American Dog Rescue founder Arthur E. Benjamin’s favorite sidekick is ready to step into the national spotlight as the hero dog he is. But, we need your help!

Please click here to visit the Hero Dog Awards voting site and vote for Bandit ONCE EACH DAY from now until June 6. If Bandit finishes top 3 in his category of “Emerging Hero Dogs,” he will become a semifinalist.

Here’s more from Arthur about all the ways Bandit is his hero:

Bandit is first an ordinary dog with extraordinary story and the canine talent of unconditional love of a human, me.

Bandit is also a rescue dog. When I first heard about him, he was slated for a wheel-chair for life at Tsu Zoo Rescue of Plano, TX, having been born with back legs at birth that just didn’t work, a lack of function from poor-breeding. I took him on as part if my work saving dogs at American Dog Rescue and we transported him to Texas A & M Veterinary College for juvenile diagnosis. We discovered that he could be rehabbed and he was, regaining use of his rear legs and progressing in his name from “Scooter” to “Tiny Tim” to “Bandit” as he learned to walk, run and play.

Little did I know God’s plan for Bandit & myself. In my work with paws4people and paws4vets as their advisory board chair, I learned about my own need for a service dog like Bandit (as a result of 24/7 vigilance for three plus years with my late wife as she passed away from an aggressive and very destructive breast cancer).Strangely no one would adopt him as cute as he was. We went four months looking for a home but no takers… so I began to train him as a service dog for PTSD or MST disorder, hoping to give him to a veteran who deserved this little fellow… but he was small and no one really wanted him; they wanted bigger dogs like labs and goldens. He became my constant companion and bonded with me.

So, Bandit is now also a certified service dog. He has risen to the occasion with the same vigor & commitment he had for his own rehabilitation. He travels back and forth across the county by plane, train and automobile. He endures endless meetings, business lunches, dinners, and charity events many nights before turning in at a strange hotel for the night, and resuming his travels in the morning. He has also competed and placed-well against other service dogs many times his size.

But his most important role is as a role model, a “spokesperson” and as an ambassador of dogs. Bandit proves daily to the many dozens of people meets what a truly humane world looks like and what the human/animal bond portends for myself and us all. He is truly an Emerging Hero Dog as he raises funds and “speaks” for the best in life for me and his four-legged friends.

Whether working for me personally… or as the “Chief Canine Officer” of American Dog Rescue raising funds for dozens of organizations like Humane Society of Utah, HSUS, Best Friends, SPCA of Dallas, CollinCounty Humane or Tri-County Humane Societies or dozens of other animal organizations… or co-hosting our weekly half-hour TV show FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS in Texas which tells the story of the human/animal bond and rescue… Bandit is a Hero… to me, to us, and for the world to see what an ordinary dog can do and why we should each do something for a dog in our lives every day… be it rescue… for service… or just kindness… because every dog can be extraordinary and be a hero for us given the chance!