New Olmsted County K9 Officer and Handler Just Made History

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The newest K9 officer with the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office and his handler just made history on Friday.

Being an avid animal-lover myself (we have two dogs, Asher and Juniper, along with three cats, Finn, Huck and Hazel at our house), when I saw the news Friday about a new addition to the K9 team at the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, I thought it was pretty cool.

According to a post on their Twitter page Friday, the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office just welcomed its newest K9 officer, Ragnar, to the force. Ragnar is a 16-month-old Belgian Malinois from Hungary. His handler is Deputy Aviana Torkelson, who the post noted, is the first female handler in Olmsted County Sheriff's Office history!

Being a handler of a law enforcement K9 like Ragnar is no small task. The Olmsted Rochester Law Enforcement K9 Foundation explains it like this:

Whether on or off duty, a K-9 handler's day revolves around the care and maintenance of their K-9 partner. High drive police K-9s cannot be kenneled in confined spaces for long periods of time. They need to expel energy and anxiety that builds when not able to work or exercise. Police K-9s are never left unattended or to be cared for by family or others when the handler can’t be around. 

I can only imagine what it would be like to partner with a high-drive canine like Ragnar  Our dog, Asher, is an Australian Cattle Dog we adopted from Paws and Claws Humane Society in Rochester.  Cattle dogs are another high-drive, working breed that need a lot of exercise, as well.

So, here's a shout-out to Deputy Torkelson and Ragnar! The post said the two are beginning an intensive 4-month training program this week at the St. Paul Police K9 Academy. When they're finished, Ragnar will specialize in patrol work including evidence recovery, tracking, building/area searches, criminal apprehension, and narcotics detection.

Speaking of dogs, did you know your pet when they were a puppy? (We adopted Asher when he was 7 months old, so we missed that part.) Keep scrolling to see what most dog breeds looked like as adorable puppies!

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