K-9 Vest Replacement Policy

Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog, Inc. began providing protective K-9 vests in 2000. Some of the K-9s we vested have retired; their vest can be passed onto their K-9 replacement.

If the new dog does not fit into the vest used by the previous dog, we are willing to order a suitable replacement vest. Should the original vest still be within the warranty period, we will take the vest back, to be given to a K-9 on our wait list (with the condition that we will replace that vest). Just like human vests, manufacturer’s warranty K-9 vests for 5 years. We have asked handler recipients to include the replacement K-9 vest in their budget.

Our hope is that the handler will be able to secure the replacement vest funding by telling of situations that he/she has had to use the protective K-9 vest. However, we realize that vests are still being used that have expired warranties, and therefore, we now welcome handlers whose K-9s vest is over 5 years old to apply for a replacement vest. Handlers will need to provide the vest manufacture date (found on the liner or inside the liner on the ballistic material), when they request being placed on the Replacement Wait List.

We have a three-tiered waiting list:

TIER ONE / First Priority – New K-9s – a department or law enforcement agency starts a brand new K-9 program or adds K-9s to their present K-9 team.

TIER TWO / Second Priority – K-9s whose first vest was a ‘hand-me-down’ due to size issues (see paragraph 2, above).

TIER THREE / Third Priority – Replacement of K-9 vests. Priority on this list is given to the oldest-manufacture-date vest holder.