Fine Dining For Fido: Prime Rib Ice Cream, Doggie Donuts At Casper Niche Store

CASPER — Anyone who loves birthday cakes, flavored popcorn, donuts and prime rib will find their fix at this unique joint in the Wolcott Galleria.

If you’re a dog, that is.

Those birthday cakes are make for man’s best friend, as are the donuts, while the popcorn flavor is chicken and the prime rib isn’t a slab of meat, it’s an ice cream flavor. You can even buy premade dinner entrees for your pooch.

Unleashed Dog Bakery has been growing its line of dog treats and its business over the last year.

“People love their pets and they love to bring their dogs in here and let them shop for themselves, which is amazing,” said Chaynee Washut, owner of the downtown niche store. “They will get a dog meal and have their dog sit at the table and eat their dog meal or their ice cream.”

Casper residents Anthony Frascella and Bee Bennett said they come to the shop about once a week to get treats for their pet, a chocolate Labrador and red heeler mix. Their dog enjoys the jerky sticks and homemade ribs.

“I feel like it’s a healthy choice and it’s affordable,” Fracella said. “It’s just nice to support a local, small-time family shop.”

The colorful store with a portrait of a bespectacled terrier in plaid behind the counter is meant to hit all the high notes for canine tastes and cravings.

Washut and staffer Caitlin Hart have a growing recipe book of tasty creations for pets. The also offer other quality food and treats from suppliers meant to be healthy alternatives for dogs from the “filler” food typically found on big-box store shelves.

“We have the discretion about what comes in and we want it to be a little bit higher quality than things that are just filled with yucky fillers,” Hart said. “There are so many dog foods that are just filled with rice or barley and that’s just not very nutritional for a day-to-day diet.

“There are so many dogs that we see that are overweight and they are looking for diet options and so we just want to provide sound food choices for the owners of the dogs that want it.”

More people (and often their pets) are starting to follow the signs on the sidewalks that point the way to the mini-mall door and down the corridor.

‘Are You Kidding Me?’

Washut opened the store in July 2023.

A former teacher and now tutor, she got the idea for the business while attending a teaching conference in North Carolina. On a free day, she visited her first bakery that exclusively produces goods for dogs. It was a light-bulb moment.

“I went home and told my husband, ‘I know what I want to do when we retire. I want to open a dog bakery,’” she said. “He was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

She kept hounding him until a few years ago he told her he would buy a trailer and convert it to a “treat trailer” that she could use during her summer vacation.

The trailer became a hit and people started asking if she was going to open a store.

“At first we said no, we were happy doing what we were doing,” Washut said. “And by February of that following winter, we really missed the treat trailer and the people and dogs and started looking for a storefront.”

The owner of six dogs, Washut said right before she launched the treat trailer, she lost one of her dogs because of food issues and unhealthy treat options. That’s help focus her motivation to provide healthy alternatives.

Now her own pets are her taste-testers for various recipes, but she said sometimes she needs to find palates that are more “picky.”

Just like a bakery for humans, customers find donuts under the glass at the counter. These doggie donuts feature toppings such as s’mores, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and blueberry granola on top of peanut butter granola cookies.

While the donuts come from a vendor, many of the other treats come from a kitchen in the back of the store. There are doggie birthday cakes, pup cakes (like cupcakes), carob chip cookies, bacon bones, cinnamon rolls, beef cheese tacos and corn dogs.

Birthdays

“We do a lot of doggie birthdays,” Hart said. “We don’t use any refined sugar so that way it is not too rich.”

Washut said as they beef up the recipe book, they have reached out to local veterinarians for a list of healthy ingredients.

In a cooler, the store also offers dog dinners made at the bakery.

When Cowboy State Daily visited, shepherd’s pie and chicken vegetable rice were the specials of the day. There is a freezer in the next room that contains special lactose-free ice cream for dogs. The store can also make soft-serve ice cream with flavors such as prime rib, bacon, peanut butter and banana.

Hart said the favorite flavor by far is prime rib, which is hard to keep in stock.

“People rush in to get it,” she said. “I accidentally licked it off my thumb one day and it is just that, it tastes very prime rib. Not very yummy to me but for dogs, I am sure they think it is the best.”

The store also carries a more traditional section of pet store things like bones and bag treats. In the near future, the bakery plans to launch a loyalty program to give discounts and coupons for customers.

Bulk treats are the most popular items. Washut said each is made with human-grade ingredients.

“The dogs are absolutely loving them. We are seeing a ton of repeat customers who are bringing in their bins to refill,” she said.

Washut gives out samples to people who haven’t tried them, and they will usually pop back in a week and want to buy some.

Other popular items are the daily dog meals, bakery goods and the chew bar.

Washut attends trade shows to find the right vendors for the products she wants in the store.

Something people won’t find are rawhide products so the bakery’s chews are more digestible and safe. When digging into dog chews, Washut learned that many are treated with formaldehyde.

Frosting A ‘Secret’

Products made at the store use honey instead of sugar, and Washut said they labored over a “secret recipe” for cake frosting.

The store offers higher-quality Fromm Dog Food that is not available in box stores and uses less filler than other brands, Hart said.

“Another big upside to Fromm is that you can switch between flavors without having to do that period where you are weaning off of one dog food to another,” she said.

To date, Washut said the business plan continues to pay the bills.

In addition to treats and food, a Halloween party is on the calendar, along with photography sessions.

German Shepherd ‘Regular’

Like any business, the bakery depends on repeat business. Some of the regular dogs are trained to give Washut a “high-five” for a treat.

And then there is the German shepherd that runs down the mini-mall hallway unleashed to try and get in the store’s door.

“He will take his paw and try and open up the door and you hear this bang, bang. Then you let him in, and he knows exactly what he wants,” she said. “He knows exactly where it is … a big cheek roll, and when he gets his cheek roll he is done shopping. He’s like at the door, saying, ‘I’ve got it, I’m ready.’”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.