New Staff Member: Garry Templeton, K-9 Rehab Specialist

We at Project K-9 Hero are honored to announce the hiring of Garry Templeton to our Pack as a part-time K-9 Rehabilitation Specialist at our 177-Acre Facility in Tennessee.

Garry was raised in Middle Tennessee, where he attended Warren County High School and Tennessee Tech University. Garry began working with Dogs in 1981 and started his law enforcement career in 1983. Working at departments to include Warren County Sheriff’s Department, and McMinnville Police Department, as a Patrol Officer and K-9 Handler.

In 1993, Garry joined the Murfreesboro Police Department, where he restarted the K-9 program with a single-purpose narcotics dog. Garry has handled multiple beloved K-9s in his career, both single- and dual-purpose, from narcotics to patrol. He and his K-9 Partner “Keeley” placed 9th place overall in narcotics detection in 1995 at the fourth annual USPCA competition.

In 1997, he was promoted to the Detective Division, where he remained for over two decades. During this time he had multiple assignments and received multiple awards for outstanding performance.

In 2019, Garry was assigned as the first full-time Canine Trainer for the department where he remained until his retirement. While assigned as trainer, he also worked an explosive detection and tracking dog, Jack, as his partner. Jack and Garry retired in October 2024.

During the entire course of his over 40 year law-enforcement career he has been an active member with the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association. Spending several years serving on the Board in various positions, up to and including President and National Training Director and was recently added as a National Judge May of 2025.