Appollo: The First Search and Rescue Dog at Ground Zero on 9/11

The scene that greeted them was apocalyptic. The air was thick with ash and pulverized concrete. Fires burned throughout the wreckage. The ground was still hot, and secondary collapses were occurring constantly. It was into this hellscape that Appollo went to work.

Trained by the NYPD as a search and rescue dog, Appollo had worked many disaster scenes before. But nothing could have prepared him—or any dog—for the scale of destruction at Ground Zero. The debris field covered sixteen acres. The pile reached seven stories high in places. And somewhere beneath all of it were thousands of victims.

Within hours of arriving, Appollo nearly died. As he searched through the rubble, a secondary collapse buried him under burning debris. Flames licked at his fur. Davis frantically dug at the wreckage, calling his partner's name. Somehow, Appollo survived, protected from the worst of the fire by the dust and water from broken pipes that covered his coat.

Shaken but undeterred, Appollo went right back to work.

Over the following weeks, Appollo worked 18-hour shifts searching for survivors and, later, for remains. The conditions were brutal. The smoke and dust irritated his lungs and eyes. The twisted metal cut his paws. The heat from the fires below made the surface too hot to walk on in many places. Davis wrapped Appollo's feet in booties that had to be replaced multiple times a day.

But Appollo never hesitated. He climbed over unstable rubble, squeezed into spaces too small for humans, and indicated whenever he detected the scent of a victim. His alerts helped recovery teams locate remains that might otherwise never have been found, giving families the closure they desperately needed.

Appollo was the first, but he was far from alone. Over the following days, nearly 100 search and rescue dogs from across the country arrived at Ground Zero. They came from police departments, fire departments, and FEMA task forces. They represented breeds from German Shepherds to Labrador Retrievers to Golden Retrievers.

These dogs worked alongside their handlers in conditions that would break most humans. The psychological toll was immense—trained to find living victims, the dogs became increasingly distressed as days passed without finding survivors. Handlers had to stage mock rescues, hiding living people in the rubble, just to keep the dogs motivated.

Many of the dogs suffered health problems in the years following 9/11, likely due to exposure to the toxic dust and smoke at Ground Zero. The long-term effects mirrored those seen in human first responders, with elevated rates of cancer and respiratory disease.

In 2002, Appollo received the Dickin Medal, often called the "animal Victoria Cross," on behalf of all the search and rescue dogs who worked at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville crash site. The award recognized the "tireless courage" of the dogs who had served during and after the attacks.

At the award ceremony in London, Appollo represented something larger than himself. He stood for every dog who had dug through rubble, every handler who had risked their life, every team that had given their all in the hope of saving just one more person.

Appollo continued to serve with the NYPD after 9/11, responding to other disasters and continuing his training. He worked until his retirement, then lived out his remaining years with Peter Davis and his family. He passed away in 2006, surrounded by those who loved him.

The dogs of 9/11 left an enduring legacy. In the years since, federal funding for search and rescue dog programs has increased significantly. Training protocols have improved based on lessons learned at Ground Zero. And a new generation of dogs stands ready to respond when disaster strikes.

At the National September 11 Memorial in New York, a bronze relief honors the search and rescue dogs who served at Ground Zero. The image shows a dog searching through the rubble, a quiet tribute to the animals who worked so hard in humanity's darkest hour.

Appollo's legacy is also personal. Peter Davis went on to train other search and rescue dogs, passing on the lessons he learned with Appollo. Each new dog he trains carries a piece of Appollo's spirit—that willingness to run toward danger, to work past exhaustion, to never give up hope.

September 11, 2001, revealed both the worst and the best of humanity. The dogs who served at Ground Zero represented the best—pure courage, unconditional love, and the willingness to sacrifice everything for others. Appollo was the first into that terrible place, and his bravery set the tone for everything that followed.