Category: Awesome Stories

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The 2024 American Humane Hero Dog Award Nominees Are Out!

The 2024 American Humane Hero Dog Awards nominees are out! And you’re in for a treat to find the goodest boys and girls competing for the coveted American Hero Dog title this year.

The American Humane Hero Dog Awards is by American Humane, an animal welfare organization founded in 1877 committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals. 

The annual and nationwide competition, now on it’s 14th year, searches for and recognizes America’s Hero dogs, which are often “ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things”.

According to the Hero Dog Awards’ website, the nominees are competing in the following five different categories:

  • Therapy: Dogs with the credentials to help people, other than their owner/handler, with their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive challenges.
  • Emerging Hero and Shelter: Dogs that are proof of resilience, hope, and positivity. These dogs are considered “ordinary” four-legged friends doing extraordinary things after getting rescued.
  • Military: Dogs that are proof not all heroes wear capes! They are pivotal to our troops’ health and safety, at home and overseas.
  • Service and Guide/Hearing: Dogs that do not only keep their hoomans safe but ensures the improvement of the lives they touch.
  • Law Enforcement and First Responder: Dogs that help keep our communities safe from crime, drugs, diseases, and arson – talk about heroes!

Five hero canines will be featured for each category. However, only one dog will come out on top to become 2024’s American Hero Dog.

Competition is tight when the nominees are all certified good boys and girls!

Dayo the therapy dog
Credit: Hero Dog Awards

Last year, a Great Dane from the Therapy category, named Maverick, took home the coveted American Hero Dog title.

This year, in the same category, we have Dayo from Dublin, California who was previously a companion dog for a cheetah at the Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR. Today, Dayo works as a therapy dog who provides warmth and joy to patients, families, nurses, and staff at the George Mark Children’s House in San Leandro, CA.

We also have Pepper from Alexandria, Virginia who does a remarkable job at being a Courthouse dog with her special power of comforting those in need. Oh, and did we mention that she knows over fifty commands?

Other paw-sitively amazing pooches that are making a change in the lives of hoomans include Oscar from Coral Springs, Florida, Archer from Stanhope, New Jersey, and Bogey from North Miami, Florida.

Lieutenant Dan the dog
Credit: Hero Dog Awards

In the Emerging Hero and Shelter category, we have Lieutenant Dan from New Richmond, Ohio, who, despite having his hind limbs and tail amputated due to birth defects, now lives a full and happy life – a true icon of positivity and perseverance!

Cal from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina is another heartwarming tale of resilience and dedication. He came from a war-torn village in Ukraine and now lives at a loving home in South Carolina. His owner, Jeff, hopes to one day train Cal as an official search and rescue canine.

Other inspiring dogs in the category include Penny from Louisville, Kentucky, Tank from Naples, Florida, and Jerry Lee from Emory, Texas.

K9 Niki
Credit: Hero Dog Awards

Meanwhile, in the Military category, we have K9 Niki from Seattle, Washington who continues to have an extensive career as a police dog. She has secured major events like the Rose Bowl, Seattle Sea Fair, and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

In addition, she has boarded over 250 vessels, conducted 25,000 vehicle sweeps, and participated in 150 community demonstrations, safeguarding around 7 million people. 

Other brave and courageous canines who risked and continue to risk their lives everyday to ensure the safety of ours include John from San Antonio, Texas, Ffancy from Barnegat, New Jersey, Maci from Enid, Oklahoma, and Dasty from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Sampson the service dog
Credit: Hero Dog Awards

In the Service and Guide/Hearing category, we have Sampson from Sierra Vista, Arizona who has been supporting his handler for nine incredible years. Aside from changing the life of his handler for the better, Sampson and his handler are pushing to amend CDC guidelines to remove barriers for service dog handlers.

In the same category, we have Coby from Wayland, Michigan, with an instinct like no other. Aside from being a remarkable hearing aid every day, in October 2023, he was able to pull back his partner while crossing a busy intersection, just in time to avoid a speeding fire engine.

Other service and guide/hearing dogs that are making an impact by changing hooman lives for the better include Willow from Henderson, Nevada, Percy from Meriden, Connecticut, and Justice from Seffner, Florida.

Detection K9 Layla
Credit: Hero Dog Awards

And last but definitely not the least, in the Law Enforcement and First Responder category, we have Layla from Grand Prairie, Texas who is as remarkable as one can be.

Her nose is a gift in the work she does as a Detection K9. She can detect devices buried underground, submerged in water, or frozen in ice. And thanks to her extraordinary skills, she was able to help uncover evidence of child exploitation.

Other dogs in the same category as Layla include Charlie from Kansas City, Kansas, Jacky from Portland, Oregon, Detective K9 Briggs from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, and Bo from Gastonia, North Carolina.

You can vote for your favorite four-legged friend in each category on the Hero Dog Awards’ website!

After the voting, winners from each category will be honored at the star-studded American Humane Hero Dog Awards Gala in Palm Beach on January 08, 2025.

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Volunteers Help Reunite Dog With Family After Going Missing For 2 Years, “Emotions Were Everywhere”

A family from Colorado finally reunites with their furry family member who went missing two years ago, thanks to the amazing work of volunteers.

The “Happy Tail” was shared by the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR) on August 27 on their Facebook page.

“We are grateful to serve such a compassionate and pet-loving community, and this Happy Tail is about how our community helped reunite a dog that had been missing for over two years,” the animal shelter wrote.

The animal shelter and WFIE reveals that Bear got lost two years ago on April 2022 while he was with a pet sitter.

Brandy Ross, Bear’s owner, was devasted when the pooch was lost. She tells WFIE, “Like, that was the hardest part. Was going home after I had left him with the sitter and then coming home to not having my dog.”

She and her family reported him missing and posted in Facebook groups. And they spent weeks searching and posting him. But to no avail, Bear never turned up.

The “saddest part”, as HSPPR put it, is that Ross’ family had to leave Colorado Springs without the pooch and move to New York due to work in the military.

But for HSPPR, things “got exciting” when they started working with a group of volunteer pet lovers dedicated to helping lost dogs reunite with their families.

HSPPR reveals, “In July, Animal Law Enforcement (ALE) was alerted to a possible Bear sighting. Where at? The same location he went missing two years prior. So, an ALE officer reached out to these volunteers for help.”

The animal shelter reveals that the volunteers jumped on board to save Bear “without hesitation”.

“Feeding stations were set up, game trail cameras were placed, and they began monitoring Bear. They even found the original lost pet post from the owners (yes, the one from 2022) and let them know what was happening,” HSPPR explains.

Danielle Neiner, the volunteer who found Bear, further explains to WFIE how they caught Bear, “We then set up a time to put up what’s called a messy trap. So it’s a giant trap where they walk in, they hit a light, basically towards the back that triggers the door to close.”

And finally, on August 18, the volunteers successfully captured Bear. The animal shelter reveals that through a microchip check, they were able to confirm that the stray pooch they caught was indeed Bear.

“His owners were crying tears of happiness,” HSPPR wrote.

Neiner reveals that when they found the pooch, “He was pretty matted, very dirty, all that different stuff. He’s definitely underweight. but health-wise, he’s had no health problems.”

Ross couldn’t believe the news of her pooch being found. She said, “The whole night I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this my dog?’ And then she read the numbers and she’s like, ‘It’s him.’ And I was like, ‘No way.’ And I was literally bawling my eyes out … Even now I’m in shock that this is him,”

“And to now be like, ‘He’s OK.’ It’s weird. It was, it was crazy. Like our emotions were everywhere,” Ross added.

Before making the cross-country trip, Bear got a much-needed groom and went to the vet for shots and a health certificate, all taken care by the volunteers who rescued him.

And then on September 01, Bear finally took the trip to reunite with his family, a trip that was paid by generous community members.

And before the long-awaited reunion, Ross reveals, “So we already bought all of his bed and his bowls, and my kids helped me buy him toys.”

Bear’s story is another reminder that hope is never lost. And that microchipping your pets will highly increase your chances of being reunited with them if they ever get lost.