{"id":379678,"date":"2026-07-20T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/379678\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:18:09","slug":"texas-therapy-dog-competing-for-national-pet-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/379678\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Therapy Dog Competing for National Pet Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Amarillo, TX \u2014 A golden retriever from Amarillo who spends his days comforting hospital patients is now representing Texas in a national pet competition.<\/p>\n<p>Luke, a certified therapy dog, was named the Texas winner in the <a href=\"https:\/\/petloverschoiceawards.com\/best-in-nation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pet Lovers&#8217; Choice Awards<\/a>, the first fan-voted national pet awards show launched by Best Friends Animal Society and hosted by comedian Gabriel Iglesias.<\/p>\n<p>After receiving enough votes to win the state competition, Luke is now one of four Texas pets competing in the national finals.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo courtesy: Luke's Owner, Deanna Yanez\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0cfa836f-7311-4bbf-b01e-2014e69af447-9BFCE5BAC4ED4B689C5CE2E31E7B3BBB.jpeg\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy: Luke&#8217;s Owner, Deanna Yanez<\/p>\n<p>Luke and his handler, ICU nurse Deanna Rodriguez, regularly visit patients, families and healthcare workers at BSA Hospital in Amarillo through Alliance Therapy Dogs. His family says Luke has a special ability to bring comfort during difficult moments, whether it&#8217;s helping calm a nervous patient before surgery or lifting the spirits of exhausted hospital staff.<\/p>\n<p>Luke&#8217;s journey began unexpectedly when his family met a litter of golden retriever puppies outside a PetSmart and instantly connected with him. What started as bringing home a family pet eventually grew into a mission of serving others.<\/p>\n<p>His work has earned recognition throughout the Amarillo community, including features by local media and magazines highlighting the impact therapy animals can have on patients and healthcare workers.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Luke is hoping to add a national title to his growing list of accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo courtesy: Luke's Owner, Deanna Yanez\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"363\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c11ab000-97c9-4a37-8486-196359ad85d2-IMG_2940.jpeg\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy: Luke&#8217;s Owner, Deanna Yanez<\/p>\n<p>You can vote to help Luke become the national <a href=\"https:\/\/petloverschoiceawards.com\/best-in-nation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pet Lovers&#8217; Choice Awards<\/a> champion. He is one of four Texas pets still in the running for the national title.<\/p>\n<p>Luke&#8217;s family says their ultimate dream is for him to one day visit children and families at St. Jude Children&#8217;s Research Hospital, continuing the work that has already touched so many lives in Texas.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Photo courtesy: Luke's Owner, Deanna Yanez\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/22346e01-2c5f-449c-9db4-659e82bca182-IMG_1727.jpeg\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy: Luke&#8217;s Owner, Deanna Yanez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amarillo, TX \u2014 A golden retriever from Amarillo who spends his days comforting hospital patients is now representing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-379678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}