Greensboro policeman trains dogs to make the collars.

• Position: Greensboro, North Carolina, Triad Canine's Rick Ball - Company profile

Greensboro police officer Rick Ball hoped he wasn't barking up the wrong tree seven years ago when he asked his department to buy a $3,000 dog.

He had driven to Fayetteville to see the Belgian Malinois, one of only a handful in the country, and was astounded by the dog's trainability. Ball just needed to convince his superiors. "I had to do a lot of politicking and promising," he says.

He got his dog, named Kastor, and over the next three and a half years on the beat, Kastor proved his worth. He sniffed out $12.5 million of drugs and $100,000 of stolen property and was responsible for $68 million in asset seizures. His tracking led to 144 felony arrests for armed robbery and burglary, and he found four lost children.

Kastor got a lot of attention, and police departments, including Greensboro's, started beefing up their canine divisions. Sniffing an opportunity, Ball and Greensboro police officer Mark Mills imported another Malinois in 1984. They paid $1,600 for the dog, trained it, then sold it to the High Point Police Department for $4,500. With that money, they imported three more dogs, and they were in business.

Triad Canine, near Summerfield...