K9 Spotlight: Andy Weiman on HITS K9 Seminar

If you’re a professional K9 handler, you’ve likely heard of the annual HITS K9 Seminar. Heck, you may have even attended it a few times.

Our team at Ray Allen was lucky enough to sit down with one of the founders of HITS, Andy Weiman, to learn more about the conference and his experience in law enforcement.

Andy’s Long Career In K9 Training

With over 35 years of law enforcement experience and more than 27 years of experience working with police dogs, Andy Weiman is one of the most knowledgeable K9 professionals in the industry.

He began his career as a K9 trainer in 1995 by learning detection dog work in Canada. After spending several years in Canada, he brought his skills to the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

In addition to training all of his fellow K9 unit police officers in Broward County, Andy taught free drug detection seminars for law enforcement narcotics departments through the Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force Training (MCTFT) program.

He estimates that throughout the 12 years he worked for the MCTFT, he trained four to five thousand students and their dogs!

Andy retired from law enforcement in January 2022 and passed the torch down to the younger generation he helped train. But his work in the K9 industry is far from over.

The HITS K9 Seminar

Andy founded HITS with fellow K9 handlers Jeff Barret, Jeff Meyer, and Ted Doss after his retirement. Its mission is to bring K9 professionals from across the world together to share their experience and knowledge with others in the industry.

The first HITS K9 Seminar took place 16 years ago in Orlando and had 138 attendees. The HITS team thought that was a great turnout, but they knew there was a big opportunity to grow.

Through building partnerships with companies like Ray Allen, the seminar continues to grow larger each year. The 2022 HITS K9 Seminar, which took place from August 16-19 in Orlando, drew over 1,100 attendees plus an additional 300 people who worked as vendors at the event.

The next HITS K9 Seminar will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, from August 15-18, 2023. Be sure to register online today so you don’t miss out on this premier K9 training event!

Why Ray Allen?

For over 70 years, Ray Allen Manufacturing has been producing the highest quality dog harnesses, collars, leashes, and other tactical K9 equipment, designed to optimize success in the field. We’re proud to be the go-to brand for police officers, military units, dog handlers, and trainers worldwide.

When you need the best for your working dog, look no further than Ray Allen.

Be sure to subscribe to the Ray Allen Manufacturing YouTube Channel to learn more about our products and stay up to date with all the latest Ray Allen news.