Service Animals - Recognition For Service Dogs

In 2003 the pet food company Pedigree held the first Pedigree Paws to Recognize contest. The contest was designed to select the country's top service dogs. The 2003 winner was the detector dog Crazy Joe of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. In 2004 two dogs won—Trouble, an agriculture detector dog with the CBP, and Gentle Ben, a therapy dog sponsored by the Delta Society. The dogs placed their paw prints in cement at the Canine World Heroes Walk of Fame in New York City. According to Pedigree, there are approximately 15,000 professionally trained service dogs in the United States as of 2005.