Paul Brent, Financial Post (Monday, January 28, 2008)
[snip] Research led Linda Lazarowich to conclude her Winnipeg-based business K9 Pro Wear's Canada-first market focus was a mistake. "Initially you think Canada is the place to go and I quickly determined when I did my statistics that the dogs were in the United States." Timing also influenced her business: Ms. Lazarowich switched from pet wear to her current focus on working-dog products just one week before the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States. "I knew I was in the right business," she recalled.

Besides having numbers on their side, U.S. agencies that work with trained dogs are more likely to spend money equipping their canines with K9's specialized uniforms because, in many cases, the dogs are considered "officers." In Canada, working dogs are usually viewed as equipment or property. Considering it costs about $80,000 to train a police dog, the expense of outfitting it for duty pales in comparison.

While there were plenty of suppliers of bullet-proof vests for working dogs, there was a wide-open market for uniforms to identify pooches as police. "I think a lot of people still feel there is not enough [canine uniform business] in the market to make a quick buck," she said. "But I'm not there to make a quick buck, I'm there to make sure the uniforms are doing the job they should do because dogs have been killed in action by other officers and assailants because they weren't identified."

Ms. Lazarowich was introduced to Ms. Bradt by a federal trade ministry official a year ago and has since utilized her services to develop contacts within the U.S. bureaucracy. "She has given me valuable feedback on how I need to prepare and what I need to have ready," Ms. Lazarowich said. She has found that relevant testimonials from government buyers are key to landing contracts with other departments and agencies. She has also discovered, as have many other Canadian exporters, U.S. purchasers tend to try new things. "Canadian buyers are just more cautious," said Ms. Lazarowich, whose U.S. sales have increased steadily in the past few years. "Also, we have to understand the U.S. government has more dollars, because of Homeland Security, to spend on entertaining some new initiatives that could help to support the work they are doing on terrorism." [snip]

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