Jarod and K-9 Rookie

My name is Jarod and I served in the Army for four years and as a police officer for nearly 13. Most of my time in the Army I spent at Ft. Bragg. I was in the 82nd Airborne Division and served in a regular infantry platoon and later as a Sergeant and Scout Team Leader. After my four years were finished I came back home to MN where I grew up. I am from Minneapolis and have spent most of my life living in the Twin Cities area.
I worked a few different jobs after I left the Army until I went back to school to get my degree and pursue my dream to be a police officer. I loved the job and the people I worked with as a police officer. During my career the job and the calls have taken a toll on me that has not only impacted my life, but my children’s lives and all of my family in many ways. I have isolated from people and tried to hide the struggles I have had with nightmares, images, memories and my difficulty trying to sleep.
Over the years the excitement and joy I used to feel going into work had shifted to fear and dread. Late last year I was diagnosed with PTSD and I am almost finished with the process of leaving the police department. This is a difficult process for me as I feel the guilt of leaving my partners at work and not being there to support them. That said, I am trying to learn to cope with these issues and now, the understanding that I will never be able to forget them, but hopefully I can manage them better with the help of therapy. For many years I tried to avoid these things and fight through it on my own. Trying to suppress the memories with alcohol and never feeling like it was okay to talk about them led me to one of the darkest places in my life.
As I have been going through therapy my therapist has talked to me about dogs. I have had a difficult time finding joy and happiness in anything I do lately and I told her about the dogs I used to have and she brought up Soldier’s 6. I explained how I used to decoy for some of the K9’s at my police department. I would decoy for one dog in particular and it was while my son was young. He would get to come with and watch me run from the dogs and take bites, even trying to feed the dogs hot Cheetos to see if they would eat them.
I have enjoyed dogs my entire life and as a kid I had a German Shepherd and as an adult I used to have a yellow lab. While I was still working I never felt like I could take care of a dog properly if I wasn’t home enough so I have not even thought of getting a dog until now. My therapist pushed me to talk Ed and Dana. I spoke with Ed for quite a while on the phone and heard his story too. I couldn’t believe when he told me he had a dog that would be a fit for me.
He asked if I liked hockey and if I had ever heard of the MN Wild sponsoring a dog. I had not and he explained a little bit about Rookie to me. I then went on the website and saw the dogs the Wild have sponsored and all of the people that Soldier’s 6 has helped. I was overwhelmed that he asked me about taking Rookie. I have a difficult time asking for help and accepting kindness from people like this. I am grateful for the opportunity and so thankful to Ed, Soldier’s 6 and the MN Wild for this. We look forward to meeting Rookie and training with her and having her be a part of our family. I am sure from seeing pictures of her that she will make both me and my kids smile and help us heal together.