Captain Haggerty

'Captain' Arthur Haggerty was a well-known and popular dog trainer whose "students" went on to careers as attack dogs, guard dogs, rescue dogs, bomb sniffers, and even actors and actresses.

He was an Army K-9 Unit commander, and when he left the service, he established the Captain Haggerty School for Dogs in NYC. It was there where he became known as dog-trainer to many Hollywood and Broadway stars. He also provided dogs for advertisements as well as movies and tv shows.

Capt. Haggerty was a hulking figure, 6-feet 3-inches and over 300 pounds. He did some acting himself, appearing in "Shamus" (1973) with Burt Reynolds, "Home Movies" (1980), and "Married to the Mob (1988), as well as a few others.

In early 1983, Capt. Haggerty appeared on David Letterman's tv show, talking about his career as a dog trainer, and I recall he had some dogs with him to show how they followed his training techniques. The very next day, I wrote to him, in care of the tv show, and requested a photo.
He replied more than three months later, with this letter and signed photo.