Phoenix-area hero Todd named Dog of the Year at Streamy Awards show
Oct 24, 2018, 5:26 PM | Updated: Oct 26, 2018, 1:18 pm
PHOENIX – The Phoenix-area yellow Lab who became a national sensation for saving his human from a rattlesnake was named Dog of the Year at this week’s Streamy Awards.
Todd shot to stardom this summer after he was bitten by a rattlesnake while protecting Paula Goodwin of Anthem.
His bravery earned him the Streamy over two other finalists, Loubie the New York hugging dog and Pierre the Los Angeles hospital therapy dog.
During Monday’s show, entertainer Charo and Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy presented Todd and Godwin with the award.
“It’s about time we start honoring our pets more, for sure,” Godwin said during her acceptance speech.
The annual awards show is presented by YouTube and honors the best in online video.
Godwin first shared Todd’s heroism on social media after the June 29 incident.
So this morning was up bright and early to go on a hike on 7 th street carefree . It was a beautiful morning but as we…
Posted by Paula Godwin on Friday, June 29, 2018
She said she was hiking near Seventh Street and Carefree Highway in Phoenix with the Todd and her other dog, Copper, when they encountered a rattlesnake.
Todd, she said, jumped in front to protect her and was bitten by the snake.
Godwin told KTAR News 92.3 FM at the time that she picked up Todd and started running down the hill along with the Copper. Within 20 minutes, she said, they were at an animal hospital, where Todd received anti-venom.
He has since fully recovered.
The photos of Todd’s swollen face were soon shared on Twitter, where the famed We Rate Dogs account re-posted them — and they soon went viral.
This is Todd. He saved his human from a rattlesnake yesterday. A true h*ckin hero. He’s expected to make a full recovery and has been rewarded our fifth ever 15/10 pic.twitter.com/TsS6isI0Ew
— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) July 1, 2018
Matt Nelson, the person who runs the We Rate Dogs account, said Todd “shattered” all of the account’s records, although the numbers were recently surpassed.
