K9 Sergeants research leads him to the first K9 handler in Cottage Grove, helps family connection

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (FOX 9) - In October 1968, the Cottage Grove Police department received its first K-9 officer.

His handler was Gary Gronos. Throughout his law enforcement career, Gronos worked as an officer and police chief in Minnesota and Wisconsin but began his career in Cottage Grove in 1967 as a police officer. A year later, he started the K-9 program and paved the way for future K-9’s and their handlers.

K-9 Sergeant and supervisor Nils Torning was one of those handlers. He has worked for the Cottage Grove Police Department since 2007.

The department was working to decorate the police department with a memorial wall, so Sergeant Torning began to research the history.

"While doing that research, I was provided names of the K-9 handlers and the names of their dogs, but that was really all I had to work on," Sergeant Torning said. "I had some limited information on their years of service at the departments."

Eventually, he came across Gary Gronos’ name and was able to locate Gary, who was living in a senior living facility.

The two had a great conversation about Gary’s history in the department, what it was like to be the first K-9 officer, how he trained his K-9, etc.

Little did Sergeant Torning know, these conversations would help spark memories that would last a lifetime for Gary’s family.

A connection that helped the family of Gary Gronos

Dig deeper:

"My dad suffered from Alzheimer's and Alzheimer's stole so many of his memories and the pride that he felt so my dad died eight, nine years ago," Gary’s daughter, Dara Lamere said. "All that was there were brief moments of memories that he had and existence but what I really miss is just being able to touch him."

Gary had been living with Alzheimer’s for years but hearing about K-9 Fritz and Sergeant Torning’s research started to bring back so many memories for him and his family.

"They didn't have the history behind it. They didn't understand how that started," Lamere said about the police department. "So that gave me the opportunity to talk with my dad to find those things out and he was really very prideful. That gave me my dad for brief moments, minutes maybe, but I hadn't had those before. You talk to somebody with Alzheimer's, and you get a lot of the expected answers but when you ask meaningful questions that taps into their memories and that person comes back."

Talking about the past not only helped Gary, but it helped his family continue to build memories with him and capture moments years in the making.

"He would perk up, and those memories would bring back my dad."

As conversations continued, Lamere would take not of them. She would ask her dad questions Sergeant Torning wanted to know about being a handler.

"He was very lucid and very talkative with so many stories and memories!" Lamere said in an email to Sergeant Torning after one of their conversations. "I wasn’t sure how his memory would be, so I didn’t record him but I wish I would have. It was fascinating and for a short time, I got the dad I miss back."

Honoring Gary after his passing

After Gary passed away, Lamere and her family started brainstorming ways they could honor her dad’s legacy and keep his memories alive. They reached out to the Cottage Grove Police Department and asked if there was a need in the K-9 program.

"If that was his greatest accomplishment and his most wonderful memory that he's very prideful of, let's see what they have and what they need," Lamere said.

Sergeant Torning told Gary’s family they had been planning to add another K-9 to the department in 2026. There are currently three working K-9’s, two dual purpose dogs and a therapy dog. The new dog will go to the first female handler in the department’s history.

"I asked the department, what is that going to cost?" Lamere questioned. "What does this look like? Give me a goal. And they said, well, the cost of the dog is $14,000. It's a lot. And I said well, there you go. Now we have a target."

The family now has a GoFundMe, hoping to raise $14,000 for a new Cottage Grove K-9 in their father’s honor.

The dogs are typically funded by grants and community donations.

What information did Gary share with family before he passed?

What we know:

Gary shared information with his family about his time as a police officer and K9 handler. This information was given to Sergeant Nils Torning and helped in his research to build the memorial wall.

1. A business owner in Cottage Grove paid for K9 Fritz.

2. Fritz and Gary trained together for about two weeks in Kansas and continued daily, weekly and monthly training in Cottage Grove.

3. Fritz worked from 1968-1975.

4. Fritz continued to live with Gary and his family (wife and two daughters) until he was put down in late 1976. According to Gary, he was very tired and had aged faster than most dogs due to working 8–12 hours a day for years.

5. The back of Gary’s patrol car was retro-fitted to be a large flatbed area where Fritz would spend his days on patrol. There were no bars or partitions in the patrol car, so when inmates or prisoners were placed in the car, Fritz would sit with his muzzle on Gary’s shoulder or would hold his muzzle next to the passenger’s cheek if they were a transport subject.

6. Fritz was an excellent tracker and tracked many criminals who were running/hiding.

7. Gary and Fritz were often tasked with inmate transfers and would sometimes make the inmates sit in the front seat with Fritz standing guard from the backseat.

8. Fritz worked with hand signals and verbal commands.

9. There was another K9 that started at the Cottage Grove Police Department while Fritz was still active.

10. Gary also started the Snowmobile Patrol Program in Cottage Grove.

Cottage Grove