Volunteers for All Dogs Official Rescue Enterprise of Houston (ADORE) unfortunately see instances of abuse on a regular basis. But volunteer Brittany Faske wasn’t ready for what she found when she received a call about an injured Pit Bull spotted in a construction dump site.
His bones were visible through his skin, and he was sitting among old trash and discarded tires. But the worst part was the gruesome injury on his face. The dog was missing most of his nose and mouth, with bits of his snout hanging off. As she got closer to the terrified dog, Faske could tell that the injury had gotten infected by the smell it gave off.
His body was slumped in a pose of utter helplessness, but that didn’t stop him from growling when he felt Faske get too close. Afraid he might not make it, Faske hoped she could at least give him a dignified ending. As she got close enough to see the injury clearly, Faske could see it seemed like a clean cut, as if done by a sharp object.
At the vet, Faske and everyone who saw this poor dog were surprised to see him curiously sniffing other dogs and walking around as if half his face wasn’t missing. On top of the horrific injuries, Apollo tested positive for heartworm, making any hope of recovery very slim. But Apollo had other plans.
Apollo underwent constructive surgery to help salvage what was left of his snout. After a skin graft and the removal of his upper jaw and some teeth, Apollo had no nose, but he could still breathe through his nasal cavity. Despite losing most of his face, his goofy personality remained intact.
Faske fostered Apollo while he healed, but after seeing him win the love of her two grumpy senior dogs, she knew it was a match made in doggie heaven.
Apollo now spends his time eating and sunbathing, playing with tennis balls, and snoozing with his big bros at Faskes’s home.
In addition to the love of his human and doggie family, Apollo attends a training class every Saturday that has helped him regain his confidence and blossom into the happiest dog you’ve ever seen. Faske says that the weekly classes are their bonding time. “He somehow knows when it’s Saturday because he’s waiting patiently for me by the door…And he can’t wait to go for a car ride.”
Apollo is now ADORE’s official poster dog and mascot, helping champion the fight against animal abuse and increasing the public’s awareness of cruelty towards animals. Faske says that Apollo is “showing the world that an animal who has suffered so much, then been thrown away, can rise above the circumstances they may have been fated to, and become a champion for other animals.”