After Losing His Hearing While Serving in Vietnam, Veteran Finds a Service Dog with a Surprising Connection to Home (Exclusive)Sara Belcher,
Jer and Mike Retzlaff with Harper the service dogCredit: Courtney Unger
Air Force veteran Mike Retzlaff sought help for hearing loss after a police officer encouraged him to contact Canine Companions
His sister Jeri had raised Harper from birth before the dog was matched with Mike as his service dog
Harper alerts Mike to sirens and helps comfort him during PTSD episodes
One veteran’s service dog had been a part of his family long before he decided it was time to ask for help.
Mike Retzlaff, 78, spent 38 years in the Air Force, retiring in 2006 as a Chief Master Sergeant after serving in the Vietnam War.
“During my military career, I had been exposed to gunfire quite a bit. When you are in a ‘wartime’ environment, earplugs are a no-no,” Mike explains to PEOPLE. “Right after I left Vietnam (July 1970), I noticed it was hard to hear a whisper and didn’t bother to get my ears checked. I just lived with it ... The word ‘huh?’ was constantly used, and ‘could you repeat your request?’ was part of a normal conversation.”
Even after retiring from the Air Force, Mike admits that he let his hearing continue to go unchecked, and it wasn’t until a police officer pulled him over after he failed to move for an ambulance that he considered it might be time to pursue some options. That’s where Canine Companions, an organization dedicated to matching service dogs with clients, came into the mix.
“After I handed [the highway patrol officer my] documents, we engaged in a conversation that changed my life forever,” Mike explains. “He thanked me for my service and asked me what my disability was (I have Disabled Veterans Plates). I mentioned I was hard of hearing and had a bad case of PTSD. He said, ‘Hmmm, that’s interesting.’”
“The patrolman had mentioned he had just finished working a PR event and was stationed right next to the group of folks that had service dog puppies in training,” he continues. “He mentioned their name, Canine Companions. He said, ‘I’ll give you a verbal warning if you promise to get ahold of them.’ ”
Mike Retzlaff with HarperCredit: Cindy Lawton Photography
Canine Companions was a familiar name to Mike, whose sister, Jeri Retzlaff, had been a puppy raiser for a decade. Starting in 2016, she raised seven different dogs through the program, who all graduated as facility dogs and security dogs. Since 2021, she’s also served as a breeder caretaker — and one of the dogs who came through her home was matched as Mike’s service dog.
Harper was matched with Mike just a couple of years after he helped Jeri — who was the assigned “birth mom” — welcome the pup through one of her breeders.
“I was the first human to hold her after she was born,” Mike says.
“When I heard that Mike and Harper matched, I cried tears of joy and happiness,” Jeri, 74, tells PEOPLE. “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would have the honor of handing over the leash of a dog I raised to my brother. As a puppy raiser, I was always happy when my dog found its ‘forever’ person, but to find out that forever person was my brother was the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae!”
Mike says that it was “love at first sight” for him and Harper, and though he “kind of knew what to expect” from the team training session, he knew his connection with Harper was “special” from the beginning.
Mike and Jeri Retzlaff with HarperCredit: Cindy Lawton Photography
“There were six dogs in my training class, I think, and everyone else saw a different kind of LOVE between Harper and me compared to the feeling between them and their dogs,” Mike says.
Now, Harper has moved back in with Mike and Jeri, and Jeri says having her around “is the best” — and not just for everything she does for Mike on a daily basis.
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“When I saw Harper again in June of 2026, she was definitely not the same dog that she was when I turned her in for professional training in November of 2024. She was much more mature and skilled, but was still the loving, wiggly puppy I raised,” she says. “When she is working, she is totally focused on Mike, but when she’s not working, she and I get to spend time together.”
Mike Retzlaff with HarperCredit: Courtney Unger
“I pull over for ambulances whose sirens and flashing red lights are going, and I was told she had a little training in PTSD awareness. She sure knows how to address and calm me when I have a PTSD episode,” Mike adds. “On the first night that I had her, I had an episode. She got up out of her bed and put her nose on the edge of the bed and was looking at me. She put her paw on me, so I turned over and I saw a muzzle. I said, ‘I’m okay, I’m okay.’ And she stayed right there until I went back to sleep.”
Mike says their connection has been life-changing — and that bond has become a full-circle moment for the siblings.
“It brings a smile to my face when I see Harper working for Mike, whether it’s alerting him to sirens while we are in the car, or snuggling with him at night when it’s been a long day. I know that she is where she was meant to be. I’m so glad to see her fulfilling her mission in life,” Jeri says.
Source: Nature
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