Woof! There it is – Patriot Pup opens for pet care in Manitowoc

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

August 24, 2026

MANITOWOC – Veteran Marine, former traveling nurse and self-proclaimed dog dad, Brian Thompson, said with the help of his wife and fellow owner/operator, Amber Hutchison, his entrepreneurial dream has taken shape in the form of Patriot Pup – Manitowoc’s newest pet care facility.

“I have always wanted to be a business owner,” he said. “I have tossed around the idea of different businesses here and there [between] my 20s and my 30s, and now my 40s, and I just never took that risk. I never jumped all in with any of my ideas, [but] my wife is amazing. If it wasn’t for her, I still don’t think I’d be doing [this].”

Celebrating Patriot Pup’s official grand opening earlier this summer, Thompson said Hutchison’s industry experience paired with his love of pets and country made for the perfect business “op-paw-tunity.”

“[Amber] worked in the dog daycare boarding industry for a little while, learned a ton in the short time she was in it, but has always had dogs,” he said. “Her dad was a hunting dog trainer and had [offered] kenneling when she was a kid, so she’s always been around dogs.”

Seeing other boarding facilities “constantly turn away” customers due to a lack of vacancy, Thompson said they saw potential for another option in the Manitowoc market.

“We just kind of started throwing around the idea of possibly doing this because there is obviously a need for it in the area,” he said.

One unique aspect that helps differentiate Patriot Pup from other boarding facilities, Thompson said, is its ability to kennel and care for dogs struggling with behavioral issues.

“When we were getting married, we had a dog named Rowdy,” he said. “He was a little spicy, and we couldn’t board him anywhere out of fear for him and the people at those places. We were just worried about what he would do.”

This is where the idea for Patriot Pup’s niche “truly took life,” Thompson said.

“We want to be a facility that is good for all dogs, but [is also] accepting of those dogs that other places may not take,” he said. “We truly built our boarding with the idea in mind that there are going to be aggressive dogs here as well as non-aggressive dogs.”

To offer a full spectrum of no-touch and regular kenneling services, Thompson said he and Hutchison had their work cut out to find a suitable location.

“It was very important to us that we had kennels [with] outdoor and indoor space,” he said.

Finally, Thompson said he and Hutchison found the paw-fect solution in the former Silver Lake Country Store – located right off Interstate 43 at 5814 Calumet Ave. in Manitowoc.

“We built that out to fit what we needed,” he said.

Room to grow

Thompson said he joined the Marine Corps on a four-year contract immediately out of high school.

“To be perfectly honest, I went in to sign up for the Army, and a Marine Corps recruiter got me and talked me into joining,” he said. “They’re really good salesmen.”

Describing the experience as “a great thing” for his work ethic, sense of responsibility and accountability, Thompson said the Marine Corps helped him “grow up.”

“I don’t even know where I’d be today if I had never joined,” he said. “While I served, I went to Twentynine Palms, California, to study [to be a] radio technician, and while I was there, I did better than expected, and they actually kept me there as an instructor.”

Spending the remainder of his time with the Corps in California, Thompson said after his contract expired, he moved back home to America’s Dairyland.

“I was born here in Wisconsin – basically lived in Green Bay my entire life – went to high school at Ashwaubenon and then joined the Marine Corps,” he said. “I came back to Green Bay, started working some odd jobs here and there, but then finally got into health care.”

After attending college, Thompson said he decided to become a traveling nurse – a job that took him to hospitals across the U.S.

“I was all over the country for that: New York, California, Missouri, back here in Milwaukee, Texas, [etc.],” he said. “I ended up staying in Texas for about seven years.”

Shortly after another rehoming roughly three years ago – this time landing in Two Rivers – Thompson said he met Hutchison.

“I technically live in Two Rivers, but the business is in Manitowoc,” he said. “To be perfectly honest, this is a great place to raise a family.”

When he and Hutchison started location hunting for Patriot Pup in and around the Lakeshore, Thompson said they found the search fairly difficult.

“We started looking at places like right around our wedding in September [2025],” he said. “We had looked at probably a half-dozen properties, and for one reason or another, every one of them just didn’t work.”

Though Thompson, admittedly, said they “could have” made the locations work, he and Hutchison weren’t willing to compromise on what they wanted for their customers’ pets.

“We were going to be kind of hamstrung if we went the route of any of the other properties we looked at,” he said. “Whether it be not enough outside space or the layout just [didn’t] really work well – any number of things.”

Then, Thompson said Hutchison’s mom called and told them about the former country store on Calumet.

“I knew it came with land, and it’s right there off the highway,” he said. “Fortunately, it had been for sale for quite some time, and the sellers were willing to negotiate. [So], we were able to get it within our price range.”

With three and a half acres spanning across the Manitowoc countryside, Thompson said the property gave him and Hutchison space to establish and grow their business.

“We had some ‘not-the-best’ experiences with some lenders who kind of pulled some wool over our eyes throughout the process and then backed out,” he said, “but in the end, I’m much happier where I am than I think I would have been.”

‘We’re willing to try’

Closing on the country store in January, Thompson said some unfortunate circumstances prior to their purchase of the building left them with a clean slate to renovate.

“December of ’24, the place flooded, the furnace went out and the store was already closed,” he said. “From what we understand, the water was running for like 32 straight days because a pipe had burst inside the building… No one was even called until water was running out onto Calumet Avenue.”

Because of this incident, Thompson said the previous property owners “had to gut the entire building.”

“So, there was literally nothing in it – it was just walls,” he said. “It was great for us. There was absolutely no demo that needed to be done at all.”

Starting renovations in February, Thompson said he and Hutchison initially aimed for a spring opening.

“I think you know as well as I do that [opening as originally planned] never happens,” he laughed, “but we were able to open June 19.”

Since Patriot Pup’s grand opening, Thompson said they’ve had a number of aggressive-dog owners take advantage of their no-touch boarding – an option that has been very rewarding to offer.

“It feels great because there have been two instances where, as the pet owner was leaving, they were crying,” he said. “It wasn’t out of sadness that they were leaving their dog – it was out of joy that there was somewhere to leave their dog, and they both cried when they came back because they were so happy that everything went so well.”

Regardless of a dog’s behaviors, Thompson said there is a goal to interact and spend time with each pet at their “pre-fured” pace.

“Obviously we’re not going to push our luck with these dogs, their owners are being very honest that [the dog has] bit somebody at some point in time, or [the owner is] worried they’re going to,” he said. “Our goal is, with those dogs that are aggressive, [to] still spend time with them. They have an outdoor kennel, and I will sit outside the fence, or one of my staff will sit outside the fence and just talk to them.”

Though aggressive dogs often react accordingly in response, Thompson said an immediate change of behavior is not the overall goal of the interaction.

“They’re usually growling or barking at us, but we want to spend that time with them because our goal is to get them comfortable enough with us that maybe they don’t have to be boarded like that,” he said. “We can take them out. We can spend time with them. We can pet them, and who knows if it will happen or not? I don’t know if any of them will ever get to that point with us, but we’re willing to try.”

The Guardian Fund

To honor and support his fellow service members, Thompson said he and Hutchison launched the Guardian Fund in conjunction with their business.

“There was always [a plan] to do something for veterans,” he said. “[We] didn’t know exactly what it was going to be, but there was always something we were going to do.”

For veterans, active service members and reservists alike, Thompson said when called on duty – or, simply, if something happens and they are unable to care for their pet – the fund pays for their furry family’s care.

“[They] have a need for boarding and just can’t afford it,” he said. “Those two weeks in the summer where some of these reservists have to go into their maneuvers, or they get deployed, there’s really nothing out there for them when they… have a dog.”

Oftentimes, Thompson said if a service member or veteran doesn’t have someone to take and care for their pet, they have to surrender it.

“They have to give up their dog,” he said. “I don’t think I can think of anything worse than getting called overseas and knowing you’re never going to see your best friend again.”

Especially for service members dealing with trauma, Thompson said the benefits of pet ownership make helping them keep their animals a mission worth pursuing. 

“Dogs, in general, for those who have PTSD, they may not be therapy certified or service dogs, but they help,” he said. “If one of those guys needed to go have a surgery where they were going to be laid up for a month, and they have nobody who can watch their dog, what are you going to do? Who can afford to board their dog for a month straight?”

That’s what the Guardian Fund is made for, Thompson said – supported both through an ongoing portion of Patriot Pup’s profits and community donations.

“We’ve only been open for six weeks, so there’s really nothing in it at this point in time, but we’re just trying to get people to understand what it is and to help us with it,” he said. “We’re going to donate a portion of our profits every single year to it, but even that’s not going to be enough when we get hit with one of those [situations where a pet is] going to be there for a month.”

Those interested in supporting the Guardian Fund, Thompson said, can donate on Patriot Pup’s website, patriotpupllc.com, where potential clients can also find information regarding its current and forthcoming services.

“Starting in September, we will be offering group classes for dog training,” he said. “We are bringing a trainer in to do that, [and] she is going to be running the group classes in our facility.”

Patriot Pup’s trainer, likewise to its services, Thompson said, specializes in training reactive or aggressive dogs.

“It was always [part of the] plan to [bring] training in, and people have been begging us to do it, but we weren’t just bringing any trainer in,” he said. “After months [of searching], she actually reached out to us… She works with some of the foster agencies and humane societies to take reactive dogs and make them adoptable.”

However, even though Patriot Pup has developed a niche working with aggressive dogs, Thompson said that represents only a small part of its overall focus – with most of the dogs it welcomes being well behaved. 

“[A majority] of the dogs we have are great – they have no issues, anybody could walk right up to them, they’re not aggressive in any way, shape or form,” he said. “We just wanted the ability to have those aggressive dogs and have somewhere for them to go. Aggressive-dog owners deserve a vacation, too.”

For more on Patriot Pup’s services and the Guardian Fund, visit its aforementioned website or Facebook page.