Kennel keeps it simple
Jan. 16—GENESEE — When Tammy Thomason checks dogs into Silver Paws Lodge near Genesee, she's reminded of children arriving at summer camp.
The animals are eager to play, especially with dogs they know from previous visits, said Thomason, the owner of the kennel on the scenic hills of the Palouse.
"They're happy to see each other again," she said. "It's fun. They do remember."
The joy the dogs experience is exactly what Thomason hoped for in 2019 when she founded the business to improve the work-life balance for her and her husband, Rollie Thomason.
She wanted an atmosphere the dogs would relish as much as the vacations their owners were taking that required them to leave their dogs behind.
It also has improved the quality of life for the Thomasons at Thornhollow Farm, where the kennel is located and where she raises registered Boer goats and rare chickens.
It provided enough income for her to quit her position as a real estate agent and focus full time on her animals.
Rollie, who recently resigned from the Lewiston Roundup Board after 10 years, comes home for lunch most days from his job as a risk adviser for Stonebraker McQuary in Genesee.
In the evenings in warmer weather, they often sit outside in the company of their three standard poodles, one toy poodle, two livestock guardian dogs and two horses.
"I think of it as being pretty simple," she said. "I don't look at any part of it as work. All of it is a way of life and we get to enjoy every bit of it."
Others might view it as a back-breaking grind. Her work day starts at 6:30 a.m. when she lets the dogs out for their first bathroom break and doesn't end until 9 p.m. when the dogs have been let out for the last time of the day.
The heated and air-conditioned kennel has 13 spaces of different sizes. As many as 20 dogs might be housed there at its busiest times. A number of families have more than one dog that stay together in the larger runs.
In between caring for the dogs, Tammy feeds the herd of 30 to 50 Boer goats and tends to the chickens, which are part of the National Poultry Improvement Program, subject to twice-a-year inspections. Chicks and hatching eggs from the flock are shipped all over the United States.
At the kennel, she lets the dogs out for play about one hour after they've eaten breakfast in indoor or outdoor areas depending on the weather. Outside, they have more than a quarter of an acre for the dogs to romp. Another round of play happens in the afternoon.
Small and large dogs are separated. Tammy supervises every minute, intervening if a disagreement among the animals seems as if it might escalate.
"I have never seen anybody that is as good with animals as she is," Rollie said. "I can walk in there and it's almost like they've been having this conversation."
One of the parts of the kennel is set up like a family room with a couch, fireplace and television. It's where Tammy completes paperwork like invoices, allowing the dogs to lounge around her.
"A lot of people, their dogs are their family and ... they wouldn't take trips, so their personal life was suffering because of it, and now they say they're perfectly comfortable leaving their dogs here," she said.
On weekends, the Thomasons stay on the farm, working together, from just after breakfast until the late afternoon, cleaning manure out of barns and handling other maintenance.
"I love it out there so much," Rollie said. "That's my down time even though you might be tired and sweaty and moving hay or building fences, but it's relaxation to me."
If they have extra time, they put lunch in the cooler and take a drive in their side-by-side vehicle.
The contentment the Thomasons have now was born from stress Tammy had been experiencing trying to meet increasingly diverging responsibilities as a real estate agent and on the farm.
She would be showing a house and be worried that she needed to be on the farm, especially when the goats were about to give birth and might require help with the deliveries.
"I was losing a passion for real estate," she said. "My heart wasn't completely in it. (I was) coming home in the evenings and complaining to Rollie rather (than saying), 'Oh my gosh. You wouldn't believe what just happened today.' "
The idea for the kennel surfaced in brainstorming sessions with one of Rollie's grown sons and daughter-in-law, who own Brie'sta coffee shops in Mountain Home, Idaho.
Within a day, Tammy had created a business plan with statistics about pet owners in Latah, Nez Perce and three nearby counties, the number of them that board pets and the number of kennels in the region, Rollie said.
"She doesn't do anything halfway," he said. "You looked at the numbers and it was like she could work from home. It just made total sense. She's done amazing with it."
The Thomasons credit the demand and Tammy's approach with allowing the kennel to thrive even though it was forced to temporarily close at the earliest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
After opening the previous year, business at Silver Paws Lodge had grown so quickly that it was fully booked in March for spring vacations.
Then gradually Tammy started getting calls from customers canceling because the places they had hoped to travel were shutting down. They eventually decided to close for a couple of months and reopened that June.
"We rebounded really well," she said.
There has been a lingering effect. During the pandemic, many families got puppies. Since they were working from home, they figured they would have plenty of time to acclimate and housebreak the dogs.
A number of those dogs struggle with anxiety when they are left at kennels. In the first months of their lives, they were always with their families and didn't learn how to interact with people or dogs outside their households, Tammy said.
"It wasn't intentional," she said. "It was one of those things nobody thought of."
The pandemic shaped other parts of the Thomasons' life too. The Lewiston Roundup was suspended in 2020, for the second time since its founding in 1935.
Like the kennel, the event rallied when it returned in 2021. On the rodeo's final performance on Saturday night, a line of cars stretched from the Roundup Grounds well into Lewiston one hour after the rodeo started.
"That was my favorite year in terms of the rodeo," Rollie said. "The crowds were crazy. They were glad to have it back."
Moving forward, the Thomasons want to continue to build on what they've created. This year, they'd like to hire enough help for the kennel so they can keep it open during the rare times they travel instead of closing it.
"I would love to drive across the United States and stay off the freeways the whole way," Rollie said. "You get to see stuff that most people don't get to see because they're doing 80 miles per hour."
Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.
Tammy Brown Thomason
Job title: Owner of Silver Paws Lodge and Thornhollow Farm near Genesee.
Age: 51
Education: Graduated from Coeur d'Alene High School and received an associate degree from Lewis-Clark State College.
Career: Was a real estate agent in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley for 14 years. Also has raised golden retrievers and cocker spaniels, been a veterinarian technician and a pet groomer.
Rollie Thomason
Job Title: Risk manager for Stonebraker McQuary Insurance.
Age: 56
Education: Graduated from Highland High School in Craigmont and earned a business degree at Lewis-Clark State College.
Career history: Has worked in insurance since 1988.
Civic involvement: Former director of the Lewiston Roundup. Announces the Craigmont June Picnic Parade each year with his dad. Announces other activities, such as the Lewiston Veterans Parade this year.
The Thomasons are married and have four grown children from Rollie's previous marriage.
"A lot of people, their dogs are their family and ... they wouldn't take trips, so their personal life was suffering because of it, and now they say they're perfectly comfortable leaving their dogs here."
Tammy Thomason, owner of Silver Paws Lodge dog kennel
"I love it out there so much. That's my down time even though you might be tired and sweaty and moving hay or building fences, but it's relaxation to me."
Rollie Thomason, describing his weekends on Thornhollow Farm
