Meet the Wealth Management Vice President Who Also Trains Service Dogs

Jolene Jackelen has volunteered with Helping Paws MN for 15 years, helping make the world more accessible for people with physical disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder

Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Jolene Jackelen always loved dogs and always loved volunteering in the community. A chance encounter with a family friend in a grocery store 15 years ago set her on a path to meld the two passions.

Foto: Accesswire

Jolene Jackelen with her demonstration assistance dog, Koho, at a U.S. Bank branch in Minneapolis.

"She had an assistance dog she was training, and as she told me about it I realized it was something I wanted to do, too," said Jackelen, who has gone on to volunteer thousands of hours and trained two service dogs through the nonprofit Helping Paws MN.

Training an assistance dog is no small task. It takes about two and a half years to teach the dog the 70-90 cues it needs to eventually help its owner further their independent living and quality of life, including opening doors, turning on lights and retrieving phones and other items. The dogs can brace to help someone stand up, or provide comfort during a nightmare. They are also trained to go get help. Once an assistance dog is matched to their owner, there's often additional training specific to that person's lifestyle - whether it's a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who wants to drive their kids to school with less distress or someone with a disability who needs assistance opening doors.

The training is "all about teaching the dogs the skills they need to assist their person, and training in a positive manner," Jackelen said. "The coolest thing about the human-animal bond is that the training prepares them for different things they may experience, but in real life you really see how the dogs intuitively sense the needs of their person and innately respond."

As part of the training for both of her assistance dogs, Jackelen worked with her manager and building management to secure permission to bring the dogs to the office once they reached the appropriate skill level.

"As part of the protocol for training, they had to learn how to work in an office, sit in a cubicle and not disrupt anything at work. Many, many U.S. Bank employees have met my dogs," said Jackelen, who trained her first dog at the West Side Flats office in St. Paul and her second at U.S. Bancorp Center. "The bank has been amazing in helping me - especially my boss and my colleagues. I've felt so much support along the way in training these dogs."