About us

Created in 1995 by Dr. Heitz, veterinary surgeon, our company is located in France, in the Jura section of “Plastics Valley”.

Our statement of intent is very simple: to put our know-how and our enthusiasm at the service of animal owners in order to offer them innovative products adapted to their needs.


In order to fulfill the aims expressed in our statement of intent, we have four principles to guide us :

  • Utility : Our products must provide effective solutions to our customers’ problems.

  • Simplicity : The shortest path between two points is a straight line. All our products are simple and are designed to be easy to use.

  • Performance : When choosing our products, our clients must be sure that no better alternative exists for the problem in question.

  • Care : We go to great lengths in order to offer products studied in the finest detail and exempt from manufacturing defects.

 

COMPANY HISTORY

  • 1994Denis HEITZ, a practising vet working in Oyonnax (France), encountered a problem extracting ticks from his four-legged patients. Among the instruments available on the market at that time, none were really satisfactory. He made his own tool, the TICK TWISTER® hook, from a simple metal nail.
  • 1995After a year of testing prototypes, Denis HEITZ established the definitive characteristics of the product and took out a patent. His wife Helen created a company and named it H3D. Benefitting from the proximity of highly-developed plastics manufacturing, an injection mould was created locally and the first TICK TWISTER® hooks began emerging from an injection press at a factory in Oyonnax, in the heart of “Plastics Valley”. Marketing began in October 1995. At this stage the human resources of the small company amounted to Hélène and Denis HEITZ, aided by two home-based workers to package the products.
  • 1996First prospecting for export customers : H3D enters the Swiss and German markets. Extension of patent internationally.
  • 1999The family home, which served up until now as premises for the small company became too small to accommodate the growth in sales. Extension work was carried out and a commercial office and a warehouse were annexed to the family home.
  • 2000Given the extent of the expansion, Denis Heitz had to make a choice: he sold his veterinary practise and, with his wife, decided to devote himself entirely to the development of H3D.
  • 2001Beginning of a partnership with an export consultant and launch of the TICK TWISTER® hook in Scandinavia.
  • 2004Transition to a better-adapted legal status, from sole proprietorship to that of a company.
  • 2005Diversification of the product line : packaging was adapted to each distribution chain. A sales assistant joined the team and the constraints of space again began to be felt.
  • 2007The company moved into a new 350 m² building in Lavancia. Recruitment of an additional business manager to develop export sales which now extended to 25 countries.
  • 2008Launch of the Smartick® hook, which extended the range to meet the most varied demands.
  • 2010H3D enlarges its field of expertise in the domain of hygiene and animal care, with a new product: BambooStick® a giant cotton bud specially adapted for cleaning dogs’ ears.
  • 2011Launch of the BambooStick® XL cotton bud in veterinary surgeries in France and Europe.
  • 2012As a response to customer demand, H3D launches a complete care kit for dogs’ ears consisting of a cleaning lotion and a sachet of BambooStick®cotton buds.
  • 2015The BambooStick® range extends with the addition of S/M sized cotton buds and new packaging adapted for sale to home users and professionals.
  • July 2015The TICK TWISTER® hook video is posted on the "Great Outdoors" Facebook page. Within a few hours it goes viral… with more than 40 million hits, 800 000 shares and 25 000 comments around the world. The TICK TWISTER® hook becomes the #1 Best-Seller in the "Dog Flea & Tick Control" category on Amazon US.
  • 2016Launch of the new TICK TWISTER® internet site. A new modern design, with new colours and now offering online buyers the tick removers TICK TWISTER® in pink, violet, blue and orange…
  • 2018Launch of a transport box for hooks: the Clipbox! Box clipable belt or backpack to always have his hooks at hand. Available in 5 colors, matching the hooks.
  • 2020In order to improve our offer, we launched the TICK TWISTER® Human Set which no longer contains 2 but 3 tick removers. The addition of 1 "micro" hook allows even smaller ticks to be removed. This set is sold with a small reusable thermoformed box, ideal for storing tick removers.