Hero Dogs On The Red Carpet!

by Sylvie Greenberg

This past Saturday, I drove across town to the Beverly Hilton, home to the Golden Globes and the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party — and thanks to John Edwards, a hallowed place in National Enquirer history. There I would take my place along with the so-called red carpet “puparrazi” for the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards. How could I not go? Carson Kressley was hosting, Betty White was judging, and the dogs themselves were going to walk the red carpet. My only regret was that I didn’t have some sort of dog-themed accessory to wear; leaving the house, I felt woefully underdressed without a dachshund brooch or a Scottie hat pin. These are the feelings the awards bring out in a person.

On the Hero Dog website, the American Humane Association claims that “every dog is a hero.” Now, we know this is not true! Some dogs are heroes and some are most definitely not. My family has owned several loving, non-heroic dogs. Though non-hero status is mostly an owner’s fault, I think, since every dog could be a hero if given the chance. And of course, the American Humane Association knows this too; they just say the other thing to be polite and to get people to adopt dogs, a goal we can all obviously get behind.

Incidentally, there were several non-hero dogs in attendance at the awards. At one point, I heard a PR lady telling a camera person, “THAT’S not a hero dog! THAT’S the hero dog over there!” Given that this was a relatively small event, the 40-foot red carpet was pretty crowded with dogs (heroic and otherwise), owners and some celebrity guests (more on them soon, naturally). It seemed like there were three times as many cameramen as attendees, and unfortunately my view of most of the dogs, and of Carson Kressley, was seriously blocked by said cameras. The puparazzi and I were crowded behind a little barrier that kept us separated from the Famous People/Dogs. Who knows, standing back there with my little Canon Powershot, I probably photographed some non-hero dogs by accident.

A months-long contest to find America’s most heroic dog led up to the awards night. It worked this way: from March to September, anybody could nominate a dog in one of eight categories:
• Law Enforcement/Arson Dogs (badass dogs)
• Service Dogs (kind dogs)
• Therapy Dogs (really kind dogs)
• Military Dogs (badass dogs)
• Guide Dogs (responsible dogs)
• Search and Rescue Dogs (super-brave dogs)
• Hearing Dogs (responsible dogs)
• Emerging Hero Dogs (“other” dogs, still heroes)

In all, 453 dogs were nominated. The public then voted on finalists, and those votes were combined with the experts’ votes to select the winner (aka The Dog to Most Put Your Dog to Shame). And by “experts,” I of course mean… celebs!

The dog-loving judges included: Prince Lorenzo Borghese (“his storied paternal ancestors include the cosmetic’s icon, Princess Marcella Borghese, [and] Napoleon’s sister, Paulina Bonaparte Borghese … [Prince Borghese] is the founder and president of Royal Treatment Italian Pet Spa, a high-end bath, body and skin care line for pets”) and Orlando Brown from Disney Channel’s “That’s So Raven” (he’s got a lot of neck tattoos now, which I can only assume is the ultimate Disney rebellion). Betty White, Whoopi Goldberg and Candy Spelling also brought their judging talents. So did Susan Orlean (if you care at all about hero dogs, you’ll pick up her new book about Rin Tin Tin, which is chock-full of canine heroics) and Tinsley Mortimer (who has her chihuahuas’ names tattooed on her wrists). If these seem like strange pairings of people, they indeed were. To dogs, they all just smell like humans, though.

Then there were the finalist dogs being honored. All in all, the dogs seemed nonchalant about walking the red carpet. I mean, a carpet is just a carpet for a dog — something they’d love to roll or take a nap on, if they weren’t as well-behaved as these dogs. Let’s take a moment to salute the night’s eight honorees, shall we? (NB: These dogs will break your heart and make you feel like you’re an utterly useless human blob.)

SADIE

• “Man’s best friend is an Arsonist Worst Nightmare.”
• “Sadie has never lost in court,” says her bio.
• She’s already won the “Golden Paws” award for life-saving and heroic acts, as well as the “Hero Medal” from the Masonic lodge (how many Masonic lodge medals have I won? ZERO)
• At the awards, Sadie’s owner matched her by wearing a dashing black Major Crimes Unit police uniform, which was a happy relief to the eye after Tinsley Mortimer’s very shiny gown.

ZURICH

• Zurich is a service dog who helps his partner, Patti, who cannot walk or speak.
• Patti is pretty amazing herself, “surviving now 6 years beyond the best medical opinions.” She and Zurich are an awesome team.

SAGE

• Sage was a first-responder at the Pentagon on 9/11, and she helped identify the remains of one of the terrorists responsible for the attacks. (She suffered from two rare forms of cancer herself, both of which were most likely caused by exposure to the attack site.)
• She searched for Natalee Holloway in Aruba (and hopefully got to vacation a little too? She goddamn well deserves it).
• She’s searched for missing soldiers in Iraq, and for survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
• Sage now works at a camp for children who have cancer.
• WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY????

HARLEY

• Harley is a “hearing dog,” who works with a hearing-impaired man to whom he’s given a “self-confidence and a feeling of equality with other that [he’d] not experienced” in 52 years

MWS BINO C152

• That’s “Bino” to you.
• Bino worked for 11 years at Ft. Gordon as a Narcotics Detection/Patrol K9.
• Now he’s a PTSD Demo Service Dog, helping out with the Ft. Bliss Wounded Warriors.
• At the awards, his adoptive mom showed his most patriotic trick: he can salute on cue. Can you salute on cue? Maybe. But you don’t have paws.

ROSELLE

• Roselle is a seeing-eye dog.
• Her owner — plenty heroic himself — worked on the 78th floor of Tower One of the WTC
• On September 11th, Roselle, calm in a way only a dog could be, guided her owner down 1463 stairs to the ground floor
• Roselle and her owner ended up on Broadway across the street from Tower Two; through all the debris and chaos, she managed to find an entrance to the subway and, her owner writes, “As usual, Roselle stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for me to command her to go forward and down.”

STACEY MAE

• Stacey Mae is a therapy dog.
• She “collects teddy bears and stuffed animals for kids in the hospital.” Frankly, I’m still a little unclear on exactly how she does this, but I’m guessing it has to do with her cuteness and begging skills? In any event, whatever it is she’s doing is working because she has collected almost 2,000 teddy bears to date

RICOCHET

• Ricochet was wearing a black dress and a silver “bracelet” (pawlet?) at the award show. She’s real pretty!
• She is the only known dog in the whole world who spends her time surfing with special-needs kids and people with disabilities.
• She also raises funds for human and animal causes.

I know you’re wondering, WHO WON? Unfortunately, I don’t know. Nor could I say even if I did. Think of me as a dog who has the information but can’t speak, so… Actually, that’s probably a very poor example here since all of these dogs are almost certainly smart enough to, if not speak, then at least write. So they could tell you the answer, but I can’t. Press wasn’t allowed into the actual ceremony and judging, so I didn’t get to find out the winner. However, on November 11, at 8 p.m., The Hero Dog Awards will be broadcast on The Hallmark Channel. So place your bets now — and tune in to see who wins, preferably while wearing your dachshund pin and with a box of Kleenex handy.

RELATED: Judging the Cats (and People) of the Santa Monica Cat Show

Sylvie Greenberg lives in Los Angeles. She doesn’t have a blog, but she always reads this one.

Photos of the finalist dogs courtesy of the Hero Dog Awards website.