In 1912, five-year old Ray H. Allen left Stockton, Missouri in a covered wagon and moved west to Colorado with his family. Ray was a “Cowboy” from birth — ranching and the western lifestyle were always close to his heart. In 1948, he and his wife Frankie established a Saddle and Harness business in Colorado Springs, eventually developing a relationship with the Mule Division at Camp Carson (now Fort Carson) providing tack products for the U.S. Army. When the Army chose to relocate its Sentry Dog Program to Camp Carson in the early 50’s, Ray was asked to assist the Mule Division by providing some basic K-9 products. Every K-9 Corps trainee was given a dollar and directions to Ray’s shop to buy his leash and collar!

Eventually Ray was asked to provide more & more products for this program and others throughout the country. Hence, Ray Allen Professional K-9 Equipment was born. We wrote the specs for Military K-9 Equipment!

In July of 1977, after years of hard work and moderate success in the K-9 business, Ray and Frankie prepared to retire and consequently sold the company to a group of businessmen. Frank W. Howard was brought on board to manage the organization — eventually purchasing the company — and the Howard family ownership of the company began.

At this point, Ray Allen Mfg. truly began to grow. Through exhaustive marketing efforts and attendance at nearly every K-9 trial and competition in the country (and hundreds of thousands of miles on the company van), Ray Allen Mfg. grew to establish itself as the preeminent K-9 equipment supplier in the country.

As time passed, Frank W. Howard’s son Kevin became extremely involved in the product development side of the business. Kevin began working with K-9 handlers/trainers and K-9 Cops throughout the country — becoming one of the most highly respected K-9 trainers in the U.S. This grass-roots involvement was an extremely important aspect of product development for Ray Allen Mfg. and remains so today.

Seeing the need to service an ever-evolving marketplace, the product line began to shift from only basic equipment to the more elaborate and functional. Initially products that could not be produced in the U.S. were imported from Europe. However, as equipment requirements changed and could no longer be met with these antiquated products, new and innovative products were developed by Ray Allen Mfg. to adapt to the varied and specific requirements of Police, Military, Schutzhund and Ring Sport. Ray Allen Mfg. began manufacturing the “next level” of K-9 training equipment. And through our continual involvement with training, all products were tested in authentic situations. Furthermore, as it was discovered that a particular need was not being met by existing equipment, new products were “invented” to solve these problems. The ability to provide tried-and-true merchandise as well as innovative and unique equipment set Ray Allen Mfg. apart — and put the company on the road to industry superiority.

By 1990 Ray Allen Mfg. was established as the world leader in Professional K-9 Equipment and was preparing to move into a new and larger facility. Ray H. Allen had continued to be involved with the company and had become a mentor of sorts to Kevin Howard — even helping Kevin make his first saddle. The Howard family brought Ray to a Police Trials event in the late ‘80’s and gave him a T-shirt that read: “I AM Ray Allen!” There are still stories circulating throughout the office about the size of Ray’s smile while he was wearing that shirt and the incredible number of people that came up to him just to shake his hand. We lost Ray in December of 1990 but not before he lived long enough to see his company reach some lofty accomplishments.

Through the ‘90’s, the company prospered and continued to provide innovative products to the industry. Our relationships with K-9 professionals and unrelenting work in the field allowed us to perfect existing products and develop even more innovative merchandise for use in the K-9 world. And that trend continues today.

Frank W. Howard’s ownership of Ray Allen Manufacturing Company, Inc., came to an end in early May 2007 and we are now formally known as Ray Allen Manufacturing, LLC.  While the company may have been sold, nothing else changed!  The management team and employees of the company have remained the same so the operation continues exactly as it has in the past.  And we still consider ourselves a family!

Ray Allen Mfg. remains the finest Professional K-9 Equipment to an ever-changing industry. We continue to be the only supplier with a complete offering of all the products necessary for the grueling effort of K-9 training. We persist in developing new and innovative products for this ever-expanding industry. And we always welcome new product ideas from our loyal customers – or from anyone in the business for that matter!

Please take the time to view the Our Staff section of our web site. Here you will get a chance to see the faces of our “family” of employees. From our terrific office staff, to our exceptional customer service and warehouse folks, to the incredible craftspeople that do their magic in our manufacturing facility – we are as proud of our “family” as we are of our products and service.

After nearly 60 years in business, our mission still remains the same:

To Continue To Be the World Leader in Quality and Innovative Professional K-9
Equipment for Police, Military, Schutzhund and Ring Sport!

To Exceed Our Customer’s Expectations!

To Deliver On Time, Every Time — At a Fair Price!