June 10 feature

MarKay’s Castle of the Dogs—entrepreneurism with an added twist

Rochester Sentinel Article

By Ann Allen, Sentinel Correspondent

After making the 112-mile trip from Tippecanoe to Chicago and back every Tuesday and Thursday for the past five years, Perry Olshein knows the route by heart.

The self-described chief executive pooper-scooper/administrator of MarKay’s Castle of the Dogs isn’t transporting drugs or laundering money. His immaculate white van is filled with a far nosier cargo—dogs. Big dogs, little dogs, dogs of every disposition, all of them are either on their way to or from being trained, groomed or boarded by his wife, Kathy McCarthy Olshein, whose work in helping thousands of clients and their pets for the past 35 years has made her name nationally recognized.

No one can say the couple’s business is going to the dogs; dogs are their business and a big one at that. If location, location, location can be considered keys to success, these entrepreneurs would be the first to submit that it’s just as possible to operate a thriving business in the country as it is in the city. And besides, in their case at least, owners and dogs alike are happier.

“My job is much easier here,” said Kathy Olshein said with a wave of her hand at the quarter-million-dollar, climate-controlled facility the Olsheins established south of Tippecanoe on SR 331. “There’s more room in which to work. The dogs have outdoor runs. Their barking never disturbs the neighbors.”

So how did an upwardly mobile couple opt to sell two successful businesses in Chicago, a city with a population of nearly 3 million residents, to start a new business on a five-acre farm a few miles from a town so small its population is unlisted in atlases or on the Internet?

“We liked it here,” Perry said. “It’s as simple as that.” Well, maybe not quite that simple, but almost. They bought the five acres, which came with a house, a nearly 100-year-old barn and a few outbuildings, to use as a weekend retreat. When they became reluctant to return home after a few days on the farm, they decided to uproot themselves and relocate.

For Perry Olshein, that meant selling Perry’s Deli, a restaurant dubbed the official delicatessen of radio station WLS and famous for its corned beef, jack cheese, cole slaw and Russian dressing sandwiches. With an initial investment of $10,000, Perry, whose background included studies at State University of New York and the Culinary Institute of America and who washed dishes at 14 in his native Albany, NY, opened Perry’s in 1982. Located in the YWCA Kitchen on So. Wabash St., the deli offered Perry a start. His office, actually the room where the janitor kept his mops, was so cramped he had to put his chair on the desk to lock the door. The restaurant itself was so small it seated only 24, but since the business was strictly delivery, he considered décor of no consequence. Over the years, the deli moved several times, enlarging its space and clientele along the way.

“I sold it to pay for the Dog Castle,” Perry said. “Kathy was co-owner in a business but her partner had developed an allergy to dogs. Kathy wanted a chance to be on her own.” So proud of his wife that his eyes twinkle whenever her name is mentioned, he added, “She is so good at what she does, it’s just incredible. I figured I was No. 2 in Chicago, but Kathy was No. l.”

Kathy, founder of MarKay Dog Training Inc. of Chicago, had an immense following and credentials that included professional groomer, veterinary technician, champion dog breeder and obedience utility titles. She continues to appear in TV commercials, as guest lecturer and featured guest on radio/TV interviews as well as producing training videos. She founded two Chicago-based therapy groups in which dogs were used in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Working with four volunteers and four dogs, she helped six girls at a time learn to train, handle and groom dogs. “It was the first thing some of those girls had ever finished,” she said. “It made a big impact on their self-esteem and helped them get over their fear of dogs.”

While relocating the business in the country was time-consuming and costly, they faced unexpected learning curves. “The architect called and asked where I wanted the kennel located,” Perry said. “I told him to put it behind the silo. There was a long pause. ‘You don’t have a silo,’ he said. ‘You have a steel grain bin.’ I was still pretty ignorant about farm life, but I told him to go ahead and put the building behind the bin. It was his idea to connect the two. Since the bin looked like a turret, we decided we had a castle for dogs, hence the name.”

The couple, however, didn’t just move to the country; they embraced it. Perry is a member of the Tippecanoe Fire Department; Kathy is an EMT.

“We believe doing good deeds is more important than just talking about them,” he said. “We’re part of this community. It’s our responsibility to give back.”

And they’ve spread their wings. Kathy now studies piano; Perry takes private art lessons from Akron’s Marilyn Kruger and will soon enter his first show.

But dogs continue to be their business with a full 95 percent of them coming from Chicago, thanks to Perry’s twice weekly runs.

“We’re not everybody’s kennel,” Kathy said. Our clients come by referral, and we interview them. We keep the temperature at 68-72 year-round because most of the dogs that come here are accustomed to heat and air conditioning.

Each dog is treated as an individual and is evaluated to see who plays well together in the Castle’s two 5,000 square-foot fenced play yards—one lined with wood chips, the other with grass turf. Housed in separate pens with individual runs powered washed daily, dogs lead a clean, happy life. Each has his or her own food bowl, stash of preferred kibble and access to filtered water.

A dog’s life? Add to it special music, a vet on call 24/7 and what Perry Olshein calls the largest septic system in Marshall County, and you have the Olsheins’ recipe for entrepreneurial success—complete with the added twist of pickup and delivery, return sessions for lessons forgotten and training options that include small group classes, private lessons, doggie camp and phone consultations.

No wonder the Olsheins say, “MarKay’s Caste of the Dogs is the next best thing to home.”