Lake County Sheriff’s Office Canine Dax has won the distinction of being the nation’s top Law Enforcement Hero Dog of the year and is going to Hollywood.
“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is proud to announce out of nearly 900,000 votes cast across the nation, K9 Dax, has won the distinction of being the nation’s top Law Enforcement Hero Dog of the year!” the sheriff’s office announced Saturday morning.
The awards gala, sponsored by the Lois Pope LIFE Foundation and Zoetis, will broadcast on the Hallmark channel on October 23 at 7 p.m. central time.
“These heroic canines each took top honors in their individual categories from a field of 360 nominees and now a combination of America’s voters and a panel of celebrity judges will determine which dog will be named the 2019 American Hero Dog,” Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Christopher Covelli said.
The seven finalists will travel to Los Angeles to take part in the star-studded Hero Dog Awards gala on October 5 at The Beverly Hilton, Covelli said.
Dax began his career with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office almost four years ago.
Dax has been featured in the news several times in the past year for his work in tracking missing people, finding fleeing suspects, recovering illegal narcotics and more.
“We are thrilled K9 Dax garnered an overwhelming amount of support from Lake County, and are so pleased he was named by you to be the 2019 Law Enforcement Hero Dog,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“We are very fortunate to have four incredible K9 Teams working at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office,” Idleburg added.
Covelli said that the community is encouraged to continue voting for Canine Dax once a day through September 9 to help the judges determine which of the seven category winners will be top dog.