I think people kind of have the idea that [the Peanut Butter Pups] are like Reese’s cups,” she said.

Pam said a treat’s shelf life depends on whether it has moisture content or not. All but one of their treats with moisture content are located on the top shelf of their display case. “I usually like to say to people to make sure [treats with moisture content] get used in two weeks or freeze them,” Pam pointed to the freezer. “And the Tuna Puffs down below, I like to see them go about in a two-week rate too. They’re tuna. They look hard, but inside, they’re kind of soft … and for some reason, they will mold faster than anything else.” She said other treats would stay good for a month if they’re stored in an air-tight container.

Their treats are made with only human-grade ingredients, and there are no additives, preservatives or artificial colorings or flavors. The Trainors have personally tested everything in their display case. “These muffins are to die for when they’re right out of the oven. And they’d probably be better for you than a regular blueberry muffin,” she explained as she pulled a fresh tray of treats out of the oven. “There ain’t no sugar in them.”

Future Plans
The Trainors said they would really like a bigger location that’s a little more inset into its parking lot. “I want a place where we can have dog parties,” Pam said enthusiastically. “And a little bit of a lawn out back so dogs can do their business and come back in.”

She said she would like her customers to be more comfortable. “We could have a little couch area where people could come in,” she said as she pointed to the front left of the store. “I would like to offer coffee to people if they wanted to stay for a few minutes. There are a few places that do things like Yappy Hour where you do things after the store closes. You have dogs come in for treats. You know, just fun stuff like that. There’s all kinds of potential.”

Pam and Brain said they also want to open up a little bath area where people can come to clean their dogs. Towels would be provided, and customers can use their own soap if they prefer. “There’s one place in Asheville that does that,” Pam said. “There’s just a minimum fee, and you can use the towels and whatever.”

But while Pam and Brian have many ideas for the bakery’s future, she said she will always focus on their treats. “I’m proud of my treats because that’s what I want to get out to people. That’s my main thing,” she said. “But basically when push comes to shove, I want a store that I would want to go to with my dog, and I think we’ve tried to accomplish that.”