A dog owner has detailed how the adoption of a German Shepherd led to a tragedy he’s still trying to come to terms with.
For the longest time, Kalen Materni and his wife lived a happy existence at their home in West Liberty, Ohio, surrounded by their four huskies.
Materni and his wife have always been keen advocates of “don’t shop, adopt” when it comes to their pups. “All of our dogs are shelter rescues,” he told Newsweek.
So when they heard about a dog in need of adoption, they were only too happy to help. Materni said: “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.”
Though keen on the idea of adding a German Shepherd to their family, Materni and his partner took all the necessary precautions when it came to gradually integrating their new addition. “We decided to let the dogs meet and everything went great,” he said. “The dogs all got along well and never really showed any problems.”
Materni and his wife would often take the German Shepherd off for walks during the day as “she could be walked off leash” and, for a time, everything was harmonious. But that all changed in the blink of an eye one afternoon, six months into the new rescue’s time with Materni’s family.
Materni is the first to admit that his male huskies, Apollo and Sparta, had a habit of “rough playing” with each other. “It was always fun, rough play. Huskies screaming at each other and chasing each other.”
However, one day around dinner time, it took an unexpected turn. “We let the dogs out to get their food ready,” Materni said. Materni only discovered what happened next when he reviewed footage from nearby security cameras.
“Sparta and Apollo were playing and the German Shepherd misinterpreted the play as a threat and grabbed Apollo by the neck,” Materni said. “Within seconds he was gone. He couldn’t scream and all I heard on the camera was him scratching the ground.”
It was Materni’s wife who found Apollo when she came out to call the dogs in for dinner. “I carried my best friend Apollo to a grave,” Materni said. “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.” A video posted to Materni’s TikTok onegrimreaper captured the tragic moment he carried his beloved pooch off to be buried. It was a heartbreaking end to their journey together.
“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 said. “Apollo was the dog I would hug when I was having a tough day. He would climb in bed and be the little spoon.”
The German Shepherd ended up being returned in the wake of what happened. “I just couldn’t look at her the same anymore,” Materni said. 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.”
It’s always important to exercise caution with any large dog and the German shepherd is no exception. In a study covering a 13-year period from 2005 to 2017, German shepherds were responsible for 4.6 percent (20 people) of the 433 Americans killed in dog attacks over that period. Though that makes them the third most lethal breed in the U.S. in that timeframe, it’s still some way short of the 284 (65.6 percent) attributed to pit bulls and 45 (10.4 percent) to rottweilers.
Since the incident, Materni admits the “dynamic” among the remaining huskies has changed, with Sparta, in particular, subdued after losing his best friend. Materni knows the video of him carrying Apollo’s lifeless body is not an easy watch, but he hopes it serves as a “reality check” for pet owners.
“We do not control how long we have with our fur family and friends so we need to make sure we aren’t saying ‘we will just walk them tomorrow’ or ‘we will take them to the park tomorrow’ because you might not get another chance to run with them, hug them, or kiss them,” he said.
TikTok/onegrimreapter