Battlestar Galactica Dog Names

When it comes to service dogs, many pale in comparison to the work done by Apollo, one of the New York Police Department’s most decorated canines. 

Born in 1992, the German Shepherd wasted little time in climbing the ranks of the force, as in 1994, he had already graduated from the NYPD’s Canine Special Operations Division and went on to be one of the first dogs to be officially trained in search and rescue techniques, passing Type-II training in 1997 and Type-I in 1999, as well as being one of the very first to join the Urban Search and Rescue New York Task Force 1. During his tenure, he also joined his handler Peter Davis in search and rescue efforts in the Dominican Republic after a significant hurricane devastated much of the island as well as assisting officers with numerous arrests outside of his normal SAR duties. 

But Apollo’s true test came in 2001, when he became the first search and rescue dog to hit Ground Zero of the World Trade Center site on September 11, arriving just fifteen minutes after the fall of the twin towers. During his search he was almost killed by fire and falling debris, but luckily had recently fallen into a pool of water, soaking his coat and preventing it from catching fire. Moments later, Davis brushed off what he hadn’t already shaken off and the two immediately resumed their rescue efforts. 

For the first few days, the duo worked tirelessly until the point of utter exhaustion, both handler and dog pushing themselves to the limits in efforts to find those who were left alive by the disaster. Despite the odds, they continued their work for nearly a week, often times working up to 18 hours a day in devastating physical, mental, and emotion conditions, yet doing their best for the sake of the victims and their families until having to turn their work over to cadaver dogs. 

On March 5, 2002, nearly six months after the catastrophe, Apollo, along with Labradors Salty and Roselle, who both helped their owners to safety during the buildings collapse, was awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross (the highest award of the UK honors system), on behalf of all the dogs who participated in the 9/11 search and rescue efforts. He went on to live to the ripe old age of 14, finally passing in 2006 after a life of invaluable service — incredible for a dog who breathed noxious fumes, worked in significantly hazardous environments and often worked until exhaustion for significant portions of his life.