Jason worked with the Clinton Police department. He met a German Shepherd, Sonny, when the department felt the need for a K-9 program. The two of them had to spend pretty much every waking moment together.
Sonny had to learn to trust his partner because this would be their life journey. The police officer had to spend 90% of his shift inside the car. So, when Jason drove the cruiser, Sonny would just pop his head from the open divider.
The brave yet adorable dog would be standing next to his partner with his head on Jason’s shoulder and sleeping while standing. What Jason considered as his work routine, Sonny considered as having fun.
Sonny’s olfactory senses were somewhere between 20 to 50 times greater than any human. There were times when the police had to search a 12 or 13-hundred-square foot house. It would have taken several officers to search for many hours to complete the task, but Sonny would conduct the search in a few minutes.
Sonny understood when it was time to work and when it was not. However, he had an even bigger job at home: being a big brother to his newborn sister. Jason and his wife had a baby girl, whom they had named Reagan. Jason was concerned about how Sonny would react to this new addition to the family. However, the German Shepherd knew that there was something that was changing.
He would start to come over, put his head on his mom’s belly, and sense something changing. The day they brought their daughter home, Sonny was a dream. Whenever Reagan cried, he would come out of his crate to enter her bedroom.
The transition was flawless. Often, Jason referred to him as a part-time therapy dog. If it was one of those stressful days when the police officer had to go on back-to-back calls, Sonny could sense that and help him. Everyone loved Sonny.