After Jason Howe's dog, Sobee, was among the top finalists in a national competition last year, the pair are giving it another try this year.
Sobee is one of some 400 dogs in seven categories. Sobee's category is for service dogs.
Howe is a disabled combat veteran who had suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome and addiction after his career in the U.S. Navy. He went through rehab and was introduced to K9s on the Front Line, a nonprofit organization that rescues/trains service dogs for combat veterans.
That's when the organization gave him a dog that otherwise would have been euthanized in a kill shelter. He named the dog Sobee after a St. Louis Blues player.
"Both of us were kind of on our death beds, you could say, and we've both kind of saved each other," Howe said last year. "She's given me a new life, and I've kind of given her a new life. She's a pretty awesome battle buddy."
Sobee's training includes watching over Howe and assisting him if he has panic attacks.
Now, Howe volunteers as the Midwest coordinator for K9s on the Front Line. To date, he's used service dogs to help more than 50 veterans.
After the first round of voting ends May 6, 21 semifinalists (the top three in each category) will move on to the second round. From this pool, the field will narrow down to the seven category finalists. The winning dog in each category will take part in a two-hour special on Hallmark Channel this fall.
Competing in the contest is tasking, Howe said, because people can vote daily, so he constantly has to remind his friends and supporters to vote for Sobee.
Last year, Sobee and Hero, who was on America's Got Talent, were beaten by the overall winner, Dolly Pawton. Pawton is a cardiac alert dog trained to alert if her owner's blood pressure drops or heart rate rises to an unsafe level.
This time, Howe has created a Facebook page to promote Sobee: facebook.com/SobeeHero/.
He thinks Sobee will at least make it to the next round, but he would love to have her take home the win this time.
"Just share our posts. Let us tell her story," he said. "She was two days away from being euthanized, and now she's trained a lot of dogs and a lot of people. She's a special girl."
The contest is sponsored by American Humane and the awards are sponsored by the Louis Pope LIFE Foundation.
The voting started last Thursday. To vote for Sobee, visit herodogawards.org/dog/sobee-2/.