One dog owner has described the tragedy he’s still struggling to deal with after adopting a German Shepherd.
Kalen Materni and his wife had been living a contented life with their four huskies at their West Liberty, Ohio, home for a long time.
When it comes to their pups, Materni and his spouse have always been strong proponents of “don’t shop, adopt” “All of our dogs are shelter rescues,” he stated.
They were so delighted to assist when they learned of a dog that needed to be adopted. Materni commented: “We saw a Facebook post about this woman near us who was desperate to find a home for her German Shepard because they were having a new baby and their other dog was not getting along with her.”
Materni and his partner were excited about the prospect of bringing a German Shepherd into their home, but they took all the required care to integrate their new member gradually.
“We decided to let the dogs meet and everything went great,” he stated. “The dogs all got along well and never really showed any problems.”
Materni and his spouse would frequently take the German Shepherd for walks during the day since “she could be walked off leash” and, for a while, everything was in harmony. But one afternoon, six months into the new rescue’s stay with Materni’s family, everything changed in an instant.
The first person to acknowledge that Apollo and Sparta, his male huskies, had a penchant of “rough playing” with one another was Materni. “Rough play was always enjoyable. Huskies are pursuing and yelling at one another.
But one day at suppertime, things took a surprising turn. According to Materni, “We let the dogs out to get their food ready,” It wasn’t until he saw security camera footage from the area that Materni realized what had transpired next.
“Sparta and Apollo were playing and the German Shepherd misinterpreted the play as a threat and grabbed Apollo by the neck,” Materni stated. “Within seconds he was gone. He couldn’t scream and all I heard on the camera was him scratching the ground.”
When Materni’s wife went outside to call the dogs in for dinner, she discovered Apollo.
It was Materni who claimed, “I carried my best friend Apollo to a grave. I dug him a hole and laid him down. I stayed with him for hours just crying because I couldn’t believe I had lost my best buddy.”
The heartbreaking moment Materni transported his cherished dog to be buried was documented in a video uploaded to his TikTok account, onegrimreaper. Their adventure together came to a tragic conclusion.
“Apollo came to our house from a farmhouse. He was sleeping in a room on a mattress that was infested with fleas. On his first day at our house I climbed into the bathtub with him to clean him and just knew he wasn’t ever going to go somewhere else again,” Materni stated. “Apollo was the dog I would hug when I was having a tough day. He would climb in bed and be the little spoon.”
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Following the incident, the German Shepherd was eventually returned.
“I just couldn’t look at her the same anymore,” Materni stated. The reasons behind what happened remain a mystery. “It’s hard, I wish I had answers of ‘why’ and ‘how’ but it’s difficult not just jumping to blaming ourselves for all of these hypothetical failures,” Materni said. “Our dogs are fed, loved, and taken care of and that’s just what I keep telling myself.”
Materni acknowledges that the “dynamic” between the surviving huskies has altered since the tragedy, with Sparta in particular being more reserved following the death of his best companion.
Materni thinks that the video of him carrying Apollo’s lifeless corpse would serve as a “reality check” for pet owners, even if he is aware that it is difficult to see.
