Some years ago my good (and greatly missed) friend Art O’Keefe told me about this great training equipment manufacturer that he had found named “Harddog’s Requisites,” located in the heartland of the country, Tennessee. When I next saw Art (at a Police Service Dog Competition) he showed me the body suit he had obtained from Harddogs. Even after just a cursory examination of the suit, I immediately decided that this (IMHO) was the best body suit I had ever seen.
Jumping ahead about 20 years (hard to believe that I have been doing Police Service Dog Training for 40 years), my agency alone has 5 Harddog’s suits, plus 10 Harddog’s sleeves. We also have 3 suits from other manufacturers, but when we are preparing for whatever training exercises are planned for a given day, our helpers (or handler/helpers) ignore the “other” suits and go automatically to a Harddog’s suit (or sleeve). This, to me, is a hands-on reflection of the thought for the needs, likes and dislikes of the trainers, helpers and handlers which resulted in such superb designs.
The creme de la creme of this company is the commitment to customer satisfaction. On the rare occasion we have experienced some minor problem with a piece of Harddog’s Requisites equipment, a phone call has resulted in “ship it back” — “We’ll fix it” — AND THEY DO!
Technologically advanced equipment — designed with helpers/trainers in mind = fair competitive prices = And with integrity in their customer relations as their guiding value. What more could one ask for!