NAPLES — Labrador Retriever Dolly Pawton this week didn’t win the top title at the American Humane Hero Dog Awards on the Hallmark Channel, but she is still the 2020 service dog of the year.

Dolly, age 4, is a trained cardiac alert dog and monitors her human companion, Amy Sherwood, for cardiac health and assists with daily tasks.

Dolly was one of 408 dogs entered in the annual competition and along with Aura, a trained hearing service dog from Brunswick, one of two Maine canines to make it to the national stage.

Dolly, “writing” on her Facebook page Tuesday night said, “I wanted to take this time to thank everypawdy that voted and supported me through my Hero Dog journey.”

The contest winner was MacKenzie, a 7-year-old Chihuahua from Hilton, New York, who serves as a companion to other rescue dogs with birth defects at The Mia Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Rochester, New York.

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