HUDSON – When Stephen Trachtenberg decided to switch careers a few years back and attend culinary school, he had no idea he’d end up baking dog treats and creating award-
winning antler chews.

But the Hudson resident’s story is more than that. Since founding Chasing Our Tails four years ago with his wife, Karen, Trachtenberg was forced to expand his business to keep up with demand for his all-natural products. And he has become a regional distributor to a number of grocery stores and retailers in the area, including Whole Foods Market.

The business, at 35 Lowell Road, Unit C, began the expansion process four months ago. After the nail salon next door moved out, Trachtenberg gutted the entire space except for the heavy-duty office in the back. He had to increase the wholesale manufacturing capacity and added more freezers and created a larger space for the bakery.

Trachtenberg called his business a full-line nutrition center.

“Our specialty has always been the ‘food is medicine’ concept,” he said, noting he helps animals with a whole slew of problems, ranging from losing weight to addressing thyroid problems.

The products

Chasing Our Tails specializes in gluten- and grain-free dog treats, smoked bones and antler chews. There they make close to 100 items, including baked and dehydrated dog treats. The latter feature beef heart and liver and pork hearts.

Trachtenberg uses a method called charcuterie, which he picked up in culinary school. He described it as the ancient technique of preserving meat without refrigeration. He uses this on the cow bones that he and his employees turn into smoked bones.

“We’re the only company that I know of that uses that technique,” Trachtenberg said about dog bones.

As far as the antler chews are concerned, Trachtenberg uses locally shed moose antlers, along with others collected from around the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. He also uses elk antlers from the West. He doesn’t use any farm-grown products when it comes to his chews, and he employs people to forage for antlers in the woods. He currently receives weekly shipments of more than 1,000 pounds of elk antlers.

Trachtenberg also creates raw diets for dogs. This is where his business becomes almost an extension of a vet’s office. He works closely with local vets, and feeds his two English springer spaniels a combination of dry dog food and raw food.

“I tell customers all the time, ‘If I don’t have it or can’t get it, I’ll make it,’” Trachtenberg said.

He sells some customers ground rabbit that he gets from Vermont and uses ducks from New York. Trachtenberg said he tries to do as much of his business locally as possible.

Humble beginnings

After Trachtenberg completed the 16-week professional program at Chez Boucher Culinary Arts Training Center in Hampton, Karen wanted to know what her husband was going to do “when he grew up.” He searched Craigslist and found a gluten-free bakery for sale. They put a purchase offer in and were ready to take over the business until the owners backed out two weeks later.

A similar situation happened with a 6-year-old dog biscuit bakery. This time, the owners backed out of the deal just two days later.

This is when the Trachtenbergs decided to go into business for themselves.

He began baking dog treats in his garage and traveling with his wife to local craft shows across New England to sell their goods. After two years of doing this, the couple decided to open up a retail store selling their treats and other pet supplies, so they could be closer to home.

In college and the early 1990s, Trachtenberg had worked in pet stores and at Iams, respectively. He was familiar with the pet supply retail business, even if he got that experience years ago, and had run a successful business in Florida prior to moving to New Hampshire.

“For the store, we wanted to have a place for people to come buy our products. The web has never been a big deal for us. People wanted a brick and mortar store,” Trachtenberg said. “It’s grown from there.”

Physical and market expansion

A large trade show helped the Trachtenbergs to expand their products into markets across the U.S. As a result, they were able to hook up with Amazon reps to get three of their products listed on Amazon.com. Trachtenberg said his products are consistently listed in the top 150.

After this, Trachtenberg had his eye on getting his treats and chews into local retailers. For him, the holy grail of grocery stores was Whole Foods Market. He made it his personal challenge to convince the chain to carry his products. Trachtenberg said it took him nine months to get into the Portland, Maine, store. That location and now the rest of the 28 stores in the Northeast carry 14 of Chasing Our Tails’ products.

Since Chasing Our Tails has grown, there’s 24 independent sales representatives selling the company’s products around the country. Home Goods now also carries the business’ treats and antler chews.

Erin Place can be reached at 594-6589 or eplace@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Place on Twitter (@Telegraph_ ErinP).