SERVICE DOG HERO OF THE YEAR

WILLISTON, FL – Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs Annual Service Dog Hero of the Year award is down to the final two candidates. Guardian Angels is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that exists to rescue, raise, train and donate medical service dogs to veterans, first responders and individuals with both visible and invisible disabilities.

After the first round of voting, Service dogs Grant and Victor have moved on to round two. The Service Dog Hero award recognizes Guardian Angels service dogs who have gone above and beyond the call of their training. To qualify for this award, the service dog must exceed the expectations of their training and take actions that result in saving the life of their handler, or someone else. All the dogs considered for this award are nominated by their handlers.

The final two nominees for the 2020 Service Dog Hero of the Year award include:

• Guardian Angels Grant, based in Florida and paired in 2014, trained for visible and invisible disabilities, alerted to an unknown problem multiple times leading his recipient to seek medical help resulting in a life-saving surgery for a condition that would have killed her. Grant’s actions saved her life. Grant was also named Service Dog Hero of the Year in 2014 when he prevented a life-threatening injury due to an accident.
• Guardian Angels Victor, based in New Hampshire and paired in 2018, trained for invisible disabilities, alerted his handler to early signs of a heart attack. While his recipient was unaware of what he was alerting to at first, it was made clear when he experienced a serious heart attack. Victor stayed with his handler, helped him get to his feet and helped him walk to someone that could render emergency aid.

The second round of voting will take place now through December 17. While voting is free, additional votes can be entered with a donation to Guardian Angels. Photos and more details on the nominees’ stories can be found at: https://www.medicalservicedogs.org/service-dog-hero-of-the-year-final-round-2020/.

Each year, the voting starts with Guardian Angels service dogs nominated from across the country. This year’s runner ups were Bolt and Patton:

• Service Dog Bolt, based in Pittsburgh and paired in 2019, trained for invisible disabilities, was involved in a car crash with her recipient in which he lost consciousness and she was able to wake him by repeatedly licking his face. Additionally, Bolt stopped her recipient from passing out by alerting him to stay seated continually; minutes later he became dizzy and almost passed out, something that could have been life threatening without Bolt.
• Service Dog Patton, resides in Indiana, was paired in 2019 and is trained to alert to invisible disabilities. Patton alerted to his handler’s extremely high blood sugar spike, avoiding a dangerous situation.

“At Guardian Angels, we teach our dogs to think on their feet and react to medical emergencies, not to simply respond to commands. They are extensively trained to read a situation,” said Carol Borden, founder and CEO of Guardian Angels. “Our dogs are often paired with individuals afflicted by invisible disabilities, so their skills help mitigate unique challenges and have a great impact on overall quality of life. With a focus on veteran recipients, the dogs are free of cost to recipients and individually trained to meet their handler’s individual needs.”

Previous Service Dog Hero of the Year winners have aided in the prevention of suicide attempts, alerted to toxic gas, braced a handler’s fall and laid down their own life to save their handler from a fatal rattlesnake bite, and more. The awards started in 2011.

Guardian Angels’ Medical Service Dogs recently won a platinum medallion from the U.S. Department of Labor for hiring veterans, has been previously recognized by the Academy of United States Veterans (AUSV) at their annual VETTYS awards; and had their dog Alice named the #1 Service Dog in the United States in 2019 and went on to become the Top American Dog Hero over seven categories of working dogs.

ABOUT

Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a 501(C)3 headquartered in Florida that rescues, raises, trains and then donates individually trained medical service dogs to veterans, first-responders and others who suffer from disabilities including PTS, Traumatic Brain Injury, seizure and diabetic disorders, mobility issues and much more. Over the past 10 years, Guardian Angels has paired more than 350 individually trained medical service dogs with recipients in 28 states including Washington D.C and trained the #1 Service Dog in the US and the top American Dog Hero of the year for 2019.