Big Switch: Dog left for dead finally finds 'a good home'

Laura Walker didn’t know the dog’s background, his history, the rough first 12 months of his life.

Walker just really wanted a new pet from the Independence Animal Shelter.

On June 5, as she and her roommate, Alysia Grant, sought that new friend, they were drawn to a year-and-a-half-old boxer mix.

Switch. The dog had a story to tell, but Walker didn’t know that yet.

“I just thought he was really cute and calm,” says the 22-year-old Walker. “...They actually didn’t even tell us his story until we were like, ‘We want him.’ We had no idea.”

And even then, Walker said, her opinion on her new companion didn’t falter.

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On Wednesday afternoon, shortly before Walker and Grant took their new dog for a visit to the Animal Shelter, he rested on a cool office floor.

At times he smiled, and his brown eyes were relaxed. His frame is strong now, the fur regrown on his sides that were once shaved.

“He was very mellow just compared to the rest of the dogs that were barking,” Grant said of her first impressions of the dog at the shelter. “He was really mellow, and he’s beautiful.”

He appears happy, which wasn’t always an adjective in his vocabulary.

On Dec. 29, 2011, Independence Animal Services control officer Jim Holtcamp found the dog under a tree, scared to death, unable to move. Blood covered both lower sides of the dog’s body.

His wounds suggested that he had been stabbed with a box cutter. He was likely left for dead.

A vet cleaned him up, and the dog found a temporary home through the Animal Shelter, where officials named him Switch, because of the transformation in his first two months at the shelter. He underwent behavioral training, slowly gaining back his trust of both animals and humans.

On Feb. 1, a woman adopted Switch, and the story appeared to have an ending. The two made it as far as the new owner’s driveway in Buckner, and then Switch took off.

He was missing for 28 days. Animal Services officials made Facebook and Craigslist listings in search of Switch. They patrolled areas and followed up on sightings and leads. Fliers were circulated to area shelters.

Hope faded that he’d ever be found, let alone found alive.

Then Buckner police called on Feb. 29 with news that the department had found Switch. The woman who had tried to adopt him asked the shelter to keep him since she didn’t have a fenced-in yard.

 Immediately, the Animal Shelter began working with the dog again in hopes that he would find a new home. Jennifer Polston, the Animal Services supervisor, said she and other shelter officials worked on Switch’s possession-aggression responses since he, at first, growled and threatened to bite when others came near his toys or his bone.

They also worked to improve Switch’s dog-to-dog aggression.

“The first time we tried to take him in the yard with a dog, we had a really bad introduction,” Polston said. “He is a dog, I believe, that was never allowed to play with another dog or never learned appropriate dog-to-dog relations.”

From early March through early June, shelter staff supervised Switch’s interactions with mild-tempered dogs, verbally correcting his behavior. After several months’ work, Switch would initiate play with another dog, but still under supervision.

The Independence Animal Shelter always wants the best for every animal that enters its doors, Polston said.

“But every now and then, one comes along, like Switch that has endured something so horrible and you want to do something that will make a difference in that animal’s life,” she said. “No animal should ever have to endure what he went through. Switch touched our lives in a way that we will remember forever, and we hope that he has found his forever family and will know nothing but love and comfort for the rest of his life. We wish this for every animal.”

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Laura Walker wanted a new name for her dog, especially after hearing Switch’s story.

The dog seemed like a warrior, Walker said, so the name of a Greek god seemed appropriate.

So, Switch became Apollo. In Greek mythology, Apollo had many talents, and was known for his diversity.

He was known as the healing god.

Walker and Grant live alone out in Jackson County, and already, Apollo has taken to protecting them, lying at their feet as they watch TV and following them around the house. Apollo sticks by Grant’s side when her roommate is at work.

“He’s very loyal and loving,” Grant said, “despite everything that’s happened to him in the past. He’s very loving to people.”

Their house includes a large backyard and wooded area. They’ve kept Apollo on a 30-foot staked leash as he becomes more familiar and comfortable with his surroundings, also keeping him within eyesight.

“We think that he probably got the best the home out there for him,” Polston said. “The ladies who adopted him seem very, very sweet, and they seem to absolutely adore him.”

The two young women credited Polston for her continued willingness to help with Apollo after his adoption, whether with training or learning his habits.

“I didn’t even realize how popular he was...” Grant said. “He’s just a loving dog and needed a good home.”